Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decoupling speed and accuracy in an urgent decision-making task reveals multiple contributions to their trade-off

A key goal in the study of decision making is determining how neural networks involved in perception and motor planning interact to generate a given choice, but this is complicated due to the internal trade-off between speed and accuracy, which confounds their individual contributions. Urgent decisions, however, are special: they may range between random and fully informed, depending on the amount of processing time (or stimulus viewing time) available in each trial, but regardless, movement preparation always starts early on. As a consequence, under time pressure it is possible to produce a psychophysical curve that characterizes perceptual performance independently of reaction time, and this, in turn, makes it possible to pinpoint how perceptual information (which requires sensory input) modulates motor planning (which does not) to guide a choice. Here we review experiments in which, on the basis of this approach, the origin of the speed-accuracy trade-off becomes particularly transparent. Psychophysical, neurophysiological, and modeling results in the “compelled-saccade” task indicate that, during urgent decision making, perceptual information—if and whenever it becomes available—accelerates or decelerates competing motor plans that are already ongoing. This interaction affects both the reaction time and the probability of success in any given trial. In two experiments with reward asymmetries, we find that speed and accuracy can be traded in different amounts and for different reasons, depending on how the particular task contingencies affect specific neural mechanisms related to perception and motor planning. Therefore, from the vantage point of urgent decisions, the speed-accuracy trade-off is not a unique phenomenon tied to a single underlying mechanism, but rather a typical outcome of many possible combinations of internal adjustments within sensory-motor neural circuits.
A role-based trust model for peer-to-peer communities and dynamic coalitions

Although P2P systems are usually used for information exchange between peers, they have either protected peers anonymity, or required transacting peers to trust each other implicitly. Both these approaches are vulnerable to attacks by malicious peers who could abuse the P2P system to spread viruses, incorrect, or damaging information. Here, we propose an approach for trust management in P2P systems. We introduce an optimistic role-based model for trust amongst peers and show that it is scalable, dynamic, revocable, secure and transitive. Our proposed solution permits asymmetric trust relationships that can be verified by any peer in the system through a simple, low-cost algorithm. We introduce a metric known as iComplex that combines a peer's trust value for each of its roles into a single, relative, probabilistic guarantee of trust. Finally, we discuss how our trust model allows peers to revoke relationships with malicious peers, and the nonrepudiation of peer relations. We use simulations to illustrate the trust value distribution amongst peers in the network. Our analysis and experiments demonstrates the low-cost involved to verify and validate trust values. Lastly, we establish the effectiveness of using sum as the aggregation function to combine trust values of a peer.
Antibacterial and biological characteristics of plasma sprayed silver and strontium doped hydroxyapatite coatings

Infection in primary total joint prostheses is estimated to occur in up to 3% of all surgeries. As a measure to improve the antimicrobial properties of implant materials, silver (Ag) was incorporated into plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings. To offset potential cytotoxic effects of Ag in the coatings, strontium (Sr) was also added as a binary dopant. HA powder were doped with 2.0 wt% Ag2O, 1.0 wt% SrO and the powder was then heat treated at 800° C. Titanium substrates were coated using a 30 kW plasma spray system equipped with a supersonic nozzle. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the phase purity and high crystallinity of the coatings. Samples were evaluated for mechanical stability by adhesive bond strength testing. Results show that the addition of dopants did not affect the overall bond strength of the coatings. The antibacterial efficacies of the coatings were tested against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Samples that contained the Ag2O dopant were found to be highly effective against the bacterial colonization. In vitro cellmaterial interactions using human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cells were characterized by 3-(4,5Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay for cell viability, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) for cell morphology and confocal imaging for the important differentiation marker alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Our results showed evidence of cytotoxic effects in the Ag-HA coatings, characterized by poor cellular morphology and cell death and nearly complete impediment of functional ALP activity. The addition of SrO to Ag-HA coatings was able to effectively offset these negative effects and improve the performance when compared to pure HA coated samples.
A Combined Proteome and Transcriptome Analysis of Developing Medicago truncatula Seeds

A comparative study of proteome and transcriptome changes during Medicago truncatula (cultivar Jemalong) seed development has been carried out. Transcript and protein profiles were parallel across the time course for 50% of the comparisons made, but divergent patterns were also observed, indicative of post-transcriptional events. These data, combined with the analysis of transcript and protein distribution in the isolated seed coat, endosperm, and embryo, demonstrated the major contribution made to the embryo by the surrounding tissues. First, a remarkable compartmentalization of enzymes involved in methionine biosynthesis between the seed tissues was revealed that may regulate the availability of sulfur-containing amino acids for embryo protein synthesis during seed filling. This intertissue compartmentalization, which was also apparent for enzymes of sulfur assimilation, is relevant to strategies for modifying the nutritional value of legume seeds. Second, decreasing levels during seed filling of seed coat and endosperm metabolic enzymes, including essential steps in Met metabolism, are indicative of a metabolic shift from a highly active to a quiescent state as the embryo assimilates nutrients. Third, a concomitant persistence of several proteases in seed coat and endosperm highlighted the importance of proteolysis in these tissues as a supplementary source of amino acids for protein synthesis in the embryo. Finally, the data revealed the sites of expression within the seed of a large number of transporters implied in nutrient import and intraseed translocations. Several of these, including a sulfate transporter, were preferentially expressed in seeds compared with other plant organs. These findings provide new directions for genetic improvement of grain legumes.
Human Papillomavirus DNA and E6/E7 mRNA Status in Relation to Survival of Patients Treated for Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma

The prognostic significance of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and E6/E7 mRNA, the presence of specific types, and the physical state of HPV DNA, were studied in 202 cervical squamous cell carcinomas. Absence or non-detectable levels of high-risk (types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45, 52 and 58) E6/E7 mRNA, using the real-time nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) assay, and absence of HPV high-risk/HPV 6, 26, 66, 69, 73 (all methods collectively) were associated with poor overall survival in univariate analysis (P = 0.04 and P = 0.03, respectively) and had independent prognostic value in multivariate analysis (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively) including FIGO stage and age. Based on the individual results of type-specific PCR and in situ hybridization (ISH), the presence of HPV DNA was not found to be a prognostic factor. Likewise, concerning the presence of specific HPV types and the HPV integration status (determined by ISH), no prognostic significance was found. Mutation analyses of the TP53 gene revealed mutations in 3 of the 6 HPV negative samples (50%).
Irradiation-injured brain tissues can self-renew in the absence of the pivotal tumor suppressor p53 in the medaka ( Oryzias latipes ) embryo

Abstract The tumor suppressor protein, p53, plays pivotal roles in regulating apoptosis and proliferation in the embryonic and adult central nervous system (CNS) following neuronal injuries such as those induced by ionizing radiation. There is increasing evidence that p53 negatively regulates the self-renewal of neural stem cells in the adult murine brain; however, it is still unknown whether p53 is essential for self-renewal in the injured developing CNS. Previously, we demonstrated that the numbers of apoptotic cells in medaka ( Oryzias latipes ) embryos decreased in the absence of p53 at 12–24 h after irradiation with 10-Gy gamma rays. Here, we used histology to examine the later morphological development of the irradiated medaka brain. In p53-deficient larvae, the embryonic brain possessed similar vacuoles in the brain and retina, although the vacuoles were much smaller and fewer than those found in wild-type embryos. At the time of hatching (6 days after irradiation), no brain abnormality was observed. In contrast, severe disorganized neuronal arrangements were still present in the brain of irradiated wild-type embryos. Our present results demonstrated that self-renewal of the brain tissue completed faster in the absence of p53 than wild type at the time of hatching because p53 reduces the acute severe neural apoptosis induced by irradiation, suggesting that p53 is not essential for tissue self-renewal in developing brain.
Hormonal replacement therapy in breast cancer.

Hormone replacement therapy with either estrogen (ERT) or estrogen and progesterone (HRT) is often recommended to healthy women at menopause, for relief of menopausal symptoms, particularly ‘hot flashes’, based on its documented longterm effect on osteoporosis and perceived effect in reducing the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). ERT/HRT has, however, long been considered contraindicated in women with a prior diagnosis of breast cancer. Basic biology suggests that estrogen contributes to the development of breast cancer and may contribute to recurrence after primary therapy for early disease. There are also data suggesting that progesterone may increase the risk of developing breast cancer and of disease recurrence.
Adaptation strategies to increase human resilience against climate variability and change : Lessons from the arid regions of Sudan 1

Certain community-based development activities, in particular, those that are characterized as sustainable livelihoods (SL) activities, serve to build adaptive capacity in the face of climate-related shocks. In countries where drought can be expected to increase in duration and frequency, measures such as these can operate as de facto climate change adaptation options. These measures warrant careful consideration in adaptation policy and planning, alongside larger-scale activities, because they represent options that are clearly effective at the local scale, while rich in co-benefits. To test this hypothesis, case study research was conducted in rural Sudanese communities. This research involved collection and analysis of data on a series of indicators, developed in collaboration with the community, to capture the level of household-level coping capacity achieved by various types of small-scale development interventions aimed at drought disaster management. In each case study, the results point to suites of integrated development measures that significantly increased community coping capacity in the face of drought conditions – conditions that are similar to those predicted under a changed climate regime in Sudan. While such measures tend to be seen as the domain of development agencies, they clearly have a role to play in the adaptation processes of countries like Sudan. This paper explores these measures, discussing their role in community coping and adaptive capacity, their policy and institutional enabling factors, their potential in climate change adaptation, and recommendations for how they can be integrated into adaptation policy and planning.
Cenomanian through basal Coniacian Calcareous Nannofossil biostratigraphy of theMancos Shale reference section, Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Upper Cenomanian through lower Coniacian calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy is integrated with macrofossil and lithostratigraphic correlations at the reference section for the Mancos Shale in Mesa Verde National Park, CO. Interpretations of key biostratigraphic events and 13C values from bulk-rock carbonate fit well with the placement of stage boundaries by Leckie et al. (1997) and observations of nannofossil biostratigraphy in equivalent successions in the Western Interior. Tethyan nannofossil zone CC10b brackets the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary between 22.7–27.6m. Anannofossil zonal boundary between CC13 and CC14 is placed at 200.4-201m supporting the existence of an unconformity in the basal Smoky Hill Member suggested by Leckie et al. (1997). Lithraphitdites eccentricum Watkins is elevated to species status, the highest occurrence of which may provide an additional datum in the upper Cenomanian. Eprolithus octopetalus Varol is proposed as a lower Turonian marker, with a lowest occurrence as a potential alternative to Quadrum gartneri Prins and Perch-Nielsen for indicating the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary.
Evaluating the Relationships between Perceived Effectiveness of Anti-Tobacco Advertisements, Advertisement Type, and Socioeconomic Status.

WATSON, KIMBERLY ANN. Evaluating the Relationships Between Perceived Effectiveness of Anti-Tobacco Advertisements, Advertisement Type, and Socioeconomic Status. (Under the direction of Dr. Melinda Sandler Morrill.) This study examines the relationship between three types of perceived effectiveness (PE) of anti-tobacco advertisements, three advertisement types, and three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Results from this study of a national sample of adult smokers aged 25 years old or older support previous research but also suggest more complex relationships than those previously found. Significant differences in the PE of Why to Quit (WTQ) and How to Quit (HTQ) advertisement types are found. However, differences in PE by SES depend on the type of PE evaluated. Individuals with less education and lower annual incomes (i.e., Low-SES) report higher levels of hopefulness, motivation, and understanding (i.e., Self-Efficacy PE) after viewing the advertisements, independent of advertisement type, than those with more education or higher incomes (i.e., Mid-SES and High SES). There is an apparent interaction between advertisement type and SES related to SelfEfficacy PE. The overall trend is that participants with Low-SES report higher levels of SelfEfficacy PE than Mid-SES and High-SES participants for WTQ advertisements. The same effect is not seen for HTQ advertisements. Efforts to select interventions that reduce the overall population smoking rate while minimizing tobacco-related disparities will need to balance greater effectiveness by advertisement type overall with greater effectiveness by advertisement type among disadvantaged populations. As more research linking various measures of PE to smoker behavior becomes available, this study will be useful for determining the appropriate balance. © Copyright 2012 by Kimberly Ann Watson
Wage Dispersion and Productive Efficiency: Evidence for Sweden

The Swedish record of enormous compression of relative wages under centralized “solidarity” bargaining, followed by substantial decompression of wages after central bargaining broke down, supplies observations well suited to empirical evaluation of arguments about the response of productive efficiency to shifts in wage distribution. We obtain no results supporting “fairness, morale, and cohesiveness” theories implying that wage leveling within workplaces and industries may enhance productivity. Reduction of interindustry wage differentials evidently did, however, contribute positively to aggregate output and productivity growth, most likely for the structural reasons first emphasized by Swedish trade union economists almost a half century ago.
Reobserving the Extreme-Ultraviolet Emission from Abell 2199: In Situ Measurement of Background Distribution by Offset Pointing

The EUV excess emission from the clusters A2199 and A1795 remains an unexplained astrophysical phenomenon. There has been many unsuccessful attempts to "trivialize" the findings. In this Letter, we present direct evidence proving that the most recent of such attempts, which attributes the detected signals to a background nonuniformity effect, is likewise excluded. We address the issue by a reobservation of A2199 that features a new filter orientation, usage of a more sensitive part of the detector, and, most crucially, the inclusion of a background pointing at ~2° offset—the first in situ measurement of its kind. We first demonstrate quantitatively two facts: (1) the offset pointing provides an accurate background template for the cluster observation, while (2) data from other blank fields do not. We then performed a point-to-point subtraction of the in situ background from the cluster field, with an appropriate propagation of errors. The resulting cluster radial profile is consistent with that obtained by our original method of subtracting a flat asymptotic background. The emission now extends to a radius of 20'; it confirms the rising prominence of EUV excess beyond ~5' as previously reported.
Green open access in computer science - an exploratory study on author-based self-archiving awareness, practice, and inhibitors

Access to the work of others is something that is too often taken for granted, yet problematic and difficult to be obtained unless someone pays for it. Green and gold open access are claimed to be a solution to this problem. While open access is gaining momentum in some fields, there is a limited and seasoned knowledge about self-archiving in computer science. In particular, there is an inadequate understanding of authorbased self-archiving awareness, practice, and inhibitors. This article reports an exploratory study of the awareness of selfarchiving, the practice of self-archiving, and the inhibitors of self-archiving among authors in an Italian computer science faculty. Forty-nine individuals among interns, PhD students, researchers, and professors were recruited in a questionnaire (response rate of 72.8%). The quantitative and qualitative responses suggested that there is still work needed in terms of advocating green open access to computer science authors who seldom self-archive and when they do, they often infringe the copyright transfer agreements (CTAs) of the publishers. In addition, tools from the open-source community are needed to facilitate author-based self-archiving, which should comprise of an automatic check of the CTAs. The study identified nine factors inhibiting the act of self-archiving among computer scientists. As a first step, this study proposes several propositions regarding author-based self-archiving in computer science that can be further investigated. Recommendations to foster self-archiving in computer science, based on the results, are provided.
A Metabolomic Approach to Animal Vitreous Humor Topographical Composition: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a 1H-NMR-based metabolomic approach to explore the metabolomic signature of different topographical areas of vitreous humor (VH) in an animal model. Five ocular globes were enucleated from five goats and immediately frozen at −80°C. Once frozen, three of them were sectioned, and four samples corresponding to four different VH areas were collected: the cortical, core, and basal, which was further divided into a superior and an inferior fraction. An additional two samples were collected that were representative of the whole vitreous body. 1H-NMR spectra were acquired for twenty-three goat vitreous samples with the aim of characterizing the metabolomic signature of this biofluid and identifying whether any site-specific patterns were present. Multivariate statistical analysis (MVA) of the spectral data were carried out, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). A unique metabolomic signature belonging to each area was observed. The cortical area was characterized by lactate, glutamine, choline, and its derivatives, N-acetyl groups, creatine, and glycerol; the core area was characterized by glucose, acetate, and scyllo-inositol; and the basal area was characterized by branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), betaine, alanine, ascorbate, lysine, and myo-inositol. We propose a speculative approach on the topographic role of these molecules that are mainly responsible for metabolic differences among the as-identified areas. 1H-NMR-based metabolomic analysis has shown to be an important tool for investigating the VH. In particular, this approach was able to assess in the samples here analyzed the presence of different functional areas on the basis of a different metabolite distribution.
Social Connectedness Predicts Lower Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms over Time in Adolescents

Although research has shown that loneliness in adolescents leads to higher rates of depressive symptoms, the presumed protective factor of social connectedness has not been studied in conjunction with these two constructs. The aim of the present study was to determine if social connectedness would predict lower loneliness and depressive symptoms over time in a large sample of adolescents. A large sample of adolescents (N = 1774; 9-16 years at Time 1) were surveyed three times, separated by one year each, with self-report measures of social connectedness, loneliness, and depressive symptoms obtained. As expected, social connectedness was negatively associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms concurrently and longitudinally. Contrary to prediction, social connectedness did not function as a buffer between loneliness and depressive symptoms over time. However, consistent with prediction, a significant longitudinal mediation pattern was obtained over the three years: the effect of social connectedness on depressive symptoms was mediated by loneliness. Social connectedness at T1 predicted a reduction in loneliness at T2, which in turn predicted a reduction in depressive symptoms at T3. Moderation analyses of this mediation pattern suggested that this obtained mediation result was obtained for males, but not females, and obtained for older adolescents, but not for younger adolescents. The results are congruent with the view that social connectedness exerts an effective protective influence on adolescents against loneliness and depressive symptoms.