Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of Gamma-Band Activity during an Audiospatial Working Memory Task in Humans

The representation of visual objects in short-term memory has been shown to be related to increased gamma-band activity in the electroencephalogram. Using a similar paradigm, we investigated oscillatory magnetoencephalographic activity in human subjects during a delayed matching-to-sample task requiring working memory of auditory spatial information. The memory task involved same–different judgments about the lateralization angle of pairs of filtered noise stimuli (S1 and S2) separated by 800 msec delays of background noise. This was compared with a control condition requiring the detection of a possible change in the background noise volume appearing instead of S2 (volume task). Statistical probability mapping revealed increased spectral activity at 59 Hz over left parietal cortex during the delay phase of the memory condition. In addition, 59 Hz coherence was enhanced between left parietal and right frontal sensors. During the end of the delay and during the presentation of S2, enhanced gamma-band activity at 67 Hz was observed over right frontal and later over midline parietal areas. In contrast, the volume task was characterized by increased left inferior frontotemporal 59 Hz spectral amplitude after S1. Apparently representation of the spatial position of a sound source is associated both with synchronization of networks in parietal areas involved in the auditory dorsal stream and with increased coupling between networks serving representation of audiospatial information and frontal executive systems. The comparison with S2 seemed to activate frontal and parietal neuronal ensembles. Gamma-band activity during the volume task may reflect auditory pattern encoding in auditory ventral stream areas.
Gene conversion variations generate structurally distinct pilin polypeptides in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Pilus+ to pilus- phenotype change occurs in Neisseria gonorrhoeae through gene conversion of the gonococcus' complete, expressed pilin gene by nucleotides homologous to the pilS1 copy 5 partial pilin gene; assembly missense pilin is synthesized but pili are not. Reversion to pilus+ occurs by a subsequent recombinational event that replaces the complete pilin gene's pilS1 copy 5-like sequence with nucleotides from a different partial gene to effect expression of an orthodox (i.e., pilus producing) pilin. Sibling pilus+ revertants of common parentage can carry different sequences in their expressed pilin genes because they have undergone nonidentical gene conversion events such as recombinations with sequences from different partial genes, or recombinations with different length nucleotide stretches of the same partial gene; either can yield structurally and antigenically variant pilin polypeptides.
Assessing the Impact of Deforestation of the Atlantic Rainforest on Ant-Fruit Interactions: A Field Experiment Using Synthetic Fruits

Ants frequently interact with fleshy fruits on the ground of tropical forests. This interaction is regarded as mutualistic because seeds benefit from enhanced germination and dispersal to nutrient-rich microsites, whereas ants benefit from consuming the nutritious pulp/aril. Considering that the process of deforestation affects many attributes of the ecosystem such as species abundance and composition, and interspecific interactions, we asked whether the interaction between ants and fallen fleshy fruits in the Brazilian Atlantic forest differs between human-created fragments and undisturbed forests. We controlled diaspore type and quantity by using synthetic fruits (a plastic ‘seed’ covered by a lipid-rich ‘pulp’), which were comparable to lipid-rich fruits. Eight independent areas (four undisturbed forests, and four disturbed forest fragments) were used in the field experiment, in which we recorded the attracted ant species, ant behaviour, and fruit removal distance. Fruits in undisturbed forest sites attracted a higher number of species than those in disturbed forests. Moreover, the occurrence of large, fruit-carrying ponerine ants (Pachycondyla, Odontomachus; 1.1 to 1.4 cm) was higher in undisturbed forests. Large species (≥3 mm) of Pheidole (Myrmicinae), also able to remove fruits, did not differ between forest types. Following these changes in species occurrence, fruit displacement was more frequent in undisturbed than in disturbed forests. Moreover, displacement distances were also greater in the undisturbed forests. Our data suggest that fallen fleshy fruits interacting with ants face different fates depending on the conservation status of the forest. Together with the severe loss of their primary dispersers in human-disturbed tropical forest sites, vertebrate-dispersed fruits may also be deprived of potential ant-derived benefits in these habitats due to shifts in the composition of interacting ant species. Our data illustrate the use of synthetic fruits to better understand the ecology of ant-fruit interactions in variable ecological settings, including human-disturbed landscapes.
Barriers to the Success of Ethnic Minority Students in School Psychology Graduate Programs

Abstract. The current study examined factors that may serve as barriers to the success of ethnic minority graduate students by assessing the academic, social, and emotional experiences of approximately 87 ethnic minority and 313 ethnic majority school psychology graduate students. Results indicated that ethnic minority graduate students reported significantly more negative race-related experiences, which were associated with higher levels of emotional distress, than were ethnic majority graduate students. In addition, ethnic minority graduate students reported lower levels of belongingness than did ethnic majority students' and negative race-related experiences were associated with lower perceptions of belongingness across all participants. Belongingness and autonomy were significantly associated with self-reported academic engagement for both ethnic minority and majority students. Discussion focuses on the significance of racial microaggressions and belongingness to graduate students in school psychology programs.
Flame retardant epoxy hybrid composite laminates prepared by vacuum-assisted resin infusion technique

Epoxy/glass fiber/organo-montmorillonite hybrid composites with triaryl phosphates and decabromodiphenyl oxide flame retardants were prepared by vacuum-assisted resin infusion technique. The effects of triaryl phosphates and decabromodiphenyl oxide on the flammability properties of epoxy/glass fiber/organo-montmorillonite composites were evaluated through UL-94 vertical flammability test and limiting oxygen index. Epoxy/glass fiber/organo-montmorillonite hybrid composite showed no rating in UL-94 test up to 40 phr of triaryl phosphates. Field emission scanning electron microscopy showed the amount of char formed increased, denser char structure and better coverage of glass fibers as triaryl phosphates loading increased. Interestingly, the hybridization of 30 phr decabromodiphenyl oxide with respect to 10 phr triaryl phosphates flame retardants showed V-0 rating with limiting oxygen index of 33%.
Solution and Optimization of Systems of Pseudo-Boolean Constraints

Optimized solvers for the Boolean satisfiability (SAT) problem have many applications in areas such as hardware and software verification, FPGA routing, planning, and so forth. Further uses are complicated by the need to express "counting constraints" in conjunctive normal form (CNF). Expressing such constraints by pure CNF leads to more complex SAT instances. Alternatively, those constraints can be handled by integer linear programming (ILP), but generic ILP solvers may ignore the Boolean nature of 0-1 variables. Therefore, specialized 0-1 ILP solvers extend SAT solvers to handle these so-called "pseudo-Boolean" (PB) constraints. This work provides an update on the on-going competition between generic ILP techniques and specialized 0-1 ILP techniques. To make a fair comparison, we generalize recent ideas for fast SAT-solving to more general 0-1 ILP problems that may include counting constraints and optimization. This generalization is embodied in our PB constraint solver and optimizer PBS, which is compared with state-of-the-art CNF and generic ILP solvers. Another aspect of our comparison is the evaluation on 0-1 ILP benchmarks that originate in electronic design automation (EDA) but that cannot be directly solved by an SAT solver. Specifically, we solve instances of the max-SAT and max-ONEs optimization problems, which seek to maximize the number of satisfied clauses and the "true" values over all satisfying assignments, respectively. Those problems have straightforward applications to SAT-based routing and are additionally important due to reductions from max-cut, max-clique, and min vertex cover. Our experimental results show that specialized 0-1 techniques implemented in PBS tend to outperform generic ILP techniques on Boolean optimization problems, as well as on general EDA SAT problems.
Nonnegative Matrix Factorization with Temporal Smoothness and / or Spatial Decorrelation Constraints

Approximate nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is an emerging technique with a wide spectrum of potential applications in biomedical and neurophysiological data analysis. Currently, the most popular algorithms for NMF are those proposed by Lee and Seung. However, most of the existing NMF algorithms do not provide uniqueness of the solution and the factorized components are often difficult to interpret. The key open issue is to find such nonnegative components and corresponding basis vectors that have clear physical or physiological interpretations. Since temporally smooth structures are important for hidden components in many applications, here we propose two novel constraints and derive new multiplicative learning rules that allow us to estimate such components that have physiological meanings. Specifically, we present a novel and promising application of proposed NMF algorithm to early detection of Alzheimer disease using EEG recordings.
A case-control study on the association of common variants of CAPN10 gene and the risk of type 2 diabetes in an Iranian population.

BACKGROUND Calpain-10 is a ubiquitously expressed protease that serves as an intracellular calcium-dependent cysteine protease and is regarded to be one of the candidate genes for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We aimed to identify the association of the common variants of this gene and the risk of T2DM in the Kurdish ethnic group of Iran. METHODS Study groups included 173 T2DM and 173 normoglycemic subjects. Genotyping was determined by PCR-RFLP. Genotypic and allelic frequencies were then evaluated. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS The allelic frequency of the A-allele of SNP-43 variant was significantly different (p = 0.01) between case and control groups (18% vs. 11%). The genotype frequencies for SNP-43 did not show any significant difference between case and control individuals. However, the dominant model of SNP-43 was found to be significantly associated with T2DM (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.06 - 2.89, p < 0.029). The distribution and allele frequency of other SNPs (SNP-19 and -63) did not show any significant difference between the study groups. For SNP-43, fasting serum insulin (p = 0.043) and HOMA-IR (p = 0.026) were higher in the control subjects with the GA+AA genotype when compared with the GG genotype. Among the T2DM subjects, there was no significant difference in any of the clinical or biochemical parameters between the GG and GA+AA genotypes of SNP-43. Normoglycemic subjects carrying the 2R/3R+3R/3R genotypes of SNP-19 had significantly lower HDL-C (p = 0.034) as compared with those with the 2R/2R genotype. In T2DM subjects, no significant difference was found in any of the clinical or biochemical parameters between 2R/2R and 2R/3R+3R/3R genotypes. T2DM subjects carrying the CT+TT genotypes of SNP-63 variation had significantly higher LDL-C (p = 0.015) as compared with those with the CC genotype. In normoglycemic subjects, no significant difference was found in any of the clinical or biochemical parameters between CC and CT+TT genotypes. CONCLUSIONS Our findings revealed that there is an association between the SNP-43, but not SNP-19 and -63, and T2DM in the Kurdish ethnic group of West Iran.
Education and Research

2013–present Research Fellow, University of Warwick 2012–2013 Young Researcher, MTA Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics 2009–2012 PhD in Pure Mathematics, Eötvös Loránd Univ, Budapest, superv: László Lovász 2008–2009 Research assistant, Department of Mathematics, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) 2003–2008 Student and Masters in mathematics at ELTE, specialized in Computational Complexity Theory, Information Theory, Integer Programming and Operations Research 2003–2012 member of ELTE Bolyai College (the elite college of ELTE Faculty of Science)
Neural correlates of auditory temporal predictions during sensorimotor synchronization

Musical ensemble performance requires temporally precise interpersonal action coordination. To play in synchrony, ensemble musicians presumably rely on anticipatory mechanisms that enable them to predict the timing of sounds produced by co-performers. Previous studies have shown that individuals differ in their ability to predict upcoming tempo changes in paced finger-tapping tasks (indexed by cross-correlations between tap timing and pacing events) and that the degree of such prediction influences the accuracy of sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) and interpersonal coordination in dyadic tapping tasks. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the neural correlates of auditory temporal predictions during SMS in a within-subject design. Hemodynamic responses were recorded from 18 musicians while they tapped in synchrony with auditory sequences containing gradual tempo changes under conditions of varying cognitive load (achieved by a simultaneous visual n-back working-memory task comprising three levels of difficulty: observation only, 1-back, and 2-back object comparisons). Prediction ability during SMS decreased with increasing cognitive load. Results of a parametric analysis revealed that the generation of auditory temporal predictions during SMS recruits (1) a distributed network of cortico-cerebellar motor-related brain areas (left dorsal premotor and motor cortex, right lateral cerebellum, SMA proper and bilateral inferior parietal cortex) and (2) medial cortical areas (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex). While the first network is presumably involved in basic sensory prediction, sensorimotor integration, motor timing, and temporal adaptation, activation in the second set of areas may be related to higher-level social-cognitive processes elicited during action coordination with auditory signals that resemble music performed by human agents.
CO 2-induced ion and fluid transport in human retinal pigment epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a polarized monolayer of cells that forms a part of the blood–retina barrier in the back of the vertebrate eye. This epithelium separates the choroidal blood supply from the extracellular or subretinal space (SRS) that surrounds the retinal photoreceptors. By transporting ions and fluid from the SRS to the choroid (Hughes et al., 1998; Maminishkis et al., 2002), the RPE plays a critical role in maintaining the volume and chemical composition of the SRS. Large amounts of CO2 and H2O are deposited into the SRS due to the high metabolic activity of the photoreceptors (Wangsa-Wirawan and Linsenmeier, 2003). The high choroidal blood flow, ≈1,200 ml/min/100 g (Alm and Bill, 1987), provides a sink for the removal of these metabolites. Failure to remove CO2 would result in acidosis detrimental to retinal function (Sillman et al., 1972; Meyertholen et al., 1986; Takahashi et al., 1993). In addition, abnormal accumulation of fluid in the SRS can cause retinal detachment and degeneration (Fisher et al., 2005).
Stability Analysis of T–S Fuzzy Control Systems by Using Set Theory

This paper is concerned with the stability analysis for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy control systems. By exploiting the property of the structure of a fuzzy inference engine, an equivalence relation on the index set of the product of fuzzy rule weights is defined. Furthermore, a new stability criterion is proposed by using the equivalence relation and formulated into progressively less-conservative sets of linear matrix inequalities. By using an extension of Pólya's theorem, the new criterion is proved to be with no conservatism for quadratic stability analysis of T-S fuzzy control systems with a product inference engine and any possible fuzzy membership functions. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
α-Synuclein Alters Toll-Like Receptor Expression

Parkinson's disease, an age-related neurodegenerative disorder, is characterized by the loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, the accumulation of α-synuclein in Lewy bodies and neurites, and neuroinflammation. While the exact etiology of sporadic Parkinson's disease remains elusive, a growing body of evidence suggests that misfolded α-synuclein promotes inflammation and oxidative stress resulting in neurodegeneration. α-Synuclein has been directly linked to microglial activation in vitro and increased numbers of activated microglia have been reported in an α-synuclein overexpressing mouse model prior to neuronal loss. However, the mechanism by which α-synuclein incites microglial activation has not been fully described. Microglial activation is governed in part, by pattern recognition receptors that detect foreign material and additionally recognize changes in homeostatic cellular conditions. Upon proinflammatory pathway initiation, activated microglia contribute to oxidative stress through release of cytokines, nitric oxide, and other reactive oxygen species, which may adversely impact adjacent neurons. Here we show that microglia are directly activated by α-synuclein in a classical activation pathway that includes alterations in the expression of toll-like receptors. These data suggest that α-synuclein can act as a danger-associated molecular pattern.
Visual Subliminal Cues for Spatial Augmented Reality

Augmented reality systems commonly employ overt cueing to direct a user's attention and guide their actions. Spatial augmented reality based supraliminal annotations have been shown to improve user performance compared to LCD screens. This paper explores subliminal cues: annotations that exist below the threshold of consciousness. We investigate whether subliminal cueing is technically possible with standard data projectors, and if subliminal cues can further improve users' reaction time in procedural tasks. This paper describes a new technique for temporal subliminal cues in spatial augmented reality, and presents the results of three user studies evaluating the effectiveness of this technique in a button-pressing task. The results show that the presentation of annotations is indeed subliminal, in that the visual stimulus was not perceivable to users. We found a statistically significant improvement in task performance when using subliminal cues and supraliminal annotations, compared to supraliminal annotations alone, with mean trial times improving from 633.49ms to 604.64ms.
A neural network model for predicting aquifer water level elevations

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were developed for accurately predicting potentiometric surface elevations (monitoring well water level elevations) in a semiconfined glacial sand and gravel aquifer under variable state, pumping extraction, and climate conditions. ANNs “learn” the system behavior of interest by processing representative data patterns through a mathematical structure analogous to the human brain. In this study, the ANNs used the initial water level measurements, production well extractions, and climate conditions to predict the final water level elevations 30 d into the future at two monitoring wells. A sensitivity analysis was conducted with the ANNs that quantified the importance of the various input predictor variables on final water level elevations. Unlike traditional physical‐based models, ANNs do not require explicit characterization of the physical system and related physical data. Accordingly, ANN predictions were made on the basis of more easily quantifiable, measured variables, rather than physical model input parameters and conditions. This study demonstrates that ANNs can provide both excellent prediction capability and valuable sensitivity analyses, which can result in more appropriate ground water management strategies.
Selective activation of protein kinase C∊ in mitochondria is neuroprotective in vitro and reduces focal ischemic brain injury in mice

Activation of protein kinase C∊ (PKC∊) confers protection against neuronal ischemia/reperfusion. Activation of PKC∊ leads to its translocation to multiple intracellular sites, so a mitochondria‐selective PKC∊ activator was used to test the importance of mitochondrial activation to the neuroprotective effect of PKC∊. PKC∊ can regulate key cytoprotective mitochondrial functions, including electron transport chain activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, mitochondrial permeability transition, and detoxification of reactive aldehydes. We tested the ability of mitochondria‐selective activation of PKC∊ to protect primary brain cell cultures or mice subjected to ischemic stroke. Pretreatment with either general PKC∊ activator peptide, TAT‐Ψ∊RACK, or mitochondrial‐selective PKC∊ activator, TAT‐Ψ∊HSP90, reduced cell death induced by simulated ischemia/reperfusion in neurons, astrocytes, and mixed neuronal cultures. The protective effects of both TAT‐Ψ∊RACK and TAT‐Ψ∊HSP90 were blocked by the PKC∊ antagonist ∊V1–2, indicating that protection requires PKC∊ interaction with its anchoring protein, TAT‐∊RACK. Further supporting a mitochondrial mechanism for PKC∊, neuroprotection by TAT‐Ψ∊HSP90 was associated with a marked delay in mitochondrial membrane depolarization and significantly attenuated ROS generation during ischemia. Importantly, TAT‐Ψ∊HSP90 reduced infarct size and reduced neurological deficit in C57/BL6 mice subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion and 24 hr of reperfusion. Thus selective activation of mitochondrial PKC∊ preserves mitochondrial function in vitro and improves outcome in vivo, suggesting potential therapeutic value clinically when brain ischemia is anticipated, including neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bench‐top testing of suction forces generated through endoscopic ultrasound‐guided aspiration needles

Adequate needle size and tissue acquisition techniques for endoscopic ultrasound‐guided fine needle aspiration (EUS‐FNA) need further elucidation. Moreover, the actual negative pressure and suction forces of FNA needles remain unknown. We evaluated the suction forces of 19‐gauge, 22‐gauge, and 25‐gauge conventional FNA needles and side hole aspiration needles using conventional negative pressure and the slow pull technique.