Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling correlations in spontaneous activity of visual cortex with centered Gaussian-binary deep Boltzmann machines

Spontaneous cortical activity -- the ongoing cortical activities in absence of intentional sensory input -- is considered to play a vital role in many aspects of both normal brain functions and mental dysfunctions. We present a centered Gaussian-binary Deep Boltzmann Machine (GDBM) for modeling the activity in early cortical visual areas and relate the random sampling in GDBMs to the spontaneous cortical activity. After training the proposed model on natural image patches, we show that the samples collected from the model's probability distribution encompass similar activity patterns as found in the spontaneous activity. Specifically, filters having the same orientation preference tend to be active together during random sampling. Our work demonstrates the centered GDBM is a meaningful model approach for basic receptive field properties and the emergence of spontaneous activity patterns in early cortical visual areas. Besides, we show empirically that centered GDBMs do not suffer from the difficulties during training as GDBMs do and can be properly trained without the layer-wise pretraining.
Information-Centric Networking : A Thorough Evaluation of Popularity-based Probabilistic On-path Caching

The original Internet architecture was conceived to establish a connection between two participants. However, Internet usage today is dominated by content distribution and retrieval that comes in contrast to the host-based communication model of the network infrastructure. Information-Centric Networking (ICN) provides an alternative to the traditional Internet architecture by focusing on content. ICN networking is based on the publishsubscribe paradigm and the features of naming and innetwork caching. In-network caching can be categorized into off-path caching and on-path caching with regard to the location of caches and the delivery path. The contribution of this paper lies on the placement of copies in on-path in-network caching. Our aim is to examine the suitability of a probabilistic algorithm, ProbPD, based on two variables, the contents popularity rates P and the distance ratio of each node from the source D, using the performance metrics of cache hit rates, cache eviction rates, hop counts and content delivery times. To this end, we present a thorough evaluation of the proposed caching mechanism and published alternatives based on Rocketfuel traces and YouTube traffic with regard to a number of parameters such as the catalog size |O| and the chunk size Ch. Our results suggest that the performance of the algorithms may be considerably affected by both these factors. In particular, our approach may provide significant gains if certain conditions are met, such as |O| ≤ 10.000 or Ch≤ 10KB.
Towards a Multilingual Approach on Speaker Classication

This paper outlines a framework for a multilingual speaker classication system which is based on an underlying language identication module. First, the AGENDER speaker classication technology is introduced, a two-layered approach which primarily recognizes the speakers’ age and gender but also incorporates novel domain-independent aspects that can be applied to other speaker characteristics like emotions or cognitive load. Then, it is pointed out that one of its major drawbacks consists of the fact that it has not been veried that the chosen set of speech features also works for other languages, especially for those with different phonological aspects. To overcome this drawback, it is suggested to extend AGENDER with a language identication module. The module presented here is designed to meet the requirements of a specic telephone-based application (which itself is not within the focus of this paper): The languages German, English and Turkish shall be discriminated on the basis of the initial utterance of the speaker; for each of the possible languages, hypotheses about the nature of the initial utterance are available; the domain encompasses a list of English product names. Although the suggested method is as yet only partly implemented, the rst evaluation results are very promising: Turkish could be identied with an accuracy of 71.75 %, German with an accuracy of 78.39 %, and English with an accuracy of 79.89 %. Besides this, the paper outlines the use of the language identication module within a multilingual version of AGENDER.
Associative Plasticity at Excitatory Synapses Facilitates Recruitment of Fast-Spiking Interneurons in the Dentate Gyrus

Fast-spiking perisomatic-inhibitory interneurons (PIIs) receive convergent excitation and mediate both feedforward and feedback inhibition in cortical microcircuits. However, it remains poorly understood how convergent excitatory inputs recruit PIIs to produce precisely timed inhibition. Here, we analyzed the interaction of inputs from the entorhinal cortex [perforant path (PP)] and from local granule cells [mossy fibers (MFs)] onto PIIs in the rat dentate gyrus (DG). PP stimulation alone activates PIIs with low temporal precision. Interestingly, when PP and MFs are coactivated with a 10 ms delay, PIIs discharge with precise timing. Moreover, repeated coactivation of the two inputs induces associative long-term potentiation (LTP) at MF synapses. Under these conditions, a single potentiated MF input is sufficient to recruit PIIs in a reliable and highly precise manner to provide feedback inhibition. MF-LTP depends on the discharge of PIIs, indicating Hebbian plasticity. However, MF-LTP is preserved when NMDA receptors are blocked but depends on transmission through Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors (AMPARs). PP–PII synapses, in contrast, lack Ca2+-permeable AMPARs and do not show plasticity on associative activation. Thus, precise recruitment of PIIs requires excitation through MF–PII synapses during feedforward activation. We propose that associative plasticity at these synapses is a central mechanism that adjusts inhibition levels to maintain sparse activity and to improve signal-to-noise ratio in the DG network.
An adaptive receiver of joint data and channel estimation for meteor burst communications

In view of the characteristics of the meteor burst channel, the variable rate data transmission should be adopted to improve the system average throughput, which results in channel tracing and equalization problems at the receiver. Although the joint data and channel estimation of maximum likelihood sequence detection performing the principle of per‐survivor processing (PSP) is considered as an optimal detection scheme, its great computational complexity is a major problem and can hardly agree with the decreasing of the meteor channel. Based on the estimation of the system parameters, an adaptive state reduction of the PSP (ASRP) algorithm with only a few states in the trellis diagram is employed, while these states are chosen by the time‐varying threshold according to the exponential decay of meteor channels. It is shown that, ASRP can make a good tradeoff between the performance and the computational complexity, and provides reliable data transmission for adaptive modulation and coding of the meteor burst communication system. Computer simulation results and performance analysis are also included to support our developments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
CALHM1 and its polymorphism P86L differentially control Ca2+ homeostasis, mitogen‐activated protein kinase signaling, and cell vulnerability upon exposure to amyloid β

The mutated form of the Ca2+ channel CALHM1 (Ca2+ homeostasis modulator 1), P86L‐CALHM1, has been correlated with early onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). P86L‐CALHM1 increases production of amyloid beta (Aβ) upon extracellular Ca2+ removal and its subsequent addback. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the overexpression of CALHM1 and P86L‐CALHM, upon Aβ treatment, on the following: (i) the intracellular Ca2+ signal pathway; (ii) cell survival proteins ERK1/2 and Ca2+/cAMP response element binding (CREB); and (iii) cell vulnerability after treatment with Aβ. Using aequorins to measure the effect of nuclear Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]n) and cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]c) on Ca2+ entry conditions, we observed that baseline [Ca2+]n was higher in CALHM1 and P86L‐CALHM1 cells than in control cells. Moreover, exposure to Aβ affected [Ca2+]c levels in HeLa cells overexpressing CALHM1 and P86L‐CALHM1 compared with control cells. Treatment with Aβ elicited a significant decrease in the cell survival proteins p‐ERK and p‐CREB, an increase in the activity of caspases 3 and 7, and more frequent cell death by inducing early apoptosis in P86L‐CALHM1‐overexpressing cells than in CALHM1 or control cells. These results suggest that in the presence of Aβ, P86L‐CALHM1 shifts the balance between neurodegeneration and neuronal survival toward the stimulation of pro‐cytotoxic pathways, thus potentially contributing to its deleterious effects in AD.
Insurance and Opportunities: The Welfare Implications of Rising Wage Dispersion

This paper analyses the welfare effects of changes in cross-sectional wage dispersion, using a class of tractable heterogeneous-agent economies. We emphasize a trade-off in the welfare calculation that arises when labour supply is endogenous. On the one hand, as wage uncertainty rises, so does the cost associated with missing insurance markets. On the other hand, greater wage inequality presents opportunities to increase aggregate productivity by concentrating market work among more productive workers. We find that the observed rise in wage dispersion in the United States over the past three decades implies a welfare loss roughly equivalent to a 2.5% decline in lifetime consumption. Assuming Cobb-Douglas preferences, this number is the result of a welfare gain of around 5% from the endogenous increase in productivity coupled with a loss of around 7.5% associated with greater volatility in consumption and leisure.
Temporal Stability and the Effects of Training on Saccade Latency in “Express Saccade Makers”

The temporal stability of saccade latency, and the effects of training, particularly in “express saccade makers” (ESMs), has received little attention. ESMs are healthy, naïve, adults, who persist in executing very many low latency “express saccades” (ES; saccades with latency of 80 ms to 130 ms), in conditions designed to suppress such responses. We investigated the stability of ES production (%ES) in 59 ESM and 54 non-ESM participants in overlap tasks. Within a single session, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for %ES in two runs of 200 trials was 0.97 (p<0.001); participants in whom >30% of saccades over the two runs were ES, were classified as ESMs. For 60 participants tested over two sessions 12 weeks apart, and 30 participants tested in three sessions over approximately six months, the ICC for %ES was uniformly high (0.95, p<0.001 and 0.97, p<0.001 respectively) and participants behaved consistently with their initial classification. Fourteen participants (7 ESMs) were then exposed to training consisting of either gap or overlap tasks. Training increased %ES in both groups. However, when tested in overlap tasks, it was not sufficient to transform Normal participants into ESMs. We conclude that the pattern of saccade behaviour exhibited by ESMs constitutes a stable and distinct oculomotor phenotype.
The Nuclear Accretion in the FR I Radio Galaxy IC 4296 from Chandra and Very Long Baseline Array Observations

A high angular resolution study of the nucleus of the FR I galaxy IC 4296 using Chandra ACIS-S and VLBA observations is presented, with the aim of studying the nature of the accretion process. Pointlike and hard X-ray emission is found, well described by a moderately absorbed power law of Γ = 1.48; no iron fluorescence line from cold material is detected. The 0.3-10 keV luminosity is 2.4 × 1041 ergs s-1, which is ~400 times lower than the accretion luminosity resulting from the estimated Bondi mass accretion rate and a radiative efficiency of 10%. On the parsec scale, a jet and a counterjet extend out from a central unresolved "core" in the 8.4 GHz image. Their orientation is in good agreement with that of the large-scale jets, and their bulk speed is relativistic. The parsec-scale spectrum is convex over 2-22 GHz. The observed nuclear luminosity is not likely to be reconciled with the accretion luminosity by assuming that Compton thick material surrounds the nucleus. Low radiative efficiency accretion flow models (ADAF and its variants) cannot account for the observed emission and spectral shape of the nucleus in the radio band. The power in the jets accounts for a sizable fraction (≳10%) of the accretion luminosity; therefore, the mass accretion rate need not be much different from the estimate obtained using Bondi's theory. A jet-dominated origin also for the observed radiative losses of the nucleus is suggested. This could also explain the finding that a nuclear luminosity orders of magnitude lower than that of "normal" radio-loud AGNs is accompanied by a relatively higher radio emission.
An integrated testing and fault localization methodology for spreadsheet languages

class FGNode { public list<DUPair> EnumIncomingDUPairs(); } class ComputationNode extends FGNode { public list<DUPair> EnumOutGoingDUPairs(); } class PredicateNode extends FGNode { public FGNode GetTrueBranch(); public FGNode GetFalseBranch(); } class DUPair { public ComputationNode GetDefNode(); public FGNode GetUseNode(); public Testedness GetTestedness(); public void Validate(); public void UnValidate(int n); } A CRGNode represents a cell in the CRG. The method NewFormula() is called when a cell is given a new formula, and is passed a parsed representation of that formula. The method Recomputed() is called when the value of the cell has been recomputed. MarkPlaced() is called when a check or X mark has been placed on a cell. The updateGUI() method is called in order to update the GUI with new testing and debugging information. The GetAffectingCRGNodes() method returns the CRGNodes for all of the cells that are referenced by the FormulaGraph of the CRGNode. A transitive closure of this method would be a backward static slice. The GetFormulaGraph() method returns the FormulaGraph associated with
Suggesting Valid Pharmacogenes by Mining Linked Data

A standard task in pharmacogenomics research is identifying genes that may be involved in drug response variability, i.e., pharmacogenes. Because genomic experiments tended to generate many false positives, computational approaches based on the use of background knowledge have been proposed. Until now, those have used only molecular networks or the biomedical literature. Here we propose a novel method that consumes an eclectic set of linked data sources to help validating uncertain drug–gene relationships. One of the advantages relies on that linked data are implemented in a standard framework that facilitates the joint use of various sources, making easy the consideration of features of various origins. Consequently, we propose an initial selection of linked data sources relevant to pharmacogenomics. We formatted these data to train a random forest algorithm , producing a model that enables classifying drug–gene pairs as related or not, thus confirming the validity of candidate pharmacogenes. Our model achieve the performance of F-measure=0.92, on a 100 folds cross-validation. A list of top candidates is provided and their obtention is discussed.
The defining characteristics of intermediate polars – the case of three-candidate systems

Intermediate polars (IPs) are a group of cataclysmic variables (CVs) which are thought to contain white dwarfs which have a magnetic field strength in the range similar to 0.1-10 MG. A significant fraction of the X-ray sources detected in recent deep surveys has been postulated to consist of IPs. Until now two of the defining characteristics of IPs have been the presence of high (and complex) absorption in their X-ray spectra and the presence of a stable modulation in the X-ray light curve which is a signature of the spin period, or the beat period, of the accreting white dwarf. Three CVs, V426 Oph, EI UMa and LS Peg, have characteristics which are similar to IPs. However, there has been only tentative evidence for a coherent period in their X-ray light curve. We present the results of a search for coherent periods in XMM-Newton data of these sources using an autoregressive analysis which models the effects of red noise. We confirm the detection of a similar to 760 s period in the soft X-ray light curve of EI UMa reported by Reimer et al. and agree that this represents the spin period. We also find evidence for peaks in the power spectrum of each source in the range 100-200 s which are just above the 3 sigma confidence level. We do not believe that they represent genuine coherent modulations. However, their X-ray spectra are very similar to those of known IPs. We believe that all three CVs are bona fide IPs. We speculate that V426 Oph and LS Peg do not show evidence for a spin period since they have closely aligned magnetic and spin axes. We discuss the implications that this has for the defining characteristics of IPs.
A Qualitative Investigation of Bullying of Individuals with Disabilities on a College Campus.

The purpose of this study was to understand how individuals with disabilities experience bullying at a large university. This research consisted of a pilot study of two participants and the main study of seven participants. Each person participated in three semi-structured interviews that lasted between 10-60 minutes. The results of the study found that each participant experienced bullying in elementary school or high school. Every participant experienced bullying in college, with five of the seven participants experiencing bullying directly related to their disabilities. Past and current experiences of bullying influenced participants’ relationships with peers and interactions within the collegiate environment. Some of the participants reported that peers provided an important role in coping with bullying while attending college, and addressed a need to feel safe across different environments. The results of this study reinforced a need to understand how minorities, specifically people with disabilities, experience bullying on college campuses. Colleges need to begin to create and implement bullying prevention programs that clearly outline supports at their respective institutions. Finally, disability student support services need to collaborate to ensure students feel comfortable reporting bullying in a safe, anonymous manner that provides the victim with opportunities to cope with the aggressive events.
Artificielle Analysis and Design of Stochastic Local Search Algorithms for the Multiobjective Traveling Salesman Problem

Stochastic local search (SLS) algorithms are typically composed of a number of different components, each of which should contribute significantly to the final algorithm’s performance. If the goal is to design and engineer effective SLS algorithms, the algorithm developer requires some insight into the importance and the behavior of possible algorithmic components. In this paper, we analyze algorithmic components of stochastic local search algorithms for the multiobjective travelling salesman problem. The analysis is done using a careful experimental design for a generic class of SLS algorithms for multiobjective combinatorial optimization. Based on the insights gained, we engineer SLS algorithms for this problem. Experimental results show that these SLS algorithms, despite their conceptual simplicity, outperform a well-known memetic algorithm for a range of benchmark instances with two and three objectives.
Pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation improves akinesia in a Parkinsonian monkey

We have studied the effects of stimulating the pedunculopontine nuclei through a fully implanted macroelectrode with a s.c. implantable pulse generator whose parameters can be programmed telemetrically, in a macaque before and after inducing Parkinsonian akinesia with MPTP. Our results show that in the normal monkey high frequency stimulation of the pedunculopontine nuclei reduces motor activity while low frequency stimulation increases it significantly over baseline. After making the monkey Parkinsonian with MPTP, unilateral low frequency stimulation of the pedunculopontine nuclei led to significant increases in activity. These results suggest that pedunculopontine nuclei stimulation could be clinically effective in treating advanced Parkinson's disease and other akinetic disorders.
A New Foundation for Support Theory

A new foundation is presented for the theory of subjective judgments of probability generally known as “Support Theory. ” It is based on a new complementation operation that, unlike those of classical probability theory (settheoretic complementation) and classical logic (negation), does not satisfy the principle of The Law Of The Excluded Middle. Interrelationships between the new complementation operation and the Kahneman and Tversky judgmental heuristics of availability and representativeness are described, and alternative explanations are provided for experimental studies involving subjective judgments of probability. Subjective evaluations of degrees of belief are essential in human decision making. Numerous experimental studies have been conducted eliciting numerical judgments of probability, and many interesting phenomena have been uncovered. A cognitive theory was proposed by Amos Tversky and colleagues to explain some of the more prominent regularities revealed in these studies. This theory, known today as Support Theory, has its foundational basis in the articles of Tversky and Koehler (1994) and Rottenstreich and Tversky (1997), and incorporates Kahneman’s and Tversky’s seminal research on judgmental heuristics (e.g., Tversky and Kahneman, 1974). Support Theory has an empirical base of results showing that dierent descrip
Resource-aware secure ECG healthcare monitoring through body sensor networks

Real-time medical data about patients' physiological status can be collected simply by using wearable medical sensors based on a body sensor network. However, we lack an efficient, reliable, and secure BSN platform that can meet increasing needs in e-healthcare applications. Many such applications require a BSN to support multiple data rates with reliable and energyefficient data transmission. In this article we propose a secure and resource-aware BSN architecture to enable real-time healthcare monitoring, especially for secure wireless electrocardiogram data streaming and monitoring. A cross-layer framework was developed based on unequal resource allocation to support efficient biomedical data monitoring. In this framework important information (e.g., critical ECG data) is identified, and extra resources are allocated to protect it. Furthermore, BSN resource factors are exploited to guarantee a strict requirement of real-time performance. In this work we integrate biomedical information processing and transmission in a unified platform, where secure data transmission in a BSN proceeds with energy efficiency and minimum delay. In particular, we present a wearable ECG device consisting of small and low-power healthnode sensors for wireless three-lead ECG monitoring. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed framework can support real-time wireless biomedical monitoring applications.
Γ Decay

We study the contributions of physics beyond the standard model to the short-distance s → dγ transition in Ω − → Ξ − γ decay. We explore the possibility that the new interactions remove the chirality suppression which occurs in the standard-model contribution to s → dγ and enhance the effect of this coupling by factors of a heavy-mass scale relative to the s-quark mass. We consider two of the popular models for new physics, and, after taking into account constraints from other processes, find that their contributions can be larger than that of the standard model by up to a few times, which suggests that the yet unobserved Ω − → Ξ − γ decay is a likely probe for new physics. *