Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
H ∞ Cluster Synchronization for a Class of Neutral Complex Dynamical Networks with Markovian Switching

H ∞ cluster synchronization problem for a class of neutral complex dynamical networks (NCDNs) with Markovian switching is investigated in this paper. Both the retarded and neutral delays are considered to be interval mode dependent and time varying. The concept of H ∞ cluster synchronization is proposed to quantify the attenuation level of synchronization error dynamics against the exogenous disturbance of the NCDNs. Based on a novel Lyapunov functional, by employing some integral inequalities and the nature of convex combination, mode delay-range-dependent H ∞ cluster synchronization criteria are derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities which depend not only on the disturbance attenuation but also on the initial values of the NCDNs. Finally, numerical examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.
Aberrant actin depolymerization triggers the pyrin inflammasome and autoinflammatory disease that is dependent on IL-18, not IL-1β

Kim et al. identify an autoinflammatory disease in mice that is driven by IL-18, resulting from an inactivating mutation in the actin-depolymerizing cofactor Wdr1. This alteration in actin dynamics is recognized by the pyrin inflammasome and results in exaggerated monocyte IL-18 production, whereas inflammasome activation in mature macrophages is unaltered.
Subtropical cells and meridional overturning circulation pathways in the tropical Atlantic

[1] Pathways of subtropical cells (STCs) and the basin-wide meridional overturning circulation (MOC) are studied in the tropical Atlantic using a particle tracking algorithm and transports from a high-resolution ocean model. Here 16 Sv (=106 m3 s−1) of MOC water flows to the equator from the south, primarily in the North Brazil Current. The MOC water recirculates in the tropics and, after crossing the equator about half of it, stays along the western boundary and the other half loops in a cyclonic circulation northward to join the North Equatorial Current. The STC on the Southern Hemisphere has a strength of 4 Sv. The northern STC has a strength of 1.5 Sv; it is confined to the retroflection area close to the equator and it contains primarily MOC water. In total, 5.5 Sv of MOC water entrains into the mixed layer in the tropical Atlantic. Here 2 Sv of MOC water recirculates in the southern STC and 1.5 Sv in the northern STC. The STCs are weaker than suggested from observations, but the interior flows in the model compare well to observations. The heat transport divergence that is associated with warming of MOC water masses between 10°S and 10°N is 0.22 PW (=1015W). The fresh water transport divergence of MOC water masses in the tropical Atlantic is 0.16 Sv. It is concluded that the MOC can substantially affect the tropical circulation, but the tropical circulation itself can also affect MOC properties.
Effect of osmotic pressure on the production of retroviral vectors: Enhancement in vector stability

The use of Moloney murine leukaemia virus (MoMLV) derived retroviral vectors in gene therapy requires the production of high titer preparations. However, obtaining high titers of infective MoMLV retroviral vectors is difficult due to the vector inherent instability. In this work the effect of the cell culture medium osmotic pressure upon the virus stability was studied. The osmolality of standard medium was raised from 335 up to 500 mOsm/kg using either ionic (sodium chloride) or non‐ionic osmotic agents (sorbitol and fructose). It was observed that, independently of the osmotic agent used, the infectious vector inactivation rate was inversely correlated with the osmolality used in the production media; therefore, the use of high medium osmolalities enhanced vector stability. For production purposes a balance must be struck between cell yield, cell productivity and retroviral stability. From the conditions tested herein sorbitol addition, ensuring osmolalities between 410 and 450 mOsm/kg, yields the best production conditions; NaCl hampered the viral infectious production while fructose originates lower cell yields. Lipid extractions were performed for cholesterol and phospholipid analyses showing that more stable viral vectors had a 10% reduction in the cholesterol content. A similar reduction in cholesterol was observed in the producer cells. A detailed analysis of the major phospholipids composition, type and fatty acid content, by mass spectrometry did not show significant changes, confirming the decrease in the cholesterol to phospholipids ratio in the viral membrane as the major reason for the increased vector stability. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Active Learning for Decision Making

This paper addresses focused information acquisition for predictive data mining. Asbusinesses strive to cater to the preferences of individual consumers, they often employpredictive models to customize marketing efforts. Building accurate models requiresinformation about consumer preferences that often is costly to acquire. Prior research hasintroduced many â active learningâ policies for identifying information that is particularlyuseful for model induction, the goal being to reduce the acquisition cost necessary to inducea model with a given accuracy. However, predictive models often are used as part of adecision-making process, and costly improvements in model accuracy do not always result inbetter decisions. This paper develops a new approach for active information acquisition thattargets decision-making specifically. The method we introduce departs from the traditionalerror-reducing paradigm and places emphasis on acquisitions that are more likely to affectdecision-making. Empirical evaluations with direct marketing data demonstrate that for afixed information acquisition cost the method significantly improves the targeting decisions.The method is designed to be genericâ not based on a single model or inductionalgorithmâ and we show that it can be applied effectively to various predictive modelingtechniques.
Disengaged, exhaustive, benevolent: Three distinct strategies of mate retention

Mate retention behaviors are designed to reduce the risk of partner infidelity or relationship defection. In the current research, we used k-means cluster analysis to identify distinct strategies of mate retention behaviors. Participants were 637 individuals (56.3% male) in a romantic relationship with an opposite-sex individual for at least 3 months (M = 78.7; SD = 95.8) and aged between 18 and 70 years (M = 29.3, SD = 10.5). Participants completed the Mate Retention Inventory–Short Form. The results suggested three distinct mate retention clusters or strategies: (1) Disengaged (infrequent use of both benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors), (2) Exhaustive (frequent use of both benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors), and (3) Benevolent (frequent use of benefit-provisioning and infrequent use of cost-inflicting behaviors). The results also indicated, for example, that men more than women use a benevolent strategy, women more than men use a disengaged strategy, and men using an exhaustive strategy report being less physically intimate with their partners than men using a benevolent strategy. We discuss the results with reference to evolutionary hypotheses of mate retention, and we highlight limitations of the current research and important directions for future research.
Studies of NMDA Receptor Function and Stoichiometry with Truncated and Tandem Subunits

The subunits that compose eukaryotic glutamate ion channel receptors have three transmembrane domains (TMs) and terminate with intracellular tails that are important for controlling channel expression and localization. Truncation of NMDA receptor subunits before the final TM showed that this TM and intracellular tail region are necessary to form functional channels. However, it is shown here that these truncated subunits may be partially rescued by coexpressing the final TM and tail as a separate protein. The whole-cell currents so produced are somewhat lower than with full-length subunits, and they do not show the sag characteristic of currents from channels containing NR1 and NR2A subunits in the continued presence of an agonist. In addition, these truncated subunits were joined to full-length subunits to generate tandems. The functional expression of these tandems confirmed the tetrameric structure of NMDA receptors and also suggested that the subunits making up NMDA receptors are arranged as a dimer of dimers in the receptors with a 1-1-2-2 orientation of the subunits in the channel, and not in an alternating pattern of subunits around the pore. These results may redirect future studies into the mechanism of binding and gating in these receptors toward schemes including dimers, and may also be relevant to studies of glutamate receptor ion channels in general.
Recovering 3-D Shape: Roles of Absolute and Relative Disparity, Retinal Size, and Viewing Distance as Studied with Reverse-Perspective Stimuli

When viewing reverspective stimuli, data-driven signals such as disparity, motion parallax, etc, help to recover veridical three-dimensional (3-D) shape. They compete against schema-driven influences such as experience with perspective, foreshortening, and other pictorial cues that favor the perception of an illusory depth inversion. We used three scaled-size versions of a reverspective to study the roles of retinal size, binocular disparity, and viewing distance—that influences both vergence and accommodation—in recovering the true 3-D shape. Experiment 1 used three conditions, in each of which a parameter was kept fixed across the three stimulus sizes: (a) fixed retinal size, (b) fixed viewing distance, (c) fixed disparity. The predominance of the veridical percept was recorded. Generally, the illusion strength was the same when the viewing distance was fixed, despite significantly different disparities and retinal sizes; conversely, illusion strength changed significantly in fixed-disparity and fixed-retinal-size conditions. Experiment 2 confirmed the results of experiment 1b (roughly equal performances for fixed viewing distance, independent of size) for two additional distances. Viewing distance and “scaled disparity” (disparity divided by retinal size) are good predictors of the data trends. We propose that disparity scaling is supported by both mathematical and 3-D shape considerations.
Neuropsychological Generation of Source Amnesia: An Episodic Memory Disorder of the Frontal Brain

Source amnesia is an explicit memory (declarative) disorder, particularly episodic, where source or contextual information concerning facts is severely distorted and/or unable to be recalled. This paper reviews the literature on source amnesia, including memory distrust syndrome, and its accepted correlation with the medial diencephalic system and the temporal lobes, and the suggested linkage between the frontal lobes, including special interest with the prefrontal cortex. Posthypnotic induction was the first presentation of source amnesia identified in the literature. The Wisconsin Cart Sorting Test (WCST), Positron Emission Topography (PET), Phonemic Verbal Fluency Test, Stroop Color Word Interference Test, and explicit and implicit memory tests are defined and linked to empirical research on amnesiacs.
Capital Structures in Developing Countries Eighth draft October 1999

This study uses a new data set to assess whether capital structure theory is portable across countries with different institutional structures. We analyze capital structure choices of firms in ten developing countries, and provide evidence that these decisions are affected by the same variables as in developed countries. However, there are persistent differences across countries, indicating that specific country factors are at work. Our findings suggest that although some of the insights from modern finance theory are portable across countries, much remains to be done to understand the impact of different institutional features on capital structure choices.
A Model for Spontaneous Onset of Fast Magnetic Reconnection

We present a model for the spontaneous onset of fast magnetic reconnection in a weakly collisional plasma, such as the solar corona. When sheared magnetic fields in the corona undergo collisional (Sweet-Parker) reconnection, a narrow dissipation region forms around the X-line. This dissipation region dynamically becomes narrower during the reconnection process as stronger magnetic fields are convected toward the X-line. When the dissipation region becomes thinner than the ion skin depth, resistive magnetohydrodynamics breaks down as the Hall effect becomes important, and the Sweet-Parker solution ceases to exist. A transition to collisionless (Hall) reconnection ensues, increasing the reconnection rate by many orders of magnitude in a very short time. Predictions of the model are consistent with constraints set by observations of solar flares.
Stimulus-preceding negativity is modulated by action-outcome contingency

We investigated the relationship between action-outcome contingency and stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN), a motivationally sensitive event-related potential. Neuroimaging studies have shown that insular cortex (a known source of the SPN) is more activated prior to rewards that are contingent on prior correct action than rewards that are given gratuitously. We compared two gambling tasks, one in which the participant attempted to guess the profitable key-press option (choice) and one in which rewards were simply given at random (no-choice). The SPN that developed in anticipation of feedback was larger in the choice condition, especially at right anterolateral sites. These findings suggest that the SPN specifically reflects the expectation of response reinforcement, rather than anticipatory attention toward emotionally salient stimuli.
(Un)Hidden Figures: A Synthesis of Research Examining the Intersectional Experiences of Black Women and Girls in STEM Education

In this chapter, we argue that intersectionality is a theoretical and methodological framework by which education researchers can critically examine why and how students in STEM fields who are members of intersecting marginalized groups have distinctive experiences related to their social identities, other psychological processes, and educational outcomes. Taken separately, the bodies of education research focused on the experiences of Black students and female students in STEM fields often render Black women and girls “hidden figures” in that they have not sufficiently addressed their simultaneous racialized and gendered experiences in educational contexts. Additionally, we find that the current discourse on intersectionality is limited in that it does not attend to key psychological processes associated with identity and the intersectional experience in STEM education. We take a theoretical and methodological approach to examining intersectionality in STEM education and provide a new interpretation of the literature on Black women and girls in this social context. A synthesis of (N = 60) research studies revealed that (1) identity; (2) STEM interest, confidence, and persistence; (3) achievement, ability perceptions, and attributions; and (4) socializers and support systems are key themes within the experiences of Black women and girls in STEM education. Our analysis also highlights the ways that researchers have employed intersectionality to make the experiences of Black women and girls in STEM education more visible, or “unhidden. ” We discuss these findings from a psychological perspective and provide insights to guide future research and practice directions in STEM education.
Midline Frontal Cortex Low-Frequency Activity Drives Subthalamic Nucleus Oscillations during Conflict

Making the right decision from conflicting information takes time. Recent computational, electrophysiological, and clinical studies have implicated two brain areas as being crucial in assuring sufficient time is taken for decision-making under conditions of conflict: the medial prefrontal cortex and the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Both structures exhibit an elevation of activity at low frequencies (<10 Hz) during conflict that correlates with the amount of time taken to respond. This suggests that the two sites could become functionally coupled during conflict. To establish the nature of this interaction we recorded from deep-brain stimulation electrodes implanted bilaterally in the STN of 13 Parkinson's disease patients while they performed a sensory integration task involving randomly moving dots. By gradually increasing the number of dots moving coherently in one direction, we were able to determine changes in the STN associated with response execution. Furthermore, by occasionally having 10% of the dots move in the opposite direction as the majority, we were able to identify an independent increase in STN theta-delta activity triggered by conflict. Crucially, simultaneous midline frontal electroencephalographic recordings revealed an increase in the theta-delta band coherence between the two structures that was specific to high-conflict trials. Activity over the midline frontal cortex was Granger causal to that in STN. These results establish the cortico-subcortical circuit enabling successful choices to be made under conditions of conflict and provide support for the hypothesis that the brain uses frequency-specific channels of communication to convey behaviorally relevant information.
THE SUPPORT OF THE LOGARITHMIC EQUILIBRIUM MEASURE ON SETS OF REVOLUTION IN R 3

For surfaces of revolution B in R, we investigate the limit distribution of minimum energy point masses on B that interact according to the logarithmic potential log(1/r), where r is the Euclidean distance between points. We show that such limit distributions are supported only on the “out-most” portion of the surface (e.g., for a torus, only on that portion of the surface with positive curvature). Our analysis proceeds by reducing the problem to the complex plane where a non-singular potential kernel arises whose level lines are ellipses.
Impact of Sarcopenia in the Prognostic of Ressectable Esophageal Cancer

Background: Sarcopenia is an important prognostic factor in oncologic patients. In Esophageal Cancer, sarcopenia is associated with increased postoperative morbidity; however, there is no a clear association with mortality. Purpose: To assess the impact of sarcopenia on morbidity and mortality, and evaluate the survival rates of patients who underwent curative esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 71 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma, treated between 1st January 2004 and 30th September 2017. In order to obtain the skeletal muscle index, L3 muscle area was assessed through Computed Tomography. T test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney test, Qui-squared test and Fisher’s test were used when pertinent, to compare the data from sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic groups. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression modeling. Results: Sarcopenia prevalence was 23.9% (17 patients). Patients with sarcopenia presented a mean muscle area of 138 cm2 (± 11.7), significantly lower than the nonsarcopenic group (t (64.02)=5.84, p<. 001, d=1.29), and a median skeletal muscle index of 49.3 cm2/m2 (3.46), significantly lower than the non-sarcopenic patients (U=58.0, p<.001, r=-.64). Sarcopenia was associated with a lower disease-free survival; however, it has not been a significant predictor when confounders were controlled. Conclusions: In this study, sarcopenia was not associated with a higher postoperative morbimortality neither with a lower disease-free and overall survival.
On Inverting the Koszul Complex

Let V be an n-dimensional vector space. We give a direct construction of an exact sequence that gives a GL(V)-equivariant “resolution” of each symmetric power S t V in terms of direct sums of tensor products of the form ∧ i 1 V ⊗···⊗ ∧ i p V. This exact sequence corresponds to inverting the relation in the representation ring of GL(V) that is described by the Koszul complex, and has appeared before in work by B. Totaro, analogously to a construction of K. Akin involving the normalized bar resolution. Our approach yields a concrete description of the differentials, and provides an alternate direct proof that .
Cytotoxic Effect of Ethanol Extract of Microalga, Chaetoceros calcitrans, and Its Mechanisms in Inducing Apoptosis in Human Breast Cancer Cell Line

Marine microalgae have been prominently featured in cancer research. Here, we examined cytotoxic effect and apoptosis mechanism of crude ethanol extracts of an indigenous microalga, Chaetoceros calcitrans (UPMAAHU10) on human breast cell lines. MCF-7 was more sensitive than MCF-10A with IC50 value of 3.00 ± 0.65, whilst the IC50 value of Tamoxifen against MCF-7 was 12.00 ± 0.52 μg/mL after 24 hour incubation. Based on Annexin V/Propidium iodide and cell cycle flow cytometry analysis, it was found that inhibition of cell growth by EEC on MCF-7 cells was through the induction of apoptosis without cell cycle arrest. The apoptotic cells at subG0/G1 phase in treated MCF-7 cells at 48 and 72 hours showed 34 and 16 folds increased compared to extract treated MCF-10A cells which showed only 6 and 7 folds increased at the same time points, respectively. Based on GeXP study, EEC induced apoptosis on MCF-7 cells via modulation of CDK2, MDM2, p21Cip1, Cyclin A2, Bax and Bcl-2. The EEC treated MCF-7 cells also showed an increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio that in turn activated the caspase-dependent pathways by activating caspase 7. Thus, marine microalga, Chaetoceros calcitrans may be considered a good candidate to be developed as a new anti-breast cancer drug.
Cortical Slow Oscillatory Activity Is Reflected in the Membrane Potential and Spike Trains of Striatal Neurons in Rats with Chronic Nigrostriatal Lesions

Neurons in the basal ganglia output nuclei display rhythmic burst firing after chronic nigrostriatal lesions. The thalamocortical network is a strong endogenous generator of oscillatory activity, and the striatum receives a massive projection from the cerebral cortex. Actually, the membrane potential of striatal projection neurons displays periodic shifts between a very negative resting potential (down state) and depolarizing plateaus (up states) during which they can fire action potentials. We hypothesized that an increased excitability of striatal neurons may allow transmission of cortical slow rhythms through the striatum to the remaining basal ganglia in experimental parkinsonism. In vivo intracellular recordings revealed that striatal projection neurons from rats with chronic nigrostriatal lesions had a more depolarized membrane potential during both the down and up states and an increased firing probability during the up events. Furthermore, lesioned rats had significantly fewer silent neurons than control rats. Simultaneous recordings of the frontal electrocorticogram and membrane potential of striatal projection neurons revealed that the signals were oscillating synchronously in the frequency range 0.4–2 Hz, both in control rats and rats with chronic nigrostriatal lesions. Spreading of the slow cortical rhythm is limited by the very low firing probability of control rat neurons, but a slow oscillation is well reflected in spike trains of ∼60% of lesioned rat neurons. These findings providein vivo evidence for a role of dopamine in controlling the flow of cortical activity through the striatum and may be of outstanding relevance for understanding the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease.