Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for both reaching and grasping activity in the medial parieto‐occipital cortex of the macaque

In humans, the caudal pole of the superior parietal lobule is involved in the control of both reaching and grasping movements, whereas in monkey it is reported to be involved only in the control of reaching. Using single‐unit recordings from trained macaque monkeys, we investigated whether area V6A, a visuomotor area located in the caudal part of the posterior parietal cortex, is involved in both components of prehension, the hand transport towards the visual target and the grip formation to secure the grasp. In Experiment 1, neural activity was recorded in V6A while two monkeys performed two instructed‐delay reaching tasks (reach‐to‐point and reach‐to‐grasp) under controlled conditions in darkness. Fourty‐five of 93 tested neurons (48%) were modulated during reach‐to‐point and 62% (52/84) during reach‐to‐grasp. In 63% of cells (51/81) neural activity was significantly different between reach‐to‐point and reach‐to‐grasp tasks, suggesting that grip formation could influence neural activity. In Experiment 2, two monkeys performed natural reach‐to‐grasp movements in fully lit environment; V6A neural activity and arm–hand movements were recorded by a digital camcorder and analysed frame‐by‐frame using a digital video technique. Thirty of the 58 tested neurons (52%) were modulated during natural prehension; about 30% of these neurons (8/30) were modulated only during the last phase of prehension, i.e. during finger flexion around the object to be grasped. This is the first direct demonstration that both reaching and grasping modulate neural activity in the caudal part of the posterior parietal cortex of the macaque. Our work suggests a strict functional homology between human and monkey superior parietal lobule.
Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2 Activates Promoter Sequences of the Human AβH-J-J Locus, Encoding Aspartyl-β-Hydroxylase, Junctin, and Junctate

ABSTRACT Alternative splicing of the locus AβH-J-J generates three functionally distinct proteins: an enzyme, AβH (aspartyl-β-hydroxylase), a structural protein of the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane (junctin), and an integral membrane calcium binding protein (junctate). Junctin and junctate are two important proteins involved in calcium regulation in eukaryotic cells. To understand the regulation of these two proteins, we identified and functionally characterized one of the two promoter sequences of the AβH-J-J locus. We demonstrate that the P2 promoter of the AβH-J-J locus contains (i) a minimal sequence localized within a region −159 bp from the transcription initiation site, which is sufficient to activate transcription of both mRNAs; (ii) sequences which bind known transcriptional factors such as those belonging to the myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF-2), MEF-3, and NF-κB protein families; and (iii) sequences bound by unknown proteins. The functional characterization of the minimal promoter in C2C12 cells and in the rat soleus muscle in vivo model indicates the existence of cis elements having positive and negative effects on transcription. In addition, our data demonstrate that in striated muscle cells the calcium-dependent transcription factor MEF-2 is crucial for the transcription activity directed by the P2 promoter. The transcription directed by the AβH-J-J P2 promoter is induced by high expression of MEF-2, further stimulated by calcineurin and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I, and inhibited by histone deacetylase 4.
Radiation drag driven mass accretion in a clumpy interstellar medium: implications for the supermassive black hole-to-bulge relation

We quantitatively scrutinize the effects of the radiation drag arising from the radiation fields in a galactic bulge in order to examine the possibility that the radiation drag could be an effective mechanism to extract angular momentum in a spheroidal system like a bulge and allow plenty of gas to accrete on to the galactic centre. For this purpose, we numerically solve the relativistic radiation hydrodynamical equation coupled with accurate radiative transfer, and quantitatively assess the radiation drag efficiency. As a result, we find that in an optically thick regime the radiation drag efficiency is sensitively dependent on the density distributions of the interstellar medium (ISM). The efficiency drops according to Τ - 2 T in an optically thick uniform ISM, where Τ T is the total optical depth of the dusty ISM, whereas the efficiency remains almost constant at a high level if the ISM is clumpy. Hence, if bulge formation begins with a star formation event in a clumpy ISM, the radiation drag will effectively work to remove the angular momentum and the accreted gas may form a supermassive black hole. As a natural consequence, this mechanism reproduces a putative linear relation between the mass of a supermassive black hole and the mass of a galactic bulge, although further detailed modelling for stellar evolution is required for a more precise prediction.
New Evidence of the Effect of Transaction Costs on Residential Mobility

Transaction costs have attracted considerable attention in the theoretical literature on residential mobility. Transaction costs are thought to cause suboptimal consumption of housing but may also negatively affect labor market outcomes. In the current paper, we demonstrate empirically for the Netherlands that transaction costs have a strong negative effect on the owners' probability of moving. Under a range of different specifications, it appears that a 1 percent-point increase in the value of transaction costs-as a percentage of the value of the residence-decreases residential mobility rates by (at least) 8 percent. The estimates imply that ownership to ownership mobility rates would be substantially higher in the absence of the current 6 percent "ad valorem" buyer transaction tax. Our estimates are consistent with the observation that in the Netherlands "ad valorem" transaction costs mainly consist of buyer transaction costs. Copyright Blackwell Publishers, 2005
The Impact of Web Search Engines on Subject Searching in OPAC

(CSULA) and studies the effects of implementing a Web-based OPAC along with interface changes. The authors find that user success in subject searching remains problematic. A major increase in the frequency of searches that would have been more successful in resources other than the library catalog is noted over the time period 2000–2002. The authors attribute this increase to the prevalence of Web search engines and suggest that metasearching, relevance-ranked results, and relevance feedback (" more like this ") are now expected in user searching and should be integrated into online catalogs as search options. I n spite of many studies and articles on Online Public Access Catalogs (OPAC) over the last twenty-five years, many of the original ideas about improving user success in searching library catalog have yet to be implemented. Ironically, many of these techniques are now found in Web search engines. The popularity of the Web appears to have influenced users' mental models and thus their expectations and behavior when using a Web-based OPAC interface. This study examines current search behavior using transaction-log analysis (TLA) of subject searches when zero-hits are retrieved. It considers some of the features of Web search engines and online bookstores and suggests future enhancements for OPACs. Many studies have been published since the 1980s centering on the OPAC. Seymour and Large and Beheshti provide in-depth overviews on OPAC research from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s.
Community Engineering for Innovations: The Ideas Competition as a Method to Nurture a Virtual Community for Innovations

‘Crowdsourcing’ is currently one of the most discussed key words within the open innovation community. The major question for both research and business is how to find and lever the enormous potential of the ‘collective brain’ to broaden the scope of ‘open R&D’. Based on a literature review in the fields of Community Building and Innovation Management, this work develops an integrated framework called ‘Community Engineering for Innovations’. This framework is evaluated in an Action Research project – the case of an ideas competition for an ERP Software company. The case ‘SAPiens’ includes the design, implementation and evaluation of an IT-supported ideas competition within the SAP University Competence Center (UCC) User Group. This group consists of approximately 60,000 people (lecturers and students) using SAP Software for educational purposes. The current challenges are twofold: on the one hand, there is not much activity yet in this community. On the other, SAP has not attempted to systematically address this highly educated group for idea generation or innovation development so far. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop a framework for a community-based innovation development that generates innovations, process and product ideas in general and for SAP Research, in particular, combining the concepts of idea competitions and virtual communities. Furthermore, the concept aims at providing an interface to SAP Human Resources processes in order to identify the most promising students in this virtual community. This paper is the first to present an integrated concept for IT-supported idea competitions in virtual communities for leveraging the potential of crowds that is evaluated in a real-world setting.
Physician Survey to Determine How Dengue Is Diagnosed, Treated and Reported in Puerto Rico

Dengue is a major cause of morbidity in Puerto Rico and is well-known to its physicians. Early case identification and timely initiation of treatment for patients with severe dengue can reduce medical complications and mortality. To determine clinical management and reporting practices, and assess knowledge of dengue and its management, a survey was sent to 2,512 physicians with a medical license in Puerto Rico. Of the 2,313 physicians who received the survey, 817 (35%) completed the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 708 were currently practicing medicine; 138 were board certified (Group 1), 282 were board eligible (Group 2), and 288 had not finished residency (Group 3). Although respondents clinically diagnosed, on average, 12 cases of dengue in the preceding three months, 31% did not report any suspected cases to public health officials while about half (56%) reported all cases. Overall, 29% of respondents correctly identified early signs of shock and 48% identified severe abdominal pain and persistent vomiting as warning signs for severe dengue with the proportion of correct respondents highest in Group 1. Reportedly about sixty percent (57%) appropriately never give corticosteroids or prophylactic platelet transfusions to dengue patients. One third (30%) of respondents correctly identified administration of intravenous colloid solution as the best treatment option for dengue patients with refractory shock and elevated hematocrit after an initial trial of intravenous crystalloids, and nearly one half (46%) correctly identified administration of a blood transfusion as the best option for dengue patients with refractory shock and decreased hematocrit after a trial of intravenous crystalloids. Even though dengue has been endemic in Puerto Rico for nearly 4 decades, knowledge of dengue management is still limited, compliance with WHO treatment guidelines is suboptimal, and underreporting is significant. These findings were used to design a post graduate training course to improve the clinical management of dengue.
Solving the Multiple Variable Order Problem for Binary Decision Diagrams by Use of Dynamic Reordering Techniques

Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (ROBDDs) gained widespread use in logic design verification, test generation, fault simulation, and logic s ynthesis [MWBS:88,Bry:92]. Since the size of an ROBDD heavily depends on the variable order used, there is a strong need to find variable orders that minimize the number of nodes in an ROBDD. In certain applications we have to cope with ROBDDs with different variable orders, whereas further manipulations of these ROBDDs require common variable orders. In this paper we solve the problem to transform ROBDDs with different variable orders into a good common variable order. To do so, we make use of dynamic variable ordering techniques.
A cholinergic feedback circuit to regulate striatal population uncertainty and optimize reinforcement learning

Convergent evidence suggests that the basal ganglia support reinforcement learning by adjusting action values according to reward prediction errors. However, adaptive behavior in stochastic environments requires the consideration of uncertainty to dynamically adjust the learning rate. We consider how cholinergic tonically active interneurons (TANs) may endow the striatum with such a mechanism in computational models spanning three Marr's levels of analysis. In the neural model, TANs modulate the excitability of spiny neurons, their population response to reinforcement, and hence the effective learning rate. Long TAN pauses facilitated robustness to spurious outcomes by increasing divergence in synaptic weights between neurons coding for alternative action values, whereas short TAN pauses facilitated stochastic behavior but increased responsiveness to change-points in outcome contingencies. A feedback control system allowed TAN pauses to be dynamically modulated by uncertainty across the spiny neuron population, allowing the system to self-tune and optimize performance across stochastic environments. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.12029. 001
Pmn j0525-3343: soft x-ray spectral flattening in a blazar at z=4.4

We report optical, radio and X-ray observations of a new distant blazar, PMN J0525−3343, at a redshift of 4.4. The X-ray spectrum measured from ASCA and BeppoSAX flattens below a few keV, in a manner similar to the spectra of two other z>4 blazars, GB 1428+4217 (z=4.72) reported by Boller et al. and RX J1028.6−0844 (z=4.28) reported by Yuan et al. The spectrum is well fitted by a power-law continuum which either is absorbed or breaks at a few keV. An intrinsic column density corresponding to 2×1023 H-atoms cm−2 at solar abundance is required by the absorption model. This is however a million times greater than the neutral hydrogen, or dust, column density implied by the optical spectrum, which covers the rest-frame ultraviolet emission of the blazar nucleus. We discuss the problems raised and suggest that, unless there is intrinsic flattening in the spectral distribution of the particles/seed photons producing X-rays via inverse Compton scattering, the most plausible solution is a warm absorber close to the active nucleus.
Original Contribution Associations of Body Mass Index and Body Height with Low Back Pain in 829,791 Adolescents

Body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight (kg)/height (m) 2) and height are linked to the pathogenesis of low back pain, but evidence-based confirmation is lacking. We examined the prevalence of low back pain in adolescents and its association with BMI and height. Disability clauses (official military limitations related to a person's health status) indicating low back pain severity were divided according to symptoms of low back pain alone and symptoms of low back pain with objective corroborating findings. All 829,791 males and females undergoing mandatory premilitary recruitment examinations since 1998 were included. Logistic regression models assessed the relationships of BMI and height with low back pain. Prevalence of low back pain was 0.2% for both males and females with objective findings and 5.2% for males and 2.7% for females without objective findings. Higher BMI was significantly associated with low back pain in males (for overweight, odds ratio = 1.097, P < 0.001; for obese, odds ratio = 1.163, P < 0.001) and in females (for overweight, odds ratio = 1.174, P < 0.001; for obese, odds ratio = 1.211, P < 0.001). Height was associated with increased risk of low back pain in both genders. Odds ratios for low back pain in the tallest group compared with the shortest group were 1.438 (P < 0.001) for males and 1.224 (P < 0.001) for females. Low back pain with or without objective findings was associated with overweight and obesity as well as with height. Low back pain is one of the most common medical diagnoses in children and adolescents as well as in adults. The actual prevalence of low back pain for children, adolescents, and young adults is still a controversial issue (1). The diagnosis of low back pain relies mainly on the patient's reported symptoms, because the results of physical examinations and imaging studies are often normal. The etiology of low back pain often remains unknown (2, 3). Body mass index (BMI) (measured as weight (kg)/height (m) 2) and body height have been suggested as contributing to the pathogenesis of low back pain, but evidence-based confirmation of their possible roles is lacking. Increased mechanical demands resulting from obesity have also been suspected of causing low back pain through excessive load bearing (4–10), and it has also been suggested that metabolic factors associated with obesity may be detrimental to the low back (4). Thus, some authors consider obesity as being …
Market Fragility, Systemic Risk, and Ricci Curvature

Measuring systemic risk or fragility of financial systems is a ubiquitous task of fundamental importance in analyzing market efficiency, portfolio allocation, and containment of financial contagions. Recent attempts have shown that representing such systems as a weighted graph characterizing the complex web of interacting agents over some information flow (e.g., debt, stock returns, shareholder ownership) may provide certain keen insights. Here, we show that fragility, or the ability of system to be prone to failures in the face of random perturbations, is negatively correlated with geometric notion of Ricci curvature. The key ingredient relating fragility and curvature is entropy. As a proof of concept, we examine returns from a set of stocks comprising the S\&P 500 over a 15 year span to show that financial crashes are more robust compared to normal "business as usual" fragile market behavior - i.e., Ricci curvature is a "crash hallmark. " Perhaps more importantly, this work lays the foundation of understanding of how to design systems and policy regulations in a manner that can combat financial instabilities exposed during the 2007-2008 crisis.
Nutritional Transition in Children under Five Years and Women of Reproductive Age: A 15-Years Trend Analysis in Peru

Background Rapid urbanization, increase in food availability, and changes in diet and lifestyle patterns have been changing nutritional profiles in developing nations. We aimed to describe nutritional changes in children under 5 years and women of reproductive age in Peru, during a 15-year period of rapid economic development and social policy enhancement. Materials and Methods Trend analyses of anthropometric measures in children of preschool age and women between 15–49 years, using the Peruvian National Demographic and Family Health Surveys (DHS) from 1996 to 2011. WHO growth curves were used to define stunting, underweight, wasting and overweight in children <5y. We employed the WHO BMI-age standardized curves for teenagers between 15–19y. In women >19 years, body mass index (BMI) was analyzed both categorically and as a continuous variable. To statistically analyze the trends, we used regression models: Linear and Poisson for continuous and binary outcomes, respectively. Results We analyzed data from 123 642 women and 64 135 children, from 1996 to 2011. Decreases over time were evidenced for underweight (p<0.001), wasting (p<0.001), and stunting (p<0.001) in children under 5y. This effect was particularly noted in urban settings. Overweight levels in children reduced (p<0.001), however this reduction stopped, in urban settings, since 2005 (∼12%). Anemia decreased in children and women (p<0.001); with higher reduction in urban (↓43%) than in rural children (↓24%). BMI in women aged 15–19 years increased (p<0.001) across time, with noticeable BMI-curve shift in women older than 30 years. Moreover, obesity doubled during this period in women more than 19y. Conclusion Nutrition transition in Peru shows different patterns for urban and rural populations. Public policies should emphasize targeting both malnutrition conditions—undernutrition/stunting, overweight/obesity and anemia—considering age and place of residence in rapid developing societies like Peru.
EVALUATION OF SEGMENTATION PROGRAMS FOR HIGH RESOLUTION REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS

Methods of image segmentation become more and more important in the field of remote sensing image analysis – in particular due to the increasing spatial resolution of imagery. The most important factor for using segmentation techniques is segmentation quality. Thus, a method for evaluating segmentation quality is presented and used to compare results of presently available segmentation programs. Firstly, an overview of the softwares used is given. Moreover the quality of the individual segmentation results is evaluated based on pan-sharpened multi-spectral IKONOS data. This is done by visual comparison, which is supplemented by a detailed investigation using visual interpreted reference areas. Geometrical segment properties are in the focus of this quantitative evaluation. The results are assessed and discussed. They show the suitability of the tested programs for segmenting very high resolution imagery. KURZFASSUNG: Die Methoden der Bildsegmentierung gewinnen in der Fernerkundung – insbesondere durch die steigende geometrische Auflosung der Bilddaten – zunehmend an Bedeutung. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die Segmentierungsqualitat derzeit verfugbarer Segmentierungssoftwares gegenubergestellt. Dabei erfolgt zunachst eine allgemeine Darstellung der benutzten Programme. Anschliesend wird die Qualitat der auf Basis panchromatisch gescharfter IKONOS-Multispektraldaten erzielten Segmentierungsergebnisse verglichen. Eine uberblicksartige visuelle Untersuchung wird um einen detaillierten Vergleich mit unterschiedlichen, visuell kartierten Referenzflachen erganzt. Grose Beachtung finden die fur die Segmentierungsqualitat ausschlaggebenden geometrischen Eigenschaften der Segmente. Die unterschiedlichen Ergebnisse werden bewertet und diskutiert. Sie dokumentieren die Eignung der Programme zur Segmentierung sehr hochauflosender Fernerkundungsdaten.
The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness

'The Feeling of What Happens will change your experience of yourself' New York Times Where do our emotions come from? What does it mean to be conscious? At its core, human consciousness is awareness of the feeling, experiencing self, the 'very thought of' oneself. Brilliantly wide-ranging in his scope, leading expert on the neurophysiology of emotions Antonio Damasio illustrates his thesis with fascinating and illuminating neurological case studies that are both stimulating and provocative.