Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuron Selection Based on Deflection Coefficient Maximization for the Neural Decoding of Dexterous Finger Movements

Future generations of brain-machine interface (BMI) will require more dexterous motion control such as hand and finger movements. Since a population of neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) area is correlated with finger movements, neural activities recorded in M1 area are used to reconstruct an intended finger movement. In a BMI system, decoding discrete finger movements from a large number of input neurons does not guarantee a higher decoding accuracy in spite of the increase in computational burden. Hence, we hypothesize that selecting neurons important for coding dexterous flexion/extension of finger movements would improve the BMI performance. In this paper, two metrics are presented to quantitatively measure the importance of each neuron based on Bayes risk minimization and deflection coefficient maximization in a statistical decision problem. Since motor cortical neurons are active with movements of several different fingers, the proposed method is more suitable for a discrete decoding of flexion-extension finger movements than the previous methods for decoding reaching movements. In particular, the proposed metrics yielded high decoding accuracies across all subjects and also in the case of including six combined two-finger movements. While our data acquisition and analysis was done off-line and post processing, our results point to the significance of highly coding neurons in improving BMI performance.
Optimized constant-rate encoding for decentralized parameter estimation with wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we address the problem of the estimation of an underlying parameter of interest with a Wireless Sensor Network. We assume that sensors encode (i.e. quantize) their observations at a common constant rate which, on the one hand, determines the quantization noise at the encoders and, on the other, the outage probabily experienced in the sensor-to-fusion center fading channels. We then identify the encoding rate that minimizes the distortion in the Fusion Center (FC) estimates or, in other words, the optimal trade-off in terms of quantization noise vs. the number of observations actually decoded at the FC. We solve the problem analytically for two cases of interest, namely, (i) networks with an asymptotically-large number of sensor nodes; and (ii) scenarios where the underlying parameter can be sampled at a low rate. Results are given in terms of expected distortion vs. network size, outage probability and SNR. The loss with respect to a system with variable encoding rates is analyzed as well.
Grief, loss, and the quest for meaning

Sandra, a 42-year-old secretary and divorced mother of two young sons, experiences periodic upsurges of grief following the death of her mother from cancer three years ago. During her mother’s protracted illness Sandra, along with her older sister, functioned as a primary caregiver, often bearing the brunt of her mother’s frustration over her declining health and increasing confinement. Now, trying to sort out the meaning of the loss for herself and her family, Sandra contends with the nagging sense that her best efforts at caregiving were not good enough, and that her mother’s death left ‘unfinished business’ between them. At the same time, this loss seemed to have ushered in elusive but important gains in Sandra’s life as she developed a new persona as a ‘take-charge kind of person’, a fundamental shift in her sense of self that has served her well since that time. In grief counselling Sandra finds herself seeking a way to not only reconnect with her mother and address some of the emotional ambiguity of their relationship, but also to consolidate and recruit support for the personal transformation she has undergone since her mother’s death. Chris, a 37-year-old single nurse, seems caught in the cross-currents of two separate recent losses: the sudden death of her father from a heart attack, and the protracted dying of her dear friend, David, from AIDS. While she loved both men in their own way, she experiences her grief for each of them in essentially different terms. On the one hand, she freely accesses the pain and also the sweetness of her final months, days, and hours with David, which were filled with shared memories and anticipations of what life would be like without him. On the other hand, her father’s unexpected death left her no opportunity for a final goodbye, leading her to seek ways to achieve this symbolically in grief therapy. Moreover, her whole demeanour shifts during our meeting as she speaks about one death as opposed to the other: warming, shedding some tears, and regrouping when talking about David, and subtly cooling, becoming more controlled, and more distant as she speaks about her father. With gentle prompting from me, Chris connects this to the very different communication patterns enacted in the two relationships, characterised by mutual openness and vulnerability with David, and her functioning as the emotionally reserved ‘communication satellite’ in her family of origin. E D I T O R ’ S N O T E
Bifurcations and dynamics of a discrete predator–prey system

In this paper, we study the dynamics behaviour of a stratum of plant–herbivore which is modelled through the following F(x, y)=(f(x, y), g(x, y)) two-dimensional map with four parameters defined by where x≥0, y≥0, and the real parameters a, b, r, k are all positive. We will focus on the case a≠b. We study the stability of fixed points and do the analysis of the period-doubling and the Neimark–Sacker bifurcations in a standard way.
Quantitative Accuracy of Low-Count SPECT Imaging in Phantom and In Vivo Mouse Studies

We investigated the accuracy of a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system in quantifying a wide range of radioactivity concentrations using different scan times in both phantom and animal models. A phantom containing various amounts of In-111 or Tc-99m was imaged until the activity had decayed close to background levels. Scans were acquired for different durations, employing different collimator pinhole sizes. VOI analysis was performed to quantify uptake in the images and the values compared to the true activity. The phantom results were then validated in tumour-bearing mice. The use of an appropriate calibration phantom and disabling of a background subtraction feature meant that absolute errors were within 12% of the true activity. Furthermore, a comparison of in vivo imaging and biodistribution studies in mice showed a correlation of 0.99 for activities over the 200 kBq to 5 MBq range. We conclude that the quantitative information provided by the NanoSPECT camera is accurate and allows replacement of dissection studies for assessment of radiotracer biodistribution in mouse models.
For Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology: Award Address, 1985

A model of P300 amplitude is proposed that reduces the many hypothetical constructs invoked to explain variations in P300 amplitude to three dimensions: 1) Subjective Probability, 2) Stimulus Meaning, and 3) Information Transmission. Evidence is presented to support the assertion that variables on the subjective probability and stimulus meaning dimensions have independent and additive contributions to overall P300 amplitude. The amplitude contributions of both of these dimensions, however, are modulated by a multiplicative relation with the proportion of transmitted stimulus information. Within each dimension, the fundamental experimental variables and their interrelations are specified. An example is presented to show how, by using an additive factors method, the respective amplitude effects of the probability and stimulus meaning dimensions can be separated. Supporting data are presented to show that the proposed model provides a reasonable and testable framework in which to conceptualize P300 results.
Terms of use : Click here Impaired emotion regulation in schizophrenia : evidence from event-related potentials

Psychological Medicine / Volume 43 / Issue 11 / November 2013, pp 2377 2391 DOI: 10.1017/S0033291713000019, Published online: 29 January 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge. org/abstract_S0033291713000019 How to cite this article: W. P. Horan, G. Hajcak, J. K. Wynn and M. F. Green (2013). Impaired emotion regulation in schizophrenia: evidence from event-related potentials. Psychological Medicine, 43, pp 2377-2391 doi:10.1017/S0033291713000019 Request Permissions : Click here
The Mother Figure in Contemporary Women’s Theater

Five French plays written by women playwrights between the years 1976–88 attest to significant changes in the dramatic presentation of the mother figure. The innovations occur at the general thematic level (with plays centered on the mother–daughter initiating encounter at the moment of giving birth/being born, the reversal of the mother–daughter roles later on in life, trial maternity, willful maternal eclipse, etc.) as well as at the level of the characters’ speech, the setting, and so on. While some of the plays (such as Chantal Chawaf’s Chair chaude, Denise Chalem’s A cinquante ans elle découvrait la mer and Loleh Bellon’s De si tendres liens) put into words typical female experiences rarely or never before voiced in front of a theatrical audience, others (such as Madeleine Laïk’s Transat and Denise Bonal’s Passions et prairies) represent mental experiments that daringly reconfigure the meaning, timing and social as well as personal finality of motherhood.
Functional imaging of mirror and inverse reading reveals separate coactivated networks for oculomotion and spatial transformations

ECHOPLANAR functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to localize the cortical areas involved in the analysis of spatially transformed letter strings. Significant increases of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal for transforme dvs normal reading were observed in the superior parietal lobule (SPL), along the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), in the frontal eye fields (FEF), and in the latero-occipital area LO. The respective contributions of oculomotor and spatial transformation areas to this activation pattern were separated by means of a control condition involving the execution and suppression of eye movements. Areas activated in association with the control of eye movements included the superior parietal lobule and the frontal eye fields. The cooperation of different brain areas was analysed by correlating the time course of task-dependent BOLD signal changes in these areas. This correlation analysis revealed coactivation of occipitotemporal object recognition areas and a spatial transformation area in the intraparietal sulcus during the reading of transformed letter strings. We suggest that cortical systems that are coactivated during complex cognitive tasks can be differentiated by the correlation analysis of BOLD signal time courses in spatially separate brain areas.
Biomechanical Analysis of Humeral Diaphyseal Segmental Defect Fixation

With disseminated malignancies, segmental defects of the humeral diaphysis may occur from surgical resection or as a complication of failed prior internal fixation. This study directly compared the biomechanical properties of a second generation titanium modular intercalary humeral spacer (segmental defect replacement prosthesis) with those of a modern locked humeral nail combined with methylmethacrylate (intramedullary nail) or with an intercalary allograft spacer (allograft nail composite) for fixation of segmental defects of the humeral diaphysis. Eighteen matched pairs (36 specimens) of fresh-frozen humeri were prepared in a standard fashion to create a 5-cm middiaphyseal defect and were divided randomly into three groups of 12 specimens each, using three different reconstructive methods. Specimens were tested in external torsion to failure on a Materials Testing System machine. The segmental defect replacement specimens had statistically greater peak torque (mean, 41.4 N-m) and stiffness (mean, 2.1 N-m/°) than the intramedullary nail specimens (mean peak torque, 23.1 N-m) (mean stiffness, 1.6 N-m/°) or the allograft nail composite specimens (mean peak torque, 12.4 N-m) (mean stiffness, 0.6 N-m/°). The intramedullary nail specimens also had a statistically greater peak torque at failure and stiffness than the allograft nail composite specimens. For segmental defects of the humeral diaphysis, reconstruction with a cemented metallic intercalary spacer provides significantly greater immediate stability than interlocked intramedullary nail fixation supplemented with segmental methylmethacrylate or intercalary allograft reconstruction.
Services for Victims: A Market Research Study

Victim services programs have proliferated over the past three decades. However, we know little about the forms of assistance that crime victims seek from these programs, whether the programs are meeting the needs of those who seek help, or whether the victims who receive services are the ones most in need. The current research examined these issues through interviews with 240 crime victims (120 persons who had received help from victim programs and 120 who had not) across four cities in the United States. Family and friends were the most frequent sources of victim assistance. Victim services programs helped a substantial number of victims with counseling-related needs but were of little help to victims in dealing with crime prevention, household, or property replacement needs. Victims who received services had more crime-related needs than those who had no program contact.
Weapon carrying on school property among middle school students.

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between carrying a weapon at school and the age of onset of substance use, other indicators of violence, and other health risk behaviors among middle school students. DESIGN In 1995, a modified version of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey was administered to 2227 students (49% were female) attending 53 (of 463) randomly selected middle schools in North Carolina. Weapon carrying on school property during school hours was measured with 2 questions assessing carrying a gun and carrying other weapons such as knives or clubs. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey also assessed other indicators of violence, drug use, suicide plans and attempts, and being threatened with a weapon at school. Variables significantly (P< or =.001) associated with gun and other weapon carrying by chi2 tests were analyzed with stepwise logistic regression using the likelihood ratio approach. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for all other variables in the model and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed. RESULTS Our study showed that 3% of students had carried a gun and 14.1% had carried a knife or club to school. Gun carrying was associated with increased age (OR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.15-2.14]); male sex (OR, 5.62 [95% CI, 2.42-13.03]); minority ethnicity (OR, 3.30 [95% CI, 1.55-5.05]); and earlier age of onset of cigarette (OR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.74-0.97]), alcohol (OR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.71-0.94]), marijuana (OR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.71-0.92]), and cocaine use (OR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.62-0.86]). Knife or club carrying was associated with age (OR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.14-1.53]); male sex (OR, 2.39 [95% CI, 1.77-2.32]); and ear-lier age of onset of cigarette (OR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.84-0.94]), alcohol (OR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.76-0.86]), and marijuana use (OR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.72-0.83]). Gun carrying was also associated with frequency of cigarette (OR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.14-1.57]), alcohol (OR, 4.59 [95% CI, 1.27-16.58]), cocaine (OR, 2.96 [95% CI, 1.29-6.82]), and marijuana use (OR, 3.66 [95% CI, 1.67-8.06]) after adjusting for male sex and minority ethnicity. Carrying a knife or club was associated with carrying a gun (OR, 1.83 [95% CI, 1.31-2.55]); being threatened with a weapon at school (OR, 1.65 [95% CI, 1.10-2.49]); fighting (OR, 4.62 [95% CI, 2.56-8.37]); frequency of alcohol (OR, 2.91 [95% CI, 1.88-4.50]) and cigarette use (OR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.10-1.31]); and a suicide plan (OR, 1.54 [95% CI, 1.07-2.20]). CONCLUSIONS Middle school students are more likely to carry a knife or club (14.1%) than a gun (3%) to school. Young adolescents who initiate substance use early and engage in it frequently are more likely to carry guns and other weapons to school, after adjusting for age, sex, and ethnicity. Being threatened with a weapon at school and fighting were only associated with knife or club carrying at school. These findings suggest that school-based prevention programs targeting both violence prevention and substance use should be introduced in elementary school.
Implications of area-array I/O for row-based placement methodology

We empirically study the implications of area-array I/O for placement methodology. Our work develops a three-axis testbed that examines (1) I/O pad regime (area-array vs. peripheral pad locations), (2) I/O and core placement methodology (variants of alternating vs. simultaneous I/O and core placement approaches), and (3) placement engine (hierarchical quadratic for both core and I/O cells vs. pure min-cut for core cells and assignment for I/O). Experimental data show that the area-array I/O regime is rather more forgiving of bad placement methodologies than the peripheral I/O regime. On the other hand, the wrong methodology can still entail substantial losses in solution quality and efficiency.
Organisational Applications of Social Cognitive Theory

Social cognitive theory explains psychosocial functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation. In this causal model, behaviour, cognitive and other personal factors and environmental events all operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally. This article focuses on how personal factors that contribute importantly to this dynamic interaction can be altered to improve the level of organisational functioning.
DEVELOPING PATHWAYS TO SERVING TOGETHER: DUAL MILITARY COUPLES' LIFE COURSE AND DECISION-MAKING

Title: DEVELOPING PATHWAYS TO SERVING TOGETHER: DUAL MILITARY COUPLES’ LIFE COURSE AND DECISION-MAKING David Glenn Smith, Ph.D., 2010 Directed By: Professor Mady W. Segal, Department of Sociology The increase in the number and types of military families since the advent of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973 has increased the impact of the work-family interface for the military. For dual career couples, where both the husband and wife are in the military, both are subject to deployment for extended periods of time, high geographic mobility, probability of a foreign residence, the risk of injury or death, and they must manage two specialized and structured career paths (Segal 1986). The purpose of this study is to analyze the work careers and family life course of dual military couples and their decision-making processes, using a life course perspective. Using a grounded theory methodology, I interviewed and analyzed the transcripts of 23 dual military officer couples in the U.S. Navy. Results show that work and family decisions are influenced by the organizational constraints as well as institutional and cultural norms. The rhythm of life in the Navy is shaped by cyclic changing of job assignments and locations, rotation of sea and shore duty assignments, warfare Report Documentation Page Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 2010 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2010 to 00-00-2010 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Developing Pathways to Serving Together: Military Family Life Course and Decision-Making of Dual Military Couples 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER
Team-Teaching Anti-Oppression with Diverse Faculty: Challenges and Opportunities

Team-teaching, especially with colleagues who are diverse along a number of domains of social identity (e.g., social class, gender, race, tenure rank, academic status, age), represents a rich opportunity to model a social justice, anti-oppressive approach to teaching and learning. In this article, we present pedagogical strategies to consider when team-teaching foundation social work courses with a social justice focus. Constructs related to power dynamics, privilege, social class, microaggressions and social identity are explored. Development of teaching plans, managing challenging team dynamics, and teaching methods are examined. Implications of team-teaching anti-oppression content for social work education are discussed.
The transcanal transpromontorial corridor to treat cochlear schwannomas.

unclear, but given the available data in this case, it seems reasonable to propose a translabyrinthine, extradural source of the pneumocephalus. Without evidence of dural violation, cerebrospinal fluid leak or other subdural air, tracking of ipsilateral, intracranial, and extradural air to the sagittal suture line seems the most reasonable explanation for the patient’s initial presentation. Superior canal dehiscence is frequently incidentally appreciated on temporal bone imaging in asymptomatic patients, and this patient did not have preexisting or ongoing symptoms consistent with SSCD syndrome. Rather, she had an acute onset profound hearing loss and vertigo that resolved with a course of steroids and reabsorption of the intralabyrinthine and intracranial air. Further workup of SSCD syndrome was not performed as the patient did not indicate concerning chronic symptoms.
Equivalent continuum analyses of jointed rockmass: Some case studies

The paper presents summary of the work carried out by the author on the modelling of jointed rock mass with some field applications. The equivalent continuum analyses approach presented attempts to use statistical relations, which are simple and obtained after analyzing a large data from the literature on laboratory test results of jointed rock masses. Systematic investigations were done including laboratory experiments to develop the methodologies to determine the equivalent material properties of rock mass and their stress-strain behaviour, using a hyperbolic approach. Present study covers the development of equivalent continuum model for rock mass, implementation of the model in FLAC3D for 3-dimensional applications and subsequently verification leading to real field application involving jointed rocks. The model was rigorously validated by simulating jointed rock specimens. Element tests were conducted for both uniaxial and triaxial cases and then compared with the respective experimental results. The numerical test program includes laboratory tested cylindrical rock specimens of different rock types, from plaster of Paris representing soft rock to granite representing very hard rock. The results of the equivalent continuum modelling were also compared with explicit modelling results where joints were incorporated in the model as interfaces. Several case studies have been presented with the developed model.