Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Look Out—It's Your Off-Peak Time of Day! Time of Day Matters More for Alerting than for Orienting or Executive Attention

Background/Study Context: Older adults’ peak performance on memory and cognitive inhibition tasks tends to be in the morning, whereas younger adults’ peak performance tends to be in the afternoon. Although these tasks require efficient attentional processes for optimal performance, previous research examining age differences in the effects of time of day has not measured the distinct aspects of attention quantified by the Attention Network Test (ANT; Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz, & Posner, 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340–347). Methods: The authors examined the relationship between time of testing and the efficiency of alerting, orienting, and executive attention networks by randomly assigning younger (18–28 years; n = 27, M = 21.37 years, SD = 2.39) and older (65–85 years; n = 32, M = 73.34 years, SD = 5.18) adults to morning (AM) or afternoon (PM) testing of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Mean reaction times for each network were analyzed with a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) with age (younger, older) and time of day (AM, PM) as between-subjects factors. Results: Consistent with the authors’ hypotheses, although time of day had little effect on orienting or executive attention, it affected alerting in opposite ways for younger and older adults, with alerting cues benefiting performance most at participants’ off-peak times of day. A larger benefit from alerting cues was observed when participants were tested at their off-peak (M = 30.11 ± 15.66) relative to their peak (M = 2.18 ± 15.97) time. Conclusion: These findings show that age-related circadian patterns influence the alerting component of attention, with both age groups showing the largest benefit from alerting cues when testing occurs at nonoptimal times of day. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of controlling for time of day in investigations of attention and add to our understanding of how age differences in circadian patterns impact attention.
Reproductive Deficiencies in Transgenic Mice Expressing the Rat Inhibin α-Subunit Gene.

Inhibin is an important modulator of reproductive function at both the endocrine level, through its regulation of pituitary FSH biosynthesis, and at the paracrine and autocrine levels, as an intragonadal regulatory factor. To investigate the in vivo actions of inhibin in FSH regulation and gonadal function, transgenic mice that overexpress the rat inhibin α-subunit gene were generated. A transgene that includes the mouse metallothionein-I gene promoter (MT-α) fused to the rat inhibin α-subunit precursor coding sequences was used to produce three lines of transgenic mice. Transgene mRNA is expressed in numerous tissues, including the pituitary, liver, testis, ovary, and kidney. Inhibin α-subunit protein was also increased in transgenic pituitary and ovary. Serum inhibin α-subunit levels are highly increased compared with control mice. Inhibinβ A- and βB-subunit protein amounts are lower in transgenic ovaries compared with wild type, although serum levels of activin A are not significantly reduced in transg.
Usability in multiple monitor displays

An experimental study was conducted to examine the impact of multiple monitors on user performance and multitasking. Forty-three participants were assigned to two groups - a multi-monitor group and a singlemonitor group - to carry out a series of tasks. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Results indicated that those who used the multi-monitor display were more inclined to multitask and scored higher on performance measures than those using the single monitor. Interviews from the participants validated the quantitative results and provided additional insights on usability issues of multi-monitor displays.
Beyond Precipitation: Physiographic Gradients Dictate the Relative Importance of Environmental Drivers on Savanna Vegetation

Background Understanding the drivers of large-scale vegetation change is critical to managing landscapes and key to predicting how projected climate and land use changes will affect regional vegetation patterns. This study aimed to improve our understanding of the role, magnitude and spatial distribution of the key environmental factors driving vegetation change in southern African savanna, and how they vary across physiographic gradients. Methodology/Principal Findings We applied Dynamic Factor Analysis (DFA), a multivariate times series dimension reduction technique to ten years of monthly remote sensing data (MODIS-derived normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) and a suite of environmental covariates: precipitation, mean and maximum temperature, soil moisture, relative humidity, fire and potential evapotranspiration. Monthly NDVI was described by cyclic seasonal variation with distinct spatiotemporal patterns in different physiographic regions. Results support existing work emphasizing the importance of precipitation, soil moisture and fire on NDVI, but also reveal overlooked effects of temperature and evapotranspiration, particularly in regions with higher mean annual precipitation. Critically, spatial distributions of the weights of environmental covariates point to a transition in the importance of precipitation and soil moisture (strongest in grass-dominated regions with precipitation<750 mm) to fire, potential evapotranspiration, and temperature (strongest in tree-dominated regions with precipitation>950 mm). Conclusions/Significance We quantified the combined spatiotemporal effects of an available suite of environmental drivers on NDVI across a large and diverse savanna region. The analysis supports known drivers of savanna vegetation but also uncovers important roles of temperature and evapotranspiration. Results highlight the utility of applying the DFA approach to remote sensing products for regional analyses of landscape change in the context of global environmental change. With the dramatic increase in global change research, this methodology augurs well for further development and application of spatially explicit time series modeling to studies at the intersection of ecology and remote sensing.
Exploiting Commonality and Interaction Effects in Crowdsourcing Tasks Using Latent Factor Models

Crowdsourcing services such as the Amazon Mechanical Turk [1] are increasingly being used to annotate large datasets for machine learning and data mining applications. The crowdsourced data labels must then be somehow combined to form a final judgment on the “true” label value of each data instance. Recently developed algorithms for combining multiple opinions [13, 12, 17, 4, 9, 15] have shown promising results, but they are lacking in several ways: (1) Each labeler is typically treated independently. In practice, labelers may share much in common, and their labeling proficiency may vary as a function of easily-queried attributes such as age and geographical location. Such commonality both among data labelers and among data instances could be better exploited. (2) Interaction effects between labelers and data and the reliability of a given label are ignored. For instance, some labelers may be good at labeling particular kinds of data but not others. In this paper, we present a probabilistic model for combining crowdsourced opinions that discovers and exploits both commonality and interaction effects automatically using a latent product-of-factors approach. We evaluate our proposed method on a facial expression labeling task and on a geography knowledge test. Empirical results show increased accuracy of the label estimation compared to competing methods. In addition, the model revealed interesting and useful trends relating the labeler and data features to the probability of correct labeling.
Smart Polymeric Nanoparticles for Cancer Gene Delivery

The massive amount of human genetic information already available has accelerated the identification of target genes, making gene and nucleic acid therapy the next generation of medicine. Nanoparticle (NP)-based anticancer gene therapy treatment has received significant interest in this evolving field. Recent advances in vector technology have improved gene transfection efficiencies of nonviral vectors to a level similar to viruses. This review serves as an introduction to surface modifications of NPs based on polymeric structural improvements and target moieties. A discussion regarding the future perspective of multifunctional NPs in cancer therapy is also included.
The Rise and Decline (?) of U.S. Internal Labor Markets

Many employers adopt practices that insulate their workforces from the outside labor market. One defining characteristic of such an "internal labor market" is a company wage policy that diverges from that of the external market. These divergences may occur for an entire employer on average, or for a subset of occupations at an employer. This paper examines the changing magnitude and persistence of both types of divergence over the last 40 years. We analyze a unique salary survey with detailed microdata on the pay practices of 228 large Midwestern employers. This long time period (the longest extant on a large number of employers) permits an evaluation of the supposed "golden age" of internal labor markets, as well as any recent decline. The results also shed light on several theories that attempt to explain increased pay inequality. We find no evidence of a recent decline in the importance of internal labor markets in large firms, as measured by the magnitude or persistence of deviations in company wage policies from market averages. Moreover, employers in industries that underwent deregulation or that experienced rising imports did not systematically weaken their internal labor markets.
Functional glutamate transport in rodent optic nerve axons and glia

Recent findings suggest that synaptic‐type glutamate signaling operates between axons and their supporting glial cells. Glutamate reuptake will be a necessary component of such a system. Evidence for glutamate‐mediated damage of oligodendroglia somata and processes in white matter suggests that glutamate regulation in white matter structures is also of clinical importance. The expression of glutamate transporters was examined in postnatal Day 14–17 (P14–17) mouse and in mature mouse and rat optic nerve using immuno‐histochemistry and immuno‐electron microscopy. EAAC1 was the major glutamate transporter detected in oligodendroglia cell membranes in both developing and mature optic nerve, while GLT‐1 was the most heavily expressed transporter in the membranes of astrocytes. Both EAAC1 and GLAST were also seen in adult astrocytes, but there was little membrane expression of either at P14–17. GLAST, EAAC1, and GLT‐1 were expressed in P14–17 axons with marked GLT‐1 expression in the axolemma, while in mature axons EAAC1 was abundant at the node of Ranvier. Functional glutamate transport was probed in P14–17 mouse optic nerve revealing Na+‐dependent, TBOA‐blockable uptake of D‐aspartate in astrocytes, axons, and oligodendrocytes. The data show that in addition to oligodendroglia and astrocytes, axons represent a potential source for extracellular glutamate in white matter during ischaemic conditions, and have the capacity for Na+‐dependent glutamate uptake. The findings support the possibility of functional synaptic‐type glutamate release from central axons, an event that will require axonal glutamate reuptake. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Brain Mechanisms for Interpreting the Actions of Others From Biological-Motion Cues

Humans are an intensely social species. Our social abilities depend upon specialized brain systems for rapidly recognizing the faces of others, for interpreting the actions of others through an analysis of biological-motion cues, and for determining the emotional states of others via inspection of facial expression. Recent work has implicated the superior temporal sulcus (STS) region as an important component of the social brain. Functional neuroimaging studies have provided clues about how this region is involved in the visual analysis and interpretation of other people's actions. STS activity is modulated by the context within which the actions of biological entities are observed. Such a contextual influence is consistent with a broader tradition within social psychology emphasizing the powerful influences of situational and contextual factors on behavior and perception. The STS region also shows promise as a region of importance in the investigation of both typical and impaired social-cognitive development. Future work should aim to inform us better of the development of interrelationships between the STS region and other regions of the social brain, including the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus.
Clustering and prototype based classification

Acknowledgments This thesis could not have been written without the support of many people. First of all, I would like to express my deep gratefulness to my mentor, Prof. Klaus Obermayer. His lecture on " neural information processing " inspired me to enter the field of machine learning. I am very grateful to him for letting me join his creative and very international research group. He has been a driving force behind my research by inspiring me, providing me with critical advice and always having an open ear for problems. During our almost daily jogging through the park of Schloss Charlottenburg we had many interesting talks and discussions. I also deeply appreciate the support of Prof. Mathias Bode during my time at the company Cortologic. His critical and detailed questions guided my way in thinking scientifically. I am very grateful to Prof. Jang Byung-Tak for inviting me to present my research at Seoul National University and for interesting discussions during his stay in Berlin. I also owe thanks to Prof. Joachim Buhmann for providing the protein data set. Prof. Thomas Hofmann I wish to thank for letting me use the document data. I want to thank all my collegues at the NI research group. Especially, I thank my roommate Roland Vollgraf for his company. I also thank for their friendship Dr.mer. I appreciate the help of Gabriele Rösler and Camilla Bruns for dealing with all the bureaucracy. In particular, I am most grateful to my parents for their support and love. I will never forget they gave me the opportunity for my studies in Korea and Germany, their trust and never-ending support. I am also most grateful to my husband, Johannes Mohr, for his support as colleague and as best friend. I thank him for reading this work critically, correcting my English and making suggestions for last-minute improvements. I wish to thank him most of all for his love and understanding in difficult times during my thesis.
Effects of Intensity of Facial Expressions on Amygdalar Activation Independently of Valence

For several stimulus categories (e.g., pictures, odors, and words), the arousal of both negative and positive stimuli has been shown to modulate amygdalar activation. In contrast, previous studies did not observe similar amygdalar effects in response to negative and positive facial expressions with varying intensity of facial expressions. Reasons for this discrepancy may be related to analytical strategies, experimental design and stimuli. Therefore, the present study aimed at re-investigating whether the intensity of facial expressions modulates amygdalar activation by circumventing limitations of previous research. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess brain activation while participants observed a static neutral expression and positive (happy) and negative (angry) expressions of either high or low intensity from an ecologically valid, novel stimulus set. The ratings of arousal and intensity were highly correlated. We found that amygdalar activation followed a u-shaped activation pattern with highest activation to high intense facial expressions as compared to low intensity facial expressions and to the neutral expression irrespective of valence, suggesting a critical role of the amygdala in valence-independent arousal processing of facial expressions. Additionally, consistent with previous studies, intensity effects were also found in visual areas and generally increased activation to angry versus happy faces were found in visual cortex and insula, indicating enhanced visual representations of high arousing facial expressions and increased visual and somatosensory representations of threat.
Revascularization of the Heart: Histologic Changes after Arterialization of the Coronary Sinus

A free graft of vein was placed between the aorta and coronary sinus. Three weeks later the sinus was partially occluded at its ostium in the right auricle. Blood from the aorta was made available to the myocardium by way of the venous system. After these procedures were done a histologic study of the venous and arterial channels was carried out. The coronary sinus and its tributaries showed hyperplasia of the intima. The anterior cardiac veins showed dilatation with little or no hyperplasia of intima. None of the veins became occluded. Complete occlusion of major coronary arteries was done. These arteries distal to the occlusion showed medial sclerosis and atrophy. They did not show thrombosis. The myocardium distal to an occluded artery showed many vascular channels.
Enterprise Information Systems as Objects and Carriers of Institutional Forces: The New Iron Cage?

This paper draws upon the institutional theory lens to examine enterprise information systems. We propose that these information systems engender a duality. On one hand, these systems are subject to institutional forces and institutional processes that set the rules of rationality. On the other hand, they are an important embodiment of institutional commitments and serve to preserve these rules by constraining the actions of human agents. The complexity inherent to enterprise technologies renders them an equivoque. This, when combined with the propensity toward lack of mindfulness in organizations, is likely to lead to acquiescence to institutional pressures. Enterprise information systems bind organizations to fundamental choices about how their activities should be organized; unquestioned choices that tend to appear natural. We suggest implications of this view and develop propositions examining: (1) enterprise information systems as objects of institutional forces in the “chartering” and “project” phases, (2) the resolution of institutional misalignments caused by the introduction of new systems, and (3) enterprise information systems as carriers of institutional logics in the “shakeout” and “onward & upward” phases.
A Search for Molecular Gas toward a BzK-Selected Star-Forming Galaxy at z = 2.044

We present a search for CO (3–2) emission in SDF-26821, a BzK-selected star-forming galaxy (sBzK) at z = 2.044, using the 45-m telescope of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory and the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. We did not detect significant emission, and derived the 2 � limits: CO luminosity of L 0 57 Lˇ (K km s � 1 pc 2 ) � 1 , and molecular gas mass of MH2 < 2.5 � 10 10 Mˇ, assuming a velocity width of 200 km s � 1 and a CO-to-H2 conversion factor of ˛CO = 0:8 Mˇ (K km s � 1 pc 2 ) � 1 . The ratio LFIR=L 0 , a measure of the star-formation efficiency (SFE), is comparable to, or higher than, the two z � 1.5 sBzKs detected in CO (2–1) previously, suggesting that sBzKs can have a wide range of SFEs. Comparisons of far-infrared luminosity, gas mass, and stellar mass among the sBzKs suggest that SDF-26821 is at an earlier stage of forming stars with a similar SFE and/or more efficiently forming stars than the two z � 1.5 sBzKs. The higher SFEs and specific star-formation rates of the sBzKs compared to local spirals are indicative of a difference in the star-formation modes between these systems, suggesting that sBzKs are not just scaled-up versions of local spirals.
Comparing climate and cost impacts of reference levels for reducing emissions from deforestation

The climate benefit and economic cost of an international mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) will depend on the design of reference levels for crediting emission reductions. We compare the impacts of six proposed reference level designs on emission reduction levels and on cost per emission reduction using a stylized partial equilibrium model (the open source impacts of REDD incentives spreadsheet; OSIRIS). The model explicitly incorporates national incentives to participate in an international REDD mechanism as well as international leakage of deforestation emissions. Our results show that a REDD mechanism can provide cost-efficient climate change mitigation benefits under a broad range of reference level designs. We find that the most effective reference level designs balance incentives to reduce historically high deforestation emissions with incentives to maintain historically low deforestation emissions. Estimates of emission reductions under REDD depend critically on the degree to which demand for tropical frontier agriculture generates leakage. This underscores the potential importance to REDD of complementary strategies to supply agricultural needs outside of the forest frontier.
Evaluation of the effects of a new drug candidate (GEMSP) in a chronic EAE model

Chronic Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in rats to evaluate a new drug candidate (GEMSP) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This work is a part of preclinical studies on GEMSP, which is made up of fatty acids, vitamins and amino acids or their derivatives; all these compounds were linked to Poly-L-Lysine. In order to evaluate the effects of GEMSP, animals were divided into three experimental groups: 1) EAE rats treated with GEMSP; 2) EAE rats treated with NaCl; and 3) non-EAE rats. Using immunocytochemical techniques with a pan-leukocyte marker (anti-CD 45), differential leukocyte infiltration was compared in the central nervous systems of the different experimental groups. Antibodies directed against a component of GEMSP, the conjugated methionine, were used in all three groups. We found that: 1) GEMSP was effective in abolishing EAE. The crises and clinical scores were completely abolished in the animals of the first group, but not in the animals belonging to the second group; 2) the degree of leukocyte infiltration varied, depending on the different EAE stages, but was not related to the clinical score; and 3) after using anti-conjugated methionine antibodies, we observed immunoreactivity only in the motoneurons of the ventral horn of the spinal cord in the animals of the first group. This immunoreactivity was not found in the animals of the second or third groups. No methionine immunoreactivity was found in the brain. Our results suggest that GEMSP may be a potential drug candidate against the pathogenic processes involved in multiple sclerosis, inhibiting EAE episodes and brain leukocyte infiltration. Our results also show that one component of GEMSP, the methionine compound, is stored inside motoneurons. The possible physiological actions of GEMSP on spinal cord motoneurons are discussed.