Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inferior temporal cortex: where visual perception meets memory.

The neural processes that lead to visual perception and memory, thus subserving the identification of objects, have been assigned to the multi­ synaptic occipito-temporo-limbic projection that interconnects the striate, prestriate, inferior temporal, and hippocampal cortices (Gross 1972; Maunsell & Newsome 1987; Mishkin et al 1983). Recent advances in our understanding of the organization of the extra striate cortex revealed a mosaic of more than 25 visual areas beyond the striate cortex (Felleman & Van Essen 1991; Van Essen 1985; Zeki & Shipp 1988). The physical properties of a visuaJ object (such as its size, color, texture, and shape) are analyzed in the multiple subdivisions of the prestriate-posterior temporal complex. The anterior part of inferior temporal cortex has been hypo­ thesized not only to synthesize the analyzed attributes into a unique con­ figuration, but also to work as the storehouse for central representations of the objects (Mishkin 1982; Weiskrantz & Saunders 1984). The supporting evidence for this hypothesis has mainly been given by neuropsychological approaches (Milner 1990; Squire & Zola-Morgan 1991; Weiskrantz 1990). Recently, neuronal correlates of the visual long-term memory were found: The temporal-lobe neurons could reflect learned associative relations among stimuli (Miyashita 1988; Sakai & Miyashita 1991). The findings on this associational mechanism, together with that on the feature selectivity
Germline Variants in Asporin Vary by Race, Modulate the Tumor Microenvironment, and Are Differentially Associated with Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Prostate cancers incite tremendous morbidity upon metastatic growth. We previously identified Asporin (ASPN) as a potential mediator of metastatic progression found within the tumor microenvironment. ASPN contains an aspartic acid (D)-repeat domain and germline polymorphisms in D-repeat-length have been associated with degenerative diseases. Associations of germline ASPN D polymorphisms with risk of prostate cancer progression to metastatic disease have not been assessed. Experimental Design: Germline ASPN D-repeat-length was retrospectively analyzed in 1,600 men who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer and in 548 noncancer controls. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to test the associations of ASPN variations with risk of subsequent oncologic outcomes, including metastasis. Orthotopic xenografts were used to establish allele- and stroma-specific roles for ASPN D variants in metastatic prostate cancer. Results: Variation at the ASPN D locus was differentially associated with poorer oncologic outcomes. ASPN D14 [HR, 1.72; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–2.81, P = 0.032] and heterozygosity for ASPN D13/14 (HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.03–3.35, P = 0.040) were significantly associated with metastatic recurrence, while homozygosity for the ASPN D13 variant was significantly associated with a reduced risk of metastatic recurrence (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.21–0.94, P = 0.035) in multivariable analyses. Orthotopic xenografts established biologic roles for ASPN D14 and ASPN D13 variants in metastatic prostate cancer progression that were consistent with patient-based data. Conclusions: We observed associations between ASPN D variants and oncologic outcomes, including metastasis. Our data suggest that ASPN expressed in the tumor microenvironment is a heritable modulator of metastatic progression. Clin Cancer Res; 22(2); 448–58. ©2015 AACR.
Heat of the Moment: Characterizing the Efficacy of Thermal Camera-Based Attacks

In this paper, we examine the potential of using a thermal camera to recover codes typed into keypads in a variety of scenarios. This attack has the advantage over using a conventional camera that the codes do not need to be captured while they are being typed and can instead be recovered for a short period afterwards. To get the broadest sense of how effective such an attack might be, we consider a number of variables: the material of the keypad, the user entering the code, the distance from the camera to the keypad, and the possible methods used to analyze the data. First, we present code recovery results from human review of our test data set; this provides us with a baseline for the overall effectiveness of thermal camera-based attacks. Second, using techniques from computer vision we automatically extract the code from raw camera data, thus demonstrating that this attack has the potential to scale well in practice. As we will see, both human and automated attacks are by and large successful in recovering the keys present in the code, even a full minute after they have been pressed; both methods are also able to determine the exact code (i.e., including the order in which the keys were pressed) for a smaller fraction of codes. Even without ordering, however, the search space of possible keys is still vastly reduced by knowing the keys pressed; for example, the search space is reduced from 10,000 possible codes to approximately 24 for a 4-digit code. In large-scale attacks involving many unique codes, such as on ATM PINs, our success rate indicates that an adversary can correctly recover enough codes to make such an attack economically viable.
Age and Ethnicity Differences in Short-Term Heart-Rate Variability

Objective: Hypertension is more frequent and more severe in older individuals and in African Americans. Differences in autonomic nervous system activity might contribute to these differences. Autonomic effects on the heart can be studied noninvasively through analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). We examined the effects of age and ethnicity on HRV. Methods: We studied 135 subjects (57 African Americans and 78 Caucasian Americans), aged 23 to 54 years. Using their surface electrocardiogram (ECG) data, we calculated the HRV indices with spectral analyses. High frequency (HF) power was used to index parasympathetic activity, whereas the ratio of low to high frequency power (LF/HF) was used to index sympathovagal balance. Results: Three HRV indices (HF, LF power, and LF/HF) were significantly related to age in Caucasian Americans but not in African Americans. The effect of age, ethnicity, and the age-by-ethnicity interaction on HF and LF power was significant, even after controlling for gender, body mass index, and blood pressure. Conclusions: Young African Americans manifested a pattern of HRV response similarly to older Caucasian Americans. These results suggest that young African American individuals might show signs of premature aging in their autonomic nervous system. HRV = heart rate variability; HF = high frequency; LF = low frequency; AA = African Americans; CA = Caucasian Americans; BP = blood pressure; ECG = electrocardiogram; BMI = body mass index; ARIC = Atherosclerosis Risks in Communities.
Frozen ponds: production and storage of methane during the Arctic winter in a lowland tundra landscape in northern Siberia, Lena River delta

Abstract. Lakes and ponds play a key role in the carbon cycle of permafrost ecosystems, where they are considered to be hotspots of carbon dioxide CO2 and methane CH4 emission. The strength of these emissions is, however, controlled by a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes whose responses to a warming climate are complex and only poorly understood. Small waterbodies have been attracting an increasing amount of attention since recent studies demonstrated that ponds can make a significant contribution to the CO2 and CH4emissions of tundra ecosystems. Waterbodies also have a marked effect on the thermal state of the surrounding permafrost; during the freezing period they prolong the period of time during which thawed soil material is available for microbial decomposition. This study presents net CH4 production rates during the freezing period from ponds within a typical lowland tundra landscape in northern Siberia. Rate estimations were based on CH4 concentrations measured in surface lake ice from a variety of waterbody types. Vertical profiles along ice blocks showed an exponential increase in CH4 concentration with depth. These CH4 profiles were reproduced by a 1-D mass balance model and the net CH4 production rates were then inferred through inverse modeling. Results revealed marked differences in early winter net CH4 production among various ponds. Ponds situated within intact polygonal ground structures yielded low net production rates, of the order of 10-11 to 10-10 mol m-2 s-1 (0.01 to 0.14 mgCH4 m-2 day-1). In contrast, ponds exhibiting clear signs of erosion yielded net CH4 production rates of the order of 10-7 mol m-2 s-1 (140 mg CH4 m-2 day-1). Our results therefore indicate that once a particular threshold in thermal erosion has been crossed, ponds can develop into major CH4 sources. This implies that any future warming of the climate may result in nonlinear CH4 emission behavior in tundra ecosystems.
Using statistical methods to create a bilingual dictionary

A probabilistic bilingual dictionary assigns to each possible translation a probability measure to indicate how likely the translation is. This master's thesis covers a method to compile a probabilistic bilingual dictionary, (or bilingual lexicon), from a parallel corpus (i.e. large documents that are each others translation). Two research questions are answered in this thesis. In which way can statistical methods applied to bilingual corpora be used to create the bilingual dictionary? And, what can be said about the performance of the created bilingual dictionary in a multilingual document retrieval system? To build the dictionary, we used a statistical algorithm called the EM-algorithm. The EM-algorithm was first used to analyse parallel corpora at IBM in 1990. In this thesis we took a new approach as we developed an EM-algorithm that compiles a bi-directional dictionary. We believe that there are two good reasons to conduct a bi-directional approach instead of a uni-directional approach. First, a bi- directional dictionary will need less space than two uni- directional dictionaries. Secondly, we believe that a bi- directional approach will lead to better estimates of the translation probabilities than the uni-directional approach. We have not yet theoretical proof that our symmetric EM-algorithm is indeed correct. However we do have preliminary results that indicate better performance of our EM-algorithm compared to the algorithm developed at IBM.
Proteomic Study Related to Vascular Connections in Watermelon Scions Grafted onto Bottle-Gourd Rootstock under Different Light Intensities

Although grafting is broadly used in the production of crops, no information is available about the proteins involved in vascular connections between rootstock and scion. Similarly, proteome changes under the light intensities widely used for grafted seedlings are of practical use. The objective of this study was to determine the proteome of vascular connections using watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.) ‘Sambok Honey’ and ‘Speed’ as the scion and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Stanld.) ‘RS Dongjanggun’ as the rootstock grown under different light intensities (25, 50, 75 and 100 μmol m−2 s−1). Our proteomic analysis revealed 24 and 27 differentially expressed proteins in ‘Sambok Honey’ and ‘Speed’, respectively, under different light intensities. The identified proteins were largely involved in ion binding, amino acid metabolism, transcriptional regulation and defense response. The enhancement of ion-binding, transcriptional regulation, amino acid metabolism, and defense response proteins suggests a strengthening of the connection between the rootstock and scion under high light intensity. Indeed, the accumulation of key enzymes in the biological processes described above appears to play an important role in the vascular connections of grafted seedlings. Moreover, it appears that 100 μmol m−2 s−1 results in better protein expression responses in grafted seedlings.
The Fates of Mutant Lineages and the Distribution of Fitness Effects of Beneficial Mutations in Laboratory Budding Yeast Populations

The outcomes of evolution are determined by which mutations occur and fix. In rapidly adapting microbial populations, this process is particularly hard to predict because lineages with different beneficial mutations often spread simultaneously and interfere with one another’s fixation. Hence to predict the fate of any individual variant, we must know the rate at which new mutations create competing lineages of higher fitness. Here, we directly measured the effect of this interference on the fates of specific adaptive variants in laboratory Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations and used these measurements to infer the distribution of fitness effects of new beneficial mutations. To do so, we seeded marked lineages with different fitness advantages into replicate populations and tracked their subsequent frequencies for hundreds of generations. Our results illustrate the transition between strongly advantageous lineages that decisively sweep to fixation and more moderately advantageous lineages that are often outcompeted by new mutations arising during the course of the experiment. We developed an approximate likelihood framework to compare our data to simulations and found that the effects of these competing beneficial mutations were best approximated by an exponential distribution, rather than one with a single effect size. We then used this inferred distribution of fitness effects to predict the rate of adaptation in a set of independent control populations. Finally, we discuss how our experimental design can serve as a screen for rare, large-effect beneficial mutations.
The Laplacian spectrum of graphs

The paper is essentially a survey of known results about the spectrum of the Laplacian matrix of graphs with special emphasis on the second smallest Laplacian eigenvalue λ 2 and its relation to numerous graph invariants, including connectivity, expanding properties, isoperimetric number, maximum cut, independence number, genus, diameter, mean distance, and bandwidth-type parameters of a graph. Some new results and generalizations are added.
A cross-cultural study examining support worker perceptions of youth bullying behaviour in educational settings: including school disciplinary methods and intervention strategies

The aim of this research was to examine the experiences and perceptions of support workers in the current sample from a cross-cultural perspective, as bullying research on an international level is lacking. Additionally, the realities and consequences of bullying behaviour for both the bully and the victim were explored. The study employed a phenomenological approach, with thematic analysis being the method used to analyse the 12 semi-structured asynchronous email interviews from participants from the United Kingdom (UK), South Africa (SA) and the United States of America (USA). Key themes which emerged were the perceptions that bullies are dominant characters who are influenced by the media and may experience familial issues. Victims are perceived to be easy targets that experience severe and long lasting health and academic issues. Furthermore, perceptions revealed that educational staff are primarily untrained to deal with bullying incidents. Another key theme was the idea that simplistic strategies (i.e. punishment) are ineffective in comparison to ecological strategies (i.e. the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program). However, when questioned further, results reveal reserved support at best for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. These themes are further discussed in relation to subthemes. One of the primary findings in the current study relates to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, variations of the success of this program in different cultural settings may be accredited to cultural differences. A key finding emerged as participants believe bullies suffer with interrupted concentration, however previous research indicates that only victims suffer with interrupted concentration. This is an important finding as it highlights an area that previous literature is lacking. This new finding could also be attributed to the changing nature of educational bullying behaviour. Results are further explored in relation to previous literature, and interventions are applied and discussed in relation to individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Unearthing the antecedents and consequences of bullying behaviour can inform future intervention strategies which could reduce the overall prevalence of bullying.
Stability of busulfan in frozen plasma and whole blood samples.

Busulfan is widely used as a component of myeloablative conditioning therapy for bone marrow transplantation (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Busulfan is most often used at a fixed total dose of 16 mg/kg. Wide interindividual variation in the bioavailability of busulfan has been recognized. Pharmacokinetic analyses to achieve target plasma concentrations and dose adjustments are increasingly being used to improve the outcome of bone marrow transplantation (6)(7)(8). Studies on busulfan kinetics have demonstrated that busulfan concentrations in stored plasma samples are stable for up to 3 months at −20 °C and that blood samples for busulfan analysis should be centrifuged within 3 h of collection and plasma frozen if not analyzed immediately (9)(10)(11). The stability of busulfan in blood and plasma samples stored for longer time periods and at lower temperatures has not been reported. Because pharmacokinetic analysis of busulfan requires collection of multiple samples at frequent intervals, such data will be useful in planning transport and analysis of blood and plasma samples. This study was undertaken to determine the stability of busulfan in whole blood samples stored up to 24 h at 4 °C and in plasma samples stored up to 2 years at −80 °C. Busulfan analysis was performed on plasma samples by HPLC as described previously (12). Briefly, busulfan in plasma was extracted with toluene and derivatized with 1 mol/L tetrafluorothiophenol …
Qualitative Inquiry in Education: The Continuing Debate

Part 1 Subjectivity and objectivity: subjectivity and objectivity - an objective inquiry, D.C. Phillips is naturalism a move away from positivism? materialist and feminist approaches to subjectivity in ethnographic research, Leslie G. Roman, Michael W. Apple commentary on the papers by Phillips and by Roman and Apple - subjectivity and objectivity, Egon G. Guba response to the commentary by Guba, D.C. Phillips. Part 2 Validity: on daffodils that come before the swallow dares, Madeleine R. Grumet on seeking - and rejecting - validity in qualitative research, Harry F. Wolcott commentray on the papers by Grumet and by Wolcott - looking for trouble - on the place of the ordinary in educational studies, Philip Jackson response to the commentary by Jackson, Madeleine R. Grumet. Part 3 Generalizability: generalizability and the single-case study, Robert Donmoyer increasingly the generalizability of qualitative research, Janet Ward Schofield commentary on the papers by Donmoyer and by Schofield - generalizing from case studies, Howard S. Becker. Part 4 Ethics: the ethics of qualitative research, Jonas F. Soltis ethics in qualitative field research - an individual perspective, Louis M. Smith commentary on the papers by Soltis and by Smith - toward a categorical imperative for qualitative research, Yvonna S. Lincoln response to the commentary by Lincoln, Jonas F. Soltis. Part 5 Uses of qualitative inquiry: using the narrative text as an occasion for conspiracy, Thomas E. Barone what can you learn from applesauce - a case of qualitative inquiry in use, Christopher M. Clark commentary on the papers by Barone and by Clark - animadversions and reflections on the uses of qualitative inquiry, Matthew B. Miles, A. Michael Huberman response to the commentary by Miles and Huberman, Thomas E. Barone. Part 6 Closing comments on a continuing debate, Elliot W. Eisner, Alan Peshkin.
Developmental changes in regional cerebral blood flow in fetal and newborn lambs.

Developmental changes in regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) were determined using radioactively labeled microspheres to measure flow to the cortex, brain stem, cerebellum, white matter, caudate nucleus, and choroid plexus in three groups of chronically catheterized lambs under physiological conditions: 90- to 100-day preterm fetal lambs (n = 14), 125- to 136-day near-term fetal lambs (n = 11), and newborn lambs 5-44 days old (n = 10). We continually monitored heart rate, central venous pressure, and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and periodically measured arterial blood O2 and CO2 tensions (PaO2, PaCO2, respectively), pH, hemoglobin, and oxygen saturation (SaO2). The regional CBF measurements (ml.100 g-1.min-1) revealed that in all three age groups the high flow areas are the choroid plexus and caudate nucleus, whereas the lowest flow area is the white matter. There is, however, a different hierarchy of regional CBF in utero (cortex less than cerebellum and brain stem) compared with extrauterine life in the newborn lamb (cortex and cerebellum greater than brain stem). Analysis of regional cerebral oxygen delivery [CBF times arterial oxygen content (CaO2)] demonstrated a progressively increasing oxygen transport to the cortex with increasing gestational maturity and after birth. Oxygen transport to the brain stem, cerebellum, and white matter increased with gestational age, but did not increase after birth. Relationships between regional CBF and natural physiological variations of cardiorespiratory parameters (PaO2, SaO2, CaO2, pH, PaCO2, and MAP) were assessed using regression analysis. Correlations of regional CBF with PaO2 and SaO2 suggest that cerebral perfusion is not primarily determined by CaO2 when variations occur within the physiological range. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)