Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incremental linear discriminant analysis for classification of data streams

This paper presents a constructive method for deriving an updated discriminant eigenspace for classification when bursts of data that contains new classes is being added to an initial discriminant eigenspace in the form of random chunks. Basically, we propose an incremental linear discriminant analysis (ILDA) in its two forms: a sequential ILDA and a Chunk ILDA. In experiments, we have tested ILDA using datasets with a small number of classes and small-dimensional features, as well as datasets with a large number of classes and large-dimensional features. We have compared the proposed ILDA against the traditional batch LDA in terms of discriminability, execution time and memory usage with the increasing volume of data addition. The results show that the proposed ILDA can effectively evolve a discriminant eigenspace over a fast and large data stream, and extract features with superior discriminability in classification, when compared with other methods.
A Spindle Cell Predominant Pancreatic Solid-pseudopapillary Tumor

A hitherto unrecognized variant of solid-pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas is reported. The tumor presented in the pancreatic tail of a 44-year-old female patient. It was a well-defined, solid nodule measuring 25 mm in diameter, with homogenous tan gray cut surface. Histologically, the neoplasm was mostly composed of sheets of spindle cells. No cellular atypia and mitosis was identified. The periphery of the tumor showed typical feature of SPT. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, CD10, CD56, β-catenin, and α1-antichymotrypsin, but negative for cytokeratin, chromogranin, synaptophysin and S-100 protein. Ultrastructurally, the tumor showed a few acinar spaces with microvilli between tumor cells. This case is peculiar in that the tumor did not show gross cystic change and predominantly consists of spindle shaped tumor cells, so may cause difficult diagnostic problem.
Electrophysiological Responses to Errors and Feedback in the Process of Action Regulation

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is believed to be involved in the executive control of actions, such as in monitoring conflicting response demands, detecting errors, and evaluating the emotional significance of events. In this study, participants performed a task in which evaluative feedback was delayed, so that it was irrelevant to immediate response control but retained its emotional value as a performance indicator. We found that a medial frontal feedback-related negativity similar to the error-related negativity (ERN) tracked affective response to the feedback and predicted subsequent performance. Source analysis of the feedback-related negativity and ERN revealed a common dorsomedial ACC source and a rostromedial ACC source specific to the ERN. The oscillatory nature of these sources provides further evidence that the ERN reflects ongoing theta activity generated in the mediofrontal regions. These results suggest that action regulation by the cingulate gyrus may require the entrainment of multiple structures of the Papez corticolimbic circuit.
Dynamic Association between Intraocular Pressure and Spontaneous Pulsations of Retinal Veins

Purpose: The amplitude of spontaneous retinal venous pulsations (SRVP) is known to be affected by intraocular pressure (IOP), retinal venous pressure, and intracranial pressure (ICP). This study characterized SRVPs adjacent to the disc and quantified changes in the amplitude of these pulsations during IOP manipulation in normal subjects. Methods: The study included 12 subjects (40 ± 15, 4 females, 8 males). Baseline IOP (range 10–25 mmHg) was measured and SRVP recorded using the dynamic retinal vessel analyzer (DVA). IOP was lowered using aproclonidine 0.5% and measured every 15 min, followed by dynamic recording of SRVP. Two subjects were also tested with timolol 0.5%, and three were treated with a placebo drop. Mean amplitude of SRVP was determined within each sample at the same site. Blood pressure and heart rate were tracked continuously. Results: Amplitude of SRVP decreased in all subjects with reduction of IOP with aproclonidine and timolol. Mean SRVP amplitude was 8.5 ± 6 μm at baseline and reduced to 2.5 ± 1.8 μm after 45 min (p < 0.0001). IOP fell from 14.4 ± 2.6 mmHg to 10.2 ± 2.9 mmHg over the same period (p < 0.001). Venous diameter, blood pressure, and heart rate did not change significantly from the baseline. Analysis of waveforms showed a slight phase shift only (150 ± 78.5 ms, p = 0.93) between disc veins and adjacent retinal vein. Conclusion: SRVPs in the peripapillary retina have similar waveform characteristics to those at the disc. SRVP amplitudes are reduced by manipulation of IOP downwards with pharmacological intervention. The relationship was consistent in all individuals tested for two classes of drugs and was independent of BP or heart rate changes.
Young Children Learning with Logo: An Analysis of Strategies and Interactions

The present study used the screen version of Apple Logo to investigate the strategies and interactions of young children while they were engaged in Logo tasks. Eighteen children (mean age 7 years 6 months) completed Logo tasks individually and then in one of three gender pairs (girl/girl, boy/boy, and boy/girl). The results of the study indicted that there were differences in performance, based on gender, related to the consideration of three main variables; the number of moves made, time taken and the number of errors made. However, the nature of the differences changed over time and analyses of the strategies and interactions of the pairs indicated that in initial learning experiences the girls in the study were more careful and less likely to take risks to achieve the task goal than boys or boy/girl pairs working together. Additional examination of the interactions of the pairs suggested that the most successful, in terms of efficiency, were those pairs that applied higher order processes in the execution of the task consistently. The application of such processes was mediated by personality characteristics, such as caution, the desire to adhere to implicit task instructions, and fear of making mistakes.
The Role Of Interest In Learning And Development

Contents: Part I:General Questions in the Study of Interest. A. Krapp, S. Hidi, K.A. Renninger, Interest, Learning, and Development. J. Valsiner, Interest: A Metatheoretical Perspective. E.L. Deci, The Relation of Interest to the Motivation of Behavior: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective. M. Prenzel, The Selective Persistence of Interest. Part II:Individual Interest and Learning in School. J.F. Voss, L. Schauble, Is Interest Educationally Interesting? An Interest-Related Model of Learning. P. Nenniger, Task Motivation: An Interaction Between the Cognitive and Content-Oriented Dimensions in Learning. U. Schiefele, Topic Interest and Levels of Text Comprehension. U. Schiefele, A. Krapp, A. Winteler, Interest as a Predictor of Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Research. Part III:Situational Interest (Interestingness). S. Hidi, V. Anderson, Situational Interest and Its Impact on Reading and Expository Writing. R. Garner, R. Brown, S. Sanders, D.J. Menke, "Seductive Details" and Learning from Text. S.E. Wade, How Interest Affects Learning from Text. Part IV:Special Approaches to Explain Interest Effects. L.L. Shirey, Importance, Interest, and Selective Attention. A. Iran-Nejad, C. Cecil, Interest and Learning: A Biofunctional Perspective. M. Pressley, P.B. El-Dinary, M.B. Marks, R. Brown, S. Stein, Good Strategy Instruction Is Motivating and Interesting. Part V:Developmental Aspects of Individual Interest. K.A. Renninger, Individual Interest and Development: Implications for Theory and Practice. A. Krapp, B. Fink, The Development and Function of Interests During the Critical Transition from Home to Preschool. Part VI:Conclusions. S. Hidi, K.A. Renninger, A. Krapp, The Present State of Interest Research.
Expression of the Gene for Resistance to Phaseolotoxin (argK) Depends on the Activity of Genes phtABC in Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola

The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola produces phaseolotoxin in a temperature dependent manner, being optimally produced between 18°C and 20°C, while no detectable amounts are present above 28°C. Phaseolotoxin is an effective inhibitor of ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCTase) activity from plant, mammalian and bacterial sources and causes a phenotypic requirement for arginine. To protect the cell from its own toxin, P. syringae pv. phaseolicola synthesizes a phaseolotoxin-resistant OCTase (ROCT). The ROCT is the product of the argK gene and is synthesized only under conditions leading to phaseolotoxin synthesis. The argK gene is included in a chromosomal fragment named Pht cluster, which contains genes involved in the synthesis of phaseolotoxin. The aim of the present work was to investigate the possible involvement of other genes included in the Pht cluster in the regulation of gene argK. We conducted transcriptional analyses of argK in several mutants unable to produce phaseolotoxin, transcriptional fusions and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, which allowed us to determine that genes phtABC, located within the Pht cluster, participate in the transcriptional repression of gene argK at temperatures not permissive for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis. This repression is mediated by a protein present in both toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of P. syringae and in E. coli, and requires the coordinated participation of phtA, phtB and phtC products in order to carry out an efficient argK repression.
SU-6656, a selective Src kinase inhibitor, attenuates mecamylamine-precipitated nicotine withdrawal syndrome in mice.

INTRODUCTION Src kinase is reported to regulate neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor activity, which is among the principal receptor systems acted upon by nicotine. Src kinase is documented to mediate the pathogenesis of substance dependence. Therefore, the present study has been designed to investigate the effect of SU-6656, selective src kinase inhibitor, on the development of nicotine dependence in a mouse model of mecamylamine-induced nicotine withdrawal syndrome. METHODS Our experimental protocol consisted of administration of nicotine (2.5 mg/kg, subcutaneously), 4 times daily for 7 days. In order to precipitate nicotine withdrawal, mice were given 1 injection of mecamylamine (3 mg/kg, intraperitoneally), 1 hr after the last nicotine injection on the test day (Day 8). Behavioral observations were made for a period of 30 min immediately after mecamylamine treatment. Withdrawal syndrome was quantitated in terms of a composite withdrawal severity score (WSS), and withdrawal syndrome-related anxiety was assessed by elevated plus maze test results. RESULTS SU-6656 markedly and dose dependently (p < .01) attenuated mecamylamine-induced experimental nicotine withdrawal syndrome in mice measured in terms of WSS and anxiety score. CONCLUSIONS Thus, it is suggested that src kinase is involved in the development of nicotine dependence-induced precipitation of its withdrawal syndrome and thus may serve as a viable pharmacological target to tackle the problem of nicotine addiction.
Language and Human Behavior

According to Bickerton, the behavioral sciences have failed to give an adequate account of human nature at least partly because of the conjunction and mutual reinforcement of two widespread beliefs: that language is simply a means of communication and that human intelligence is the result of the rapid growth and unusual size of human brains. Bickerton argues that each of the properties distinguishing human intelligence and consciousness from that of other animals can be shown to derive straightforwardly from properties of language. In essence, language arose as a representational system, not a means of communication or a skill, and not a product of culture but an evolutionary adaptation. The author stresses the necessity of viewing intelligence in evolutionary terms, seeing it not as problem solving but as a way of maintaining homeostasis - the preservation of those conditions most favorable to an organism, the optimal achievable conditions for survival and well-being. The term protolanguage is used to describe the stringing together of symbols that prehuman hominids employed. "It did not allow them to turn today's imagination into tomorrow's fact. But it is just this power to transform imagination into fact that distinguishes human behavior from that of our ancestral species, and indeed from that of all other species. It is exactly what enables us to change our behavior, or invent vast ranges of new behavior, practically overnight, with no concomitant genetic changes. " Language and Human Behavior should be of interest to anyone in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences and to all those concerned with the role of language in human behavior.
Effect of Preoperative Intravitreal Bevacizumab on the Surgical Outcome of Neovascular Glaucoma at Different Stages

Purpose To evaluate the effect of preoperative intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection on the surgical outcome of Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation according to the angle status in neovascular glaucoma (NVG) eyes. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included 70 NVG patients who underwent AGV implantation and were followed up for at least 12 months. An IVB injection before AGV implantation was administered to 45 eyes (IVB group), while it was not administered to 25 eyes (control group). Subgroup analyses were done at different stages in terms of the extent of peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS). Results Mean follow-up period after AGV implantation was 27 ± 15 months. The IVB group showed higher prevalence of the eyes with less than 50% of PAS than that of the control group (78% versus 44%). The overall success rate 1 year postoperatively was 80% and 64% for the IVB and control groups, respectively (P = 0.142). When PAS extent was less than 50%, preoperative IVB had a marginally positive effect on surgical outcome (HR = 0.39, P = 0.064, per 1-time IVB injection). Conclusions Preoperative IVB may enhance the success rate of AGV implantation in NVG eyes, before PAS has extensively formed. Further prospective randomized studies controlling the extent of PAS are warranted.
Personal Informatics, Self-Insight, and Behavior Change: A Critical Review of Current Literature

Personal informatics (PI) systems allow users to collect and review personally relevant information. The purpose commonly envisioned for these systems is that they provide users with actionable, data-driven self-insight to help them change their behavioral patterns for the better. Here, we review relevant theory as well as empirical evidence for this self-improvement hypothesis. From a corpus of 6,568, only 24 studies met the selection criteria of being a peer-reviewed empirical study reporting on actionable, data-driven insights from PI data, using a “clean” PI system with no other intervention techniques (e.g., additional coaching) on a nonclinical population. First results are promising—many of the selected articles report users gaining actionable insights—but we do note a number of methodological issues that make these results difficult to interpret. We conclude that more work is needed to investigate the self-improvement hypothesis and provide a set of recommendations for future work.
Mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals and their relation with exhaustion and engagement at work: The roles of emotional and instrumental support

The results of two cross-sectional studies (N = 220 and N = 258) indicate that employees' work-related mastery-approach goals (i.e. the striving to improve one's performance at work) were positively associated with work engagement. Further, this relationship is explained by high levels of instrumental support. In contrast, employees' work-related mastery-avoidance goals (i.e. the striving to avoid performing worse than one aspires to) are positive predictors of job detachment and fatigue. The relationships between mastery-avoidance goals and these detrimental work outcomes are explained by low levels of perceived emotional support. Altogether, these results suggest that workers with mastery-approach goals tend to invest in their social work environment by establishing instrumental exchange relationships. Such relationships are considered functional for task performance and explain the positive relationship with work engagement. Employees who hold mastery-avoidance goals, on the other hand, tend to withdraw from the social structure of the workplace which explains the negative relationship with emotional support. In turn, given the lack of emotional support, psychological detachment and fatigue may emerge. These results are discussed in relation to the surging interest in the social mechanisms that result from the pursuit of achievement goals.
CD73 Expression Is Dynamically Regulated in the Germinal Center and Bone Marrow Plasma Cells Are Diminished in Its Absence

CD73 catalyzes the conversion of extracellular nucleosides to adenosine, modulating inflammatory and T cell responses. Elevated expression of CD73 marks subpopulations of murine memory B cells (MBC), but its role in memory development or function is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that CD73 is progressively upregulated on germinal center (GC) B cells following immunization, is expressed at even higher levels among T follicular helper cells, but is absent among plasma cells (PC) and plasmablasts (PB). We analyzed the T-dependent B cell response in CD73 knockout mice (CD73KO). During the early response, CD73KO and wild type (WT) mice formed GCs, MBCs and splenic PBs and PCs similarly, and MBCs functioned similarly in the early secondary response. Late in the primary response, however, bone marrow (BM) PCs were markedly decreased in CD73KO animals. Tracking this phenotype, we found that CD73 expression was required on BM-derived cells for optimal BM PC responses. However, deletion of CD73 from either B or T lymphocytes alone did not recapitulate the phenotype. This suggests that CD73 expression is sufficient on either cell type, consistent with its function as an ectoenzyme. Together, these findings suggest that CD73-dependent adenosine signaling is prominent in the mature GC and required for establishment of the long-lived PC compartment, thus identifying a novel role for CD73 in humoral immunity.
Task-to-Task Vagal Regulation: Relations With Language and Play in 20-Month-Old Children.

In this article we report patterns of task-to-task vagal tone change across multiple language and play tasks as well as associations between these patterns of task-to-task vagal tone change and language and play performance in 20-month-old girls and boys. Although initially different in vagal tone suppression during solitary play, girls and boys exhibited similar group patterns of vagal reengagement during successive language and play tasks with their mothers and with an experimenter. In terms of individual differences, vagal suppression during solitary play and vagal reengagement during social interactive tasks predicted language and play performance. Gender differences emerged in patterns of predictive relations: Task-to-task vagal changes predicted primarily play performance in girls and language performance in boys. These findings expose the effects of social context on directional changes in task-to-task vagal tone and speak to the functional role of appropriate vagal regulation in young children's language and play performance.
PCA+HMM+SVM for EEG pattern classification

Electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern classification plays an important role in the domain of brain computer interface (BCI). Hidden Markov model (HMM) might be a useful tool in EEG pattern classification since EEG data is a multivariate time series data which contains noise and artifacts. In this paper we present methods for EEG pattern classification which jointly employ principal component analysis (PCA) and HMM. Along this line, two methods are introduced: (1) PCA+HMM; (2) PCA+HMM+SVM. Usefulness of principal component features and our hybrid method is confirmed through the classification of EEG that is recorded during the imagination of a left or right hand movement.
Some Consequences of Having Too Little

Poor Choices Two categories of reasons for why poor people make economically unsound choices, such as obtaining a payday loan at an extraordinarily high rate of interest, reflect, first, the environment: Poor people are more likely to be living in poor neighborhoods with higher rates of crime and lower rates of social services. Second, they reflect the individual: People are poor in part because of their own psychological dispositions toward impatience and impulsiveness. For both cases, obtaining causal evidence in controlled experiments has been challenging. Shah et al. (p. 682; see the Perpective by Zwane) propose a third category of reasons whereby being poor exerts a bias on cognitive processes and provide evidence for it in laboratory experiments performed in scenarios of scarcity. Being poor means that resources such as time and money are scarce, and this changes how people who are poor behave. Poor individuals often engage in behaviors, such as excessive borrowing, that reinforce the conditions of poverty. Some explanations for these behaviors focus on personality traits of the poor. Others emphasize environmental factors such as housing or financial access. We instead consider how certain behaviors stem simply from having less. We suggest that scarcity changes how people allocate attention: It leads them to engage more deeply in some problems while neglecting others. Across several experiments, we show that scarcity leads to attentional shifts that can help to explain behaviors such as overborrowing. We discuss how this mechanism might also explain other puzzles of poverty.
Age-related alterations in gene expression of gingival fibroblasts stimulated with Porphyromonas gingivalis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Elderly people exhibit increased susceptibility to a number of autoimmune and infectious diseases, such as periodontitis. Although aging is reportedly associated with a decline in immune function, age-related alterations in periodontal tissue have remained elusive. In the present study, we comprehensively analyzed the effect of aging on the expression of selected genes using mouse gingival fibroblasts. MATERIAL AND METHODS Gingival fibroblasts derived from young (8 wk of age) and old (≥ 24 mo of age) C57BL/6 mice were stimulated with Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide or live P. gingivalis strain W83. Expression of cytokines/chemokines, innate immune receptors, growth factors, matrix metalloproteinases, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases and osteoclastogenesis-related molecules were evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction and ELISA for interleukin-6 and transforming growth factor-β1. RESULTS Gingival fibroblasts derived from old mice exhibited decreased gene expression of Il-6, Cxcl1, Tlr2, Tlr4, Irak3 (IRAK-M), Kgf, Timp1, Timp3 and Rankl under resting conditions, whereas the expression levels of Tgfβ1, Mmp3, Mmp13 and Opg were increased. Age-related differences were also detected at the protein level. Although P. gingivalis W83 upregulated Vegf, Fgf-2 and Bmp2 expression in both young and old gingival fibroblasts, the stimulatory effect on these genes was significantly lower in old gingival fibroblasts. CONCLUSION Our findings demonstrated that aging altered the expression of a number of genes in gingival fibroblasts. Thus, alterations in the balance of these molecules could play a critical role in periodontitis progression in the elderly.