Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corticocortical Evoked Potentials Reveal Projectors and Integrators in Human Brain Networks

The cerebral cortex is composed of subregions whose functional specialization is largely determined by their incoming and outgoing connections with each other. In the present study, we asked which cortical regions can exert the greatest influence over other regions and the cortical network as a whole. Previous research on this question has relied on coarse anatomy (mapping large fiber pathways) or functional connectivity (mapping inter-regional statistical dependencies in ongoing activity). Here we combined direct electrical stimulation with recordings from the cortical surface to provide a novel insight into directed, inter-regional influence within the cerebral cortex of awake humans. These networks of directed interaction were reproducible across strength thresholds and across subjects. Directed network properties included (1) a decrease in the reciprocity of connections with distance; (2) major projector nodes (sources of influence) were found in peri-Rolandic cortex and posterior, basal and polar regions of the temporal lobe; and (3) major receiver nodes (receivers of influence) were found in anterolateral frontal, superior parietal, and superior temporal regions. Connectivity maps derived from electrical stimulation and from resting electrocorticography (ECoG) correlations showed similar spatial distributions for the same source node. However, higher-level network topology analysis revealed differences between electrical stimulation and ECoG that were partially related to the reciprocity of connections. Together, these findings inform our understanding of large-scale corticocortical influence as well as the interpretation of functional connectivity networks.
REVERSE MATHEMATICS, YOUNG DIAGRAMS, AND THE ASCENDING CHAIN CONDITION

Abstract Let S be the group of finitely supported permutations of a countably infinite set. Let $K[S]$ be the group algebra of S over a field K of characteristic 0. According to a theorem of Formanek and Lawrence, $K[S]$ satisfies the ascending chain condition for two-sided ideals. We study the reverse mathematics of this theorem, proving its equivalence over $RC{A_0}$ (or even over $RCA_0^{\rm{*}}$ ) to the statement that ${\omega ^\omega }$ is well ordered. Our equivalence proof proceeds via the statement that the Young diagrams form a well partial ordering.
Low-Frequency Variability in a Turbulent Baroclinic Jet: Eddy–Mean Flow Interactions in a Two-Level Model

Abstract The origin of low-frequency variability in the midlatitude jet is investigated using a two-level baroclinic channel model. The model state fields are separated into slow and fast components using intermediate time- scale averaging. In the equation for the fast variables the nonlinear wave–wave interactions are parameterized as a stochastic excitation. The slowly varying ensemble mean eddy fluxes obtained from the resulting stochastic turbulence model are coupled with the slowly varying mean flow dynamics. This forms a coupled set of deterministic equations on the slow time scale that governs the dynamics of the eddy–mean flow interaction. The equilibria of this coupled system are found as a function of the excitation strength, which controls the level of turbulence. At low levels of turbulence the equilibrated flow with zonally symmetric mean forcing remains zonally symmetric, but as excitation increases it undergoes zonal symmetry-breaking bifurcations. Time-dependent flows arising from these bi.
Gene-Environment Interaction Research and Transgenic Mouse Models of Alzheimer's Disease

1 School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 2 Department of Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA 3 Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK 4 Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
Contextual cueing by global features

In visual search tasks, attention can be guided to a target item, appearing amidst distractors, on the basis of simple features (e.g. find the red letter among green). Chun and Jiang's (1998) "contextual cueing" effect shows that RTs are also speeded if the spatial configuration of items in a scene is repeated over time. In these studies we ask if global properties of the scene can speed search (e.g. if the display is mostly red, then the target is at location X). In Experiment 1a, the overall background color of the display predicted the target location. Here the predictive color could appear 0, 400 or 800 msec in advance of the search array. Mean RTs are faster in predictive than in non-predictive conditions. However, there is little improvement in search slopes. The global color cue did not improve search efficiency. Experiments 1b-1f replicate this effect using different predictive properties (e.g. background orientation/texture, stimuli color etc.). The results show a strong RT effect of predictive background but (at best) only a weak improvement in search efficiency. A strong improvement in efficiency was found, however, when the informative background was presented 1500 msec prior to the onset of the search stimuli and when observers were given explicit instructions to use the cue (Experiment 2).
Effects of Water on Mortar-Brick Bond

The quality of bond in masonry is, to a large extent, a function of the (i) the hydration conditions and (ii) the mortar composition of the mortar-brick interface. For insight into the effects of these parameters on bond performance it is essential to dispose of quantitative information about water content changes and flow rates, occurring immediately after brick laying. This quantitative information is preferably to be obtained by means of a non-destructive testing. The paper describes the test set-up, the potentiality and the limitations of two measuring methods, using thermal neutrons, with which the required data can be acquired. Furthermore, an attempt is made to explain differences in bond performance of various brick-modar-brick combinations, using the results from neutron transmission measurements and X-ray diffraction testing.
Induction of lung adenomas following exposure of pregnant, newborn, and immature male mice to urethan.

In a recent publication (3) it was reported that, when pregnant mice near term were given injec- tions of urethan, and the young removed 1 or 5 hours thereafter, the offspring had developed numerous lung tumors by the age of 6 months. Inasmuch as the results suggested a rapid passage of carcinogen across the placenta, it was decided to confirm and extend this observation by reduc- ing the time between injection and cesarean de- livery to 5 minutes. Since the cesarean-delivered mice had been exposed to a mixture of 95 per cent 05 and 5 per cent COs, the possibility that this might have influenced tumorigenesis was inves- tigated. It has been suggested that the amount of lung tissue vulnerable to urethan increases with age (2). On the other hand, Rogers (5) reported that young mice were more susceptible than older ones to this carcinogen, while Klein (3) observed about the same degree of tumor susceptibility in urethan- ized mothers as in their offspring. In view of these conflicting results, the influence of age on lung tumorigenesis was re-examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS Albino mice related to strain A (3) and includ- ing pregnant females, newborn, and 47-day-old males were given one injection intraperitoneally of a 10 per cent solution of urethan in distilled water. The pregnant females (average weight, 37 gin.) each received 25 rag. of the carcinogen 19 days following discovery of a vaginal plug, while the newborn and 47-day-old male mice received 1 mg of urethan/gm body weight. Fetuses were removed by cesarean section and placed with untreated foster mothers of the same strain. Oper- ative procedures differed from those previously detailed (3) in that the delivered young were not exposed to a mixture of 95 per cent O2 and 5 per cent CO2. All mice were sacrificed 6 months follow- ing the administration of urethan, and the lungs
Role of neutrophil receptors in opsonophagocytosis of coagulase-negative staphylococci

The role of neutrophil complement receptors in the opsonophagocytosis of 10 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci was investigated. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes from adults as well as term and premature newborn infants were tested with normal human serum, adult hypogammaglobulinemic serum, and pooled premature infant serum in an opsonophagocytic assay. Neutrophils from premature infants demonstrated significantly lower killing capacity (62%) than neutrophils from adults (86%) or term infants (84%; P less than 0.02). Maximum inhibition of opsonophagocytosis by adult or infant neutrophils occurred with an FcIII receptor blockade (80%), whereas a blockade of complement receptors produced minimal inhibition. Opsonophagocytic activity for the coagulase-negative staphylococci was not influenced by the serum source but was influenced by reducing the serum concentration below 5%. Abrogation of the complement activity of normal human serum by heating or the addition of ethylenediamine tetraacetate reduced opsonophagocytosis by 100 and 96%, respectively, whereas selective inhibition of the classical complement pathway reduced opsonophagocytosis by only 40%. Thus, opsonophagocytosis of coagulase-negative staphylococci by human sera appears to be mediated primarily by neutrophil Fc receptors, but complement is also required. The inefficiency of these interactions with neutrophils from premature infants may partially explain the enhanced susceptibility of very-low-birth-weight neonates to disseminated, coagulase-negative staphylococcal infections.
A Unified Framework for Activity Recognition-Based Behavior Analysis and Action Prediction in Smart Homes

In recent years, activity recognition in smart homes is an active research area due to its applicability in many applications, such as assistive living and healthcare. Besides activity recognition, the information collected from smart homes has great potential for other application domains like lifestyle analysis, security and surveillance, and interaction monitoring. Therefore, discovery of users common behaviors and prediction of future actions from past behaviors become an important step towards allowing an environment to provide personalized service. In this paper, we develop a unified framework for activity recognition-based behavior analysis and action prediction. For this purpose, first we propose kernel fusion method for accurate activity recognition and then identify the significant sequential behaviors of inhabitants from recognized activities of their daily routines. Moreover, behaviors patterns are further utilized to predict the future actions from past activities. To evaluate the proposed framework, we performed experiments on two real datasets. The results show a remarkable improvement of 13.82% in the accuracy on average of recognized activities along with the extraction of significant behavioral patterns and precise activity predictions with 6.76% increase in F-measure. All this collectively help in understanding the users” actions to gain knowledge about their habits and preferences.
Dynamic Contracting: Accidents Lead to Nonlinear Contracts

We consider a dynamic multitask principal-agent model in which the agent allocates his resources on two tasks of different types: effort and accident prevention. We explicitly characterize the optimal contract as well as optimal effort and prevention actions applied by the agent. In contrast to the linear incentive scheme for effort, accident prevention leads to a log-linear punishment scheme if the agent is risk averse, becoming linear only if the agent is risk neutral. Both the sublinearity of the contract and the allocation of resources on the two tasks crucially depend on the risk aversion of the agent. Accident prevention ties up some of the agent's capacity and induces him to substitute resources away from effort to prevention.
Linking Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Current Uncertainties and the Necessary Next Steps

Understanding when biodiversity conservation and ecosystem-service maintenance are compatible is needed within the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Here, we evaluate current understanding and uncertainties of the effects of biodiversity change on selected ecosystem services and suggest ways to further understand the links between biodiversity change and ecosystem services. We reviewed experiments, observations, and syntheses on the effects of species richness on six ecosystem services: forage, timber, fisheries, climate regulation, agricultural pest control, and water quality. Establishing a direct link from biodiversity to ecosystem-service provision has often been precluded by limited data (i.e., the amount, consistency, or generality of the data) and a mismatch between the variables measured and the final ecosystem service that is relevant to stakeholders. We suggest that encompassing syntheses and a network of interdisciplinary experiments under realistic conditions could fill these gaps and could inform the outcomes of alternative management and policy scenarios within IPBES.
Disturbed eating behavior and eating disorders in preteen and early teenage girls with type 1 diabetes: a case-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence of eating disturbances in preteen and early teenage girls with type 1 diabetes to their nondiabetic peers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A cross-sectional, case-controlled study of 101 girls with type 1 diabetes, ages 9-14 years, and 303 age-matched, female nondiabetic control subjects was conducted. Participants completed a Children's Eating Disorder Examination interview. Socioeconomic status, BMI, and diabetes-related variables were assessed. Groups were compared using chi(2) analyses. RESULTS Binge eating; the use of intense, excessive exercise for weight control; the combination of two disturbed eating-related behaviors; and subthreshold eating disorders were all more common in girls with type 1 diabetes. Metabolic control was not related to eating behavior in this study population. CONCLUSIONS Eating disturbances, though mostly mild, were significantly more common in preteen and early teenage girls with type 1 diabetes. Screening and prevention programs for this high-risk group should begin in the preteen years.
Generalized Extreme Value Distribution parameters as Dynamical indicators of stability

We introduce a new dynamical indicator of stability based on the Extreme Value statistics showing that it provides an insight into the local stability properties of dynamical systems. The indicator performs faster than others based on the iteration of the tangent map since it requires only the evolution of the original systems and, in the chaotic regions, gives further information about the local information dimension of the attractor. A numerical validation of the method is presented through the analysis of the motions in the Standard map.
Polo-Like Kinase 1 as a Target for Human Cytomegalovirus pp65 Lower Matrix Protein

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) pp65 protein is the major constituent of viral dense bodies but is dispensable for viral growth in vitro. pp65 copurifies with a S/T kinase activity and has been implicated in phosphorylation of HCMV IE1 immediate-early protein and its escape from major histocompatibility complex 1 presentation. Furthermore, the presence of pp65 correlates with a virion-associated kinase activity. To clarify the role of pp65, yeast two-hybrid system (THS) screening was performed to identify pp65 cellular partners. A total of 18 out of 48 yeast clones harboring cDNAs for putative pp65 binding proteins encoded the Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) C-terminal domain. Plk1 behaved as a bona fide pp65 partner in THS control crosses, and the interaction was confirmed by in vitro binding experiments. Endogenous Plk1 was coimmunoprecipitated with pp65 from transiently transfected COS7 cells. In infected fibroblasts, Plk1 was coimmunoprecipitated with pp65 at late infection stages. Furthermore, Plk1 was detected within wild-type HCMV particles but not within the particles of a pp65-negative mutant (RVAd65). The hydrophilic region of pp65 was phosphorylated in vitro by Plk1. These results suggest that one function of pp65 may be to capture a cell kinase, perhaps in order to alter its activity, nucleotide preference, substrate specificity, or subcellular localization to the advantage of HCMV.
Reflection amplifier based on graphene

While RF transistor amplifiers—such as the field effect transistor (FET) amplifier which leverages its transconductance for amplification—are the key enablers of signal amplification in today's wireless communication; their ability to provide amplification degrades with increasing frequencies, thereby requiring multiple amplification stages which makes the device noisy, expensive and bigger in size. Owing to their broadband amplification capabilities, reflection-type amplifiers based on negative differential resistance (NDR) devices provide means to overcome these limitations. Herein, we propose a novel reflection amplifier circuit consisting of three graphene FETs (GFETs) which leverages its unique NDR characteristics. We show through rigorous simulation and modeling that broadband amplification exceeding several hundreds of GHz should be possible for the scaled graphene circuit. In addition, both the gain and frequency of operation can be highly modulated by varying the bias in the NDR region. Finally, we provide an experimental evidence of reflection amplification in the proposed circuit.
Genetic typing of CBL, ASXL1, RUNX1, TET2 and JAK2 in juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia reveals a genetic profile distinct from chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia

JMML and CMML are rare myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms occurring at both ends of life. To investigate relationships between JMML and CMML, genes recently involved in CMML were studied in 68 JMML patients. Mutations in TET2, RUNX1 and JAK2V617F are involved in myelodysplastic and/or myeloproliferative syndromes, and more specifically in CMML but were not found in JMML. Pangenomic analysis by SNP‐array showed no abnormality at these loci. Three frameshift mutations of ASXL1 leading to a truncated protein were found in three patients (4%) with late onset JMML displaying also RAS activating mutations. Homozygous mutations of CBL with 11q loss of heterozygosity were found in five (7%) JMML. CBL substitutions were different from those reported in CMML, exclusive from other RAS activating mutations, and were germline in all patients. Overall, the pattern of genetic lesions observed in JMML differed from that of CMML. Although signalling deregulation is involved in CMML, transcriptional deregulation seems to play a pivotal role, with mutation of RUNX1, ASXL1 or TET2. Conversely, none of these genes involved in transcription or chromatin remodelling was found to be significantly altered in JMML, while CBL mutations confirm the central role of RAS and growth factor signalling deregulation in JMML.
The RNA-binding protein Mex3b regulates the spatial organization of the Rap1 pathway

The four related mammalian MEX-3 RNA-binding proteins are evolutionarily conserved molecules for which the in vivo functions have not yet been fully characterized. Here, we report that male mice deficient for the gene encoding Mex3b are subfertile. Seminiferous tubules of Mex3b-deficient mice are obstructed as a consequence of the disrupted phagocytic capacity of somatic Sertoli cells. In addition, both the formation and the integrity of the blood-testis barrier are compromised owing to mislocalization of N-cadherin and connexin 43 at the surface of Sertoli cells. We further establish that Mex3b acts to regulate the cortical level of activated Rap1, a small G protein controlling phagocytosis and cell-cell interaction, through the activation and transport of Rap1GAP. The active form of Rap1 (Rap1-GTP) is abnormally increased at the membrane cortex and chemically restoring Rap1-GTP to physiological levels rescues the phagocytic and adhesion abilities of Sertoli cells. Overall, these findings implicate Mex3b in the spatial organization of the Rap1 pathway that orchestrates Sertoli cell functions.
Resistance of the Tick Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae) Following Challenge with the Bacterium Escherichia coli (Enterobacteriales: Enterobacteriaceae)

Abstract In addition to a soluble response, many invertebrates control bacterial infections by means of phagocytosis or melanotic encapsulation. In some insects, Escherichia coli growth is reported to be inhibited by aggregation/encapsulation. Soluble and phagocytic responses to bacterial challenge have been reported in ticks, but evidence of an aggregation/encapsulation response was reported only for inanimate (araldite) implants. Ticks were challenged by direct inoculation of bacteria into the hemocoel cavity. By plating, no viable E. coli were detected 6 h postinoculation. A direct fluorescence assay (DFA) revealed aggregated bacteria 1 h postinoculation. Furthermore, DFA showed aggregated bacteria at 6, 24, and 48 h postinoculation associated with masses of tissue, presumably of cellular origin, suggesting events similar to those described as nodulation. These findings suggest that encapsulation/nodulation may be an important component of the immune response in ticks.
Ms Pac-Man versus Ghost Team CEC 2011 competition

Games provide an ideal test bed for computational intelligence and significant progress has been made in recent years, most notably in games such as Go, where the level of play is now competitive with expert human play on smaller boards. Recently, a significantly more complex class of games has received increasing attention: real-time video games. These games pose many new challenges, including strict time constraints, simultaneous moves and open-endedness. Unlike in traditional board games, computational play is generally unable to compete with human players. One driving force in improving the overall performance of artificial intelligence players are game competitions where practitioners may evaluate and compare their methods against those submitted by others and possibly human players as well. In this paper we introduce a new competition based on the popular arcade video game Ms Pac-Man: Ms Pac-Man versus Ghost Team. The competition, to be held at the Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2011 for the first time, allows participants to develop controllers for either the Ms Pac-Man agent or for the Ghost Team and unlike previous Ms Pac-Man competitions that relied on screen capture, the players now interface directly with the game engine. In this paper we introduce the competition, including a review of previous work as well as a discussion of several aspects regarding the setting up of the game competition itself.