Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reduced Medial Prefrontal-Subcortical Connectivity in Dysphoria: Granger Causality Analyses of Rapid Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

A cortico-limbic network consisting of the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and ventral striatum (vSTR) has been associated with altered function in emotional disorders. Here we used rapidly sampled functional magnetic resonance imaging and Granger causality analyses to assess the directional connectivity between these brain structures in a sample of healthy and age-matched participants endorsing moderate to severe depressive symptomatology as they viewed a series of natural scene stimuli varying systematically in pleasantness and arousal. Specifically during pleasant scene perception, dysphoric participants showed reduced activity in mPFC and vSTR, relative to healthy participants. In contrast, amygdala activity was enhanced to pleasant as well as unpleasant arousing scenes in both participant groups. Granger causality estimates of influence between mPFC and vSTR were significantly reduced in dysphoric relative to control participants during all picture contents. These findings provide direct evidence that during visual perception of evocative emotional stimuli, reduced reward-related activity in dysphoria is associated with dysfunctional causal connectivity between mPFC, amygdala, and vSTR.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SOIL TILLAGE METHODS AND FERTILIZERS ON SUNFLOWER YIELDS

Crop management should be improved as response to concerns about environmental impacts of agriculture. Under a such context, to choose a good soil tillage management is an important decision to improve grain yield and quality. The paper presents aspects regarding the influence of several soil tillage methods, fertilizers and three track-by-track passings of tractor prior to seedbed preparation on sunflower yield under dryland conditions. Field experiments were conducted during 1987-2004 at The National Agricultural Research and Development Institute from Fundulea (Romania) on a leached chernozem, well drained, formed on loess, with 33% clay content and 2.8% organic matter in arable layer. The wheel pressure induced a soil compaction down to 40 cm depth as shown by an increase of bulk density and a decrease of total and air porosities, below minimum level accepted for a normal crop development. The plant height and leaf area were reduced by compaction, as a result of worsening of soil conditions for root growth; the root biomass was lower by 16-33% in compacted soil, as compared to non-compacted one. Working the soil only by disking before sowing created unfavourable conditions for root and plant growth, similar with those obtained by soil compaction. Continuous use of optimal rates of fertilizers (chemical or manure) helped obtaining more efficient sunflower cropping systems.
Does the Merton model apply to the specific circumstances of emerging markets

The purpose was to investigate whether the Merton Model works in emerging markets and if it does how efficient it works there compared to in mature markets. Findings show that the Merton model works in emerging markets and considers country specific information, yet only through stock prices and volatility. However, the model does not account for quality and availability of information in these countries which in turn have a negative impact on market efficiency.
Functional and Morphological Variety in Trunk Muscles of Urodela

ABSTRACT Trunk musculature in Urodela species varies by habitat. In this study, trunk musculature was examined in five species of adult salamanders representing three different habitats: aquatic species, Amphiuma tridactylum and Necturus maculosus; semi-aquatic species, Cynops pyrrhogaster; terrestrial species, Hynobius nigrescens and Ambystoma tigrinum. More terrestrial species have heavier dorsal and ventral trunk muscles than more aquatic forms. By contrast, the lateral hypaxial musculature was stronger in more aquatic species. The number of layers of lateral hypaxial musculature varied among Urodela species and did not clearly correlate with their habitats. The M. rectus abdominis was separated from the lateral hypaxial musculature in both terrestrial and semi-aquatic species. In aquatic species, M. rectus abdominis was not separated from lateral hypaxial musculature. Lateral hypaxial musculature differed in thickness among species and was relatively thinner in terrestrial species. In more terrestrial species, dorsal muscles may be used for stabilization and ventral flexing against gravity. Ventral muscle may be used in preventing dorsally concave curvature of the trunk by dorsal muscles and by weight. The lengthy trunk supported by limbs needs muscular forces along the ventral contour line in more terrestrial species. And, the locomotion on well-developed limbs seems to lead to a decrease of the lateral hypaxial musculature.
Investigation of Low Temperature Cracking in Asphalt Pavements

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) is leading pooled fund research efforts aimed at developing nationally accepted specifications for asphalt binder and mixture testing. The ultimate goal is the elimination of low temperature cracking in both new and rehabilitated Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavements. Low temperature cracking is the main cause of pavement roughness and reduced service life in Northern climates. The original PG binder specifications developed in the 1990’s during the SHRP program considered only neat binders, and the current national trend toward using more and more modified binders necessitates re-evaluating the way we specify asphalt binders and mixtures. Currently engineers are expecting better performance if a modified PG (PG = Performance Grade) binder is specified instead of unmodified PG binder. This extra protection for low temperature cracking costs Mn/DOT alone $5.7 million annually based on binder costs and paving done in 2005, but is it as simple as using the correct binder for Minnesota and the nation? Coming up with updated testing methods and discovering the important factors that impact low temperature cracking is being realized through our combined efforts.
Do Phonological Codes Constrain the Selection of Orthographic Codes in Written Picture Naming

Sound-to-print consistency of picture labels was manipulated in five experiments to investigate whether phonological codes constrain the selection of orthographic codes in written picture naming. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants wrote down picture names which were inconsistent or consistent in the phono-orthographic mapping defined either at the level of the word unit, i.e., heterographic homophones versus nonhomophones (Experiment 1), or at the sublexical level (Experiment 2). In neither experiment did phonographic consistency affect written latencies. Although more errors were observed for inconsistent than for consistent picture names, the observation of a similar error pattern in an untimed written picture naming (control) task suggests that errors resulted from inaccurate orthographic knowledge. In Experiment 3, the position of the inconsistent units within the picture name (initial versus middle or final) was manipulated. The results indicated that only initial inconsistencies affected written latencies. Ruling out the hypothesis that this finding merely results from the fact that handwriting starts before the orthographic encoding of the word endings, Experiments 4 and 5 showed that middle or final inconsistencies influenced written latencies in a spelling-to-dictation task. The findings are discussed as suggesting that the build-up of orthographic activation from pictures is phonologically constrained through the sequential operation of sublexical conversion.
ff ects of Annealing Temperature on the Structural Properties of ZrB 2 Films Deposited via Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering

Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) thin films were deposited on a Si(100) substrate using pulsed direct current (dc) magnetron sputtering and then annealed in high vacuum. In addition, we discussed the effects of the vacuum annealing temperature in the range of 750 to 870 ◦C with flowing N2 on the physical properties of ZrB2 films. The structural properties of ZrB2 films were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD patterns indicated that the ZrB2 films annealed at various temperatures exhibited a highly preferred orientation along the [0001] direction and that the residual stress could be relaxed by increasing the annealing temperature at 870 ◦C in a vacuum. The surface morphology was smooth, and the surface roughness slightly decreased with increasing annealing temperature. Cross-sectional TEM images of the ZrB2/Si(100) film annealed at 870 ◦C reveals the films were highly oriented in the direction of the c-axis of the Si substrate and the film structure was nearly stoichiometric in composition. The XPS results show the film surfaces slightly contain oxygen, which corresponds to the binding energy of Zr–O. Therefore, the obtained ZrB2 film seems to be quite suitable as a buffer layer for III-nitride growth.
MobiCo m 2010 Poster : Listen Before You Talk , But on the Frequency Do m ain

WiFi networks adopt a random backoff mechanism to mediate channel contention. Although effective, backing off has been shown to reduce channel utilization. This is because backing off occurs in the time domain, forcing the channel to remain idle for multiple time slots. This poster proposes to break away from convention, and recreate the time domain operations in the frequency domain. Our basic idea is to pretend that OFDM subcarriers are integer numbers, and hence, counting down from a random backoff value may be equivalent to transmitting on a randomly chosen subcarrier. By looking at all active subcarriers and comparing with one’s own chosen subcarrier, it is possible to select the winner of the contention. In fact, a logical ordering among nodes is feasible, enabling a train of scheduled transmissions from only one round of contention. We develop these ideas into a T2F protocol and prototype it on a small testbed of 5 USRPs. Early experimental results confirm its feasibility, along with promising throughput gains of up to 50%.
Comparison of Transcriptional Heterogeneity of Eight Genes between Batch Desulfovibrio vulgaris Biofilm and Planktonic Culture at a Single-Cell Level

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) biofilm formed on metal surfaces can change the physicochemical properties of metals and cause metal corrosion. To enhance understanding of differential gene expression in Desulfovibrio vulgaris under planktonic and biofilm growth modes, a single-cell based RT-qPCR approach was applied to determine gene expression levels of 8 selected target genes in four sets of the 31 individual cells isolated from each growth condition (i.e., biofilm formed on a mild steel (SS) and planktonic cultures, exponential and stationary phases). The results showed obvious gene-expression heterogeneity for the target genes among D. vulgaris single cells of both biofilm and planktonic cultures. In addition, an increased gene-expression heterogeneity in the D. vulgaris biofilm when compared with the planktonic culture was also observed for seven out of eight selected genes at exponential phase, and six out of eight selected genes at stationary phase, respectively, which may be contributing to the increased complexity in terms of structures and morphology in the biofilm. Moreover, the results showed up-regulation of DVU0281 gene encoding exopolysaccharide biosynthesis protein, and down-regulation of genes involved in energy metabolism (i.e., DVU0434 and DVU0588), stress responses (i.e., DVU2410) and response regulator (i.e., DVU3062) in the D. vulgaris biofilm cells. Finally, the gene (DVU2571) involved in iron transportation was found down-regulated, and two genes (DVU1340 and DVU1397) involved in ferric uptake repressor and iron storage were up-regulated in D. vulgaris biofilm, suggesting their possible roles in maintaining normal metabolism of the D. vulgaris biofilm under environments of high concentration of iron. This study showed that the single-cell based analysis could be a useful approach in deciphering metabolism of microbial biofilms.
Factors affecting intention to use variable rate technology-tillage by structural equation modeling

Variable rate technologies are a type of precision agriculture (PA) technology used to evaluate soil stability. Tillage is applied for farmland conditioning in preparation for cultivation, and tillage objectives can be determined this technology. This study was based on a revised Technology Acceptance Model to investigate attitudes and intentions of agricultural experts using variable rate technology-tillage and working in the Agricultural Ministry of Iran; comparing results from two provinces. The study attempted to determine impacts of outer variables (attitudes of confidence, triability and observability) on the Technology Acceptance Model and to mark direct and indirect affects on experts' intentions and attitudes based on a theoretical model. The research method was a cross sectional survey. Two large and important provinces regarding agricultural production (Fars and Khuzestan) were selected and stratified; random sampling was used for data collection. 249 experts were selected as the sample group. The study was examined with Structural Equation Modeling and applied by PLS-Graph software. Findings demonstrated that those experts working in Fars province had less a positive attitude but more intention, perceived usefulness and ease of use toward variable rate technology-tillage than those of Khuzestan. Observability, as an outer variable affected experts’ attitudes and their intention to use, in both Fars and Khuzestan. Based on these research findings, some recommendations are presented.
Chapter 6 Exchange protein activated by cyclic AMP 2 ( Epac 2 ) plays a specific and time-limited role in memory retrieval

Knowledge on the molecular mechanisms involved in memory retrieval is limited due to the lack of tools to study this stage of the memory process. Here we report that exchange proteins activated by cAMP (Epac) play a surprisingly specific role in memory retrieval. Intrahippocampal injection of the Epac activator 8-pCPT-2’O-Me-cAMP was shown to improve fear memory retrieval in contextual fear conditioning whereas acquisition and consolidation were not affected. The retrieval enhancing effect of the Epac activator was even more prominent in the passive avoidance paradigm. Downregulation of Epac2 expression in the hippocampal CA1 area impaired fear memory retrieval when the memory test was performed 72 h after training, but not when tested after 17 days. Our data thus identify an important time-limited role for hippocampal Epac2 signaling in cognition and opens new avenues to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying memory retrieval.
COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF GFRP LAMINATE PANELS MANUFACTURED BY VARI AND RTM

The aim of the study is a comparative evaluation of panels made of GFRP laminate (10 layers of plain-woven 0/90 glass fabric) by RTM and VARI methods. The evaluation was performed on the basis of the analysis of the laminate thickness, fibre volume fraction and flexural strength. An essential element of the evaluation is the repeatability of the analyzed properties, which is estimated by the standard deviation and coefficient of variation of respectively numerous result series. Comparison of the two mentioned technologies may be significant information concerning their alternative applicability. The range of the study covers: preparation of four reinforcement lay-ups (preforms) of plain-woven glass fabric, manufacturing four laminate panels using the preforms two by RTM and two by VARI, cutting specimens from the panels, evaluation of the thickness and fibre volume fraction of the specimens, and evaluation of the flexural strength of the specimens in 3-point bending tests. Laminates manufactured by the RTM and VARI methods showed a relatively high reinforcing fibre volume fraction. A slightly higher volume fraction and, at the same time, a significantly smaller thickness were observed in the VARI laminates. The laminates manufactured by RTM showed about a 10% higher flexural strength in comparison with the VARI ones. The laminates manufactured by VARI showed a higher volume fraction but it is probably due to gas voids present in areas near the reinforcing fibre strands. The presence of voids was also proved in the structure of the RTM laminates, but they are of a different nature they are bigger and are located within the resin-rich areas between the reinforcing layers. The quality of the specimen surface (two-side smoothness in the case of the RTM laminates, one-side smoothness in the case of the VARI ones) could also have some effect on the flexural strength. In the case of both the VARI and the RTM laminates as well, a visible thickness "gradient", directed the from outlet to inlet, was observed. It is caused by "relaxation" of the underpressure after passing of the resin flow front during the impregnation process. The "gradient" is bigger and less uniform in the case of the VARI laminates than in case of the RTM ones. The RTM method occurred to be minimally better than the VARI in terms of repeatability of the fibre volume fraction and flexural strength, measured as the variance coefficient of the results of a specimen series. The worse repeatability of the laminates manufactured by the VARI method results from the bigger laminate thickness "gradient".
Analysis of loan default and repayment performance among farmers in Akwa Ibom State Integrated farmers’ Scheme

The study examined Agricultural Loan Default and repayment performance among Farmers in Nigeria: The case of the Akwa Ibom State Integrated Farmers’ Scheme (IFS). Simple random sampling technique was used to select a total of 100 loan beneficiaries for the study30 IFS loan beneficiaries from the first batch and 70 beneficiaries from the second batch respectively. Tobit model was used to determine and analyze the explanatory variables influencing default rates of the IFS loan beneficiaries were found to be 9.4% and 99.91% respectively. Analysis of the data using Tobit model revealed that 8 explanatory variables, namely marital status, household size, off-farm income, total farm cost, enterprise profitability, debt-asset ratio, ratio of amount request ed/ given and number of visits of supervisors were significant factors influencing loan repayment among the beneficiaries. It is therefore recommended that Government should organize regular training programmes for IFS Supervisors to enhance effective supervision and appraisal of the agricultural projects. This will check the incessant waste of fund that disrupts prompt repayment of such loans and more vehicles should be provided by Government to enhance effective monitoring of the progress of participants’ projects, assist when necessary and offer advice.
Lysosome biogenesis requires Rab9 function and receptor recycling from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network

Newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes bind to mannose 6-phosphate receptors (MPRs) in the TGN, and are carried to prelysosomes, where they are released. MPRs then return to the TGN for another round of transport. Rab9 is a ras-like GTPase which facilitates MPR recycling to the TGN in vitro. We show here that a dominant negative form of rab9, rab9 S21N, strongly inhibited MPR recycling in living cells. The block was specific in that the rates of biosynthetic protein transport, fluid phase endocytosis and receptor-mediated endocytosis were unchanged. Expression of rab9 S21N was accompanied by a decrease in the efficiency of lysosomal enzyme sorting. Cells compensated for the presence of the mutant protein by inducing the synthesis of both soluble and membrane- associated lysosomal enzymes, and by internalizing lysosomal enzymes that were secreted by default. These data show that MPRs are limiting in the secretory pathway of cells expressing rab9 S21N and document the importance of MPR recycling and the rab9 GTPase for efficient lysosomal enzyme delivery.
Three-dimensional modeling of the human eye based on magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE A methodology for noninvasively characterizing the three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the complete human eye is not currently available for research into ocular diseases that have a structural substrate, such as myopia. A novel application of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition and analysis technique is presented that, for the first time, allows the 3-D shape of the eye to be investigated fully. METHODS The technique involves the acquisition of a T2-weighted MRI, which is optimized to reveal the fluid-filled chambers of the eye. Automatic segmentation and meshing algorithms generate a 3-D surface model, which can be shaded with morphologic parameters such as distance from the posterior corneal pole and deviation from sphericity. Full details of the method are illustrated with data from 14 eyes of seven individuals. The spatial accuracy of the calculated models is demonstrated by comparing the MRI-derived axial lengths with values measured in the same eyes using interferometry. RESULTS The color-coded eye models showed substantial variation in the absolute size of the 14 eyes. Variations in the sphericity of the eyes were also evident, with some appearing approximately spherical whereas others were clearly oblate and one was slightly prolate. Nasal-temporal asymmetries were noted in some subjects. CONCLUSIONS The MRI acquisition and analysis technique allows a novel way of examining 3-D ocular shape. The ability to stratify and analyze eye shape, ocular volume, and sphericity will further extend the understanding of which specific biometric parameters predispose emmetropic children subsequently to develop myopia.
Title : Treating Parkinson ' s disease in the 21 st century – can stem cell transplantation compete ?

The characteristic and selective degeneration of a unique population of cells – the nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons – that occurs in Parkinson's disease (PD) has made the condition an iconic target for cell replacement therapies. Indeed transplantation of fetal ventral mesencephalic cells into the dopamine-deficient striatum was first trialled nearly 30 years ago, at a time when other treatments for the disease were less well developed. Over recent decades standard treatments for PD have advanced, and newer biological therapies are now emerging. In the 21 st century, stem cell technology will have to compete alongside other sophisticated treatments, including deep brain stimulation and gene therapies. In this review we examine how stem cell based transplantation therapies compare with these novel and emerging treatments in the management of this common condition.