Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response to Contrast of Electrophysiologically Defined Cell Classes in Primary Visual Cortex

Information processing in the visual cortex is critically dependent on the input-output relationships of its component neurons. The transformation of synaptic inputs into spike trains depends in turn on the host of intrinsic membrane properties expressed by neurons, which define established electrophysiological cell classes in the neocortex. Here we studied, with intracellular recordings in vivo, how the electrophysiological cell classes in the primary visual cortex transform an increasing input, represented by stimulus contrast, into membrane depolarization and trains of action potentials. We used contrast as input because, regardless of their stimulus selectivity, primary visual cortical cells increase their firing rates in response to increases in luminance contrast. We found that both the spike rate response and the membrane potential response are best described by the hyperbolic ratio function when compared with linear, power, and logarithmic functions. In addition, both responses show similar parameter values and similar residual variance from the fits to all four functions. We also found that changes in membrane potential are similar, but firing rates differ strongly, between the established electrophysiological cell classes: fast spiking neurons show the highest firing rates, followed by fast rhythmic bursting, and regular spiking (RS) cells. In addition, among complex cells, RS cells from supragranular layers fired at higher rates than RS cells from infragranular layers. Finally, we show that the differences in firing rates between cell classes arise from differences in the slope of the relationship between membrane potential and spike rate.
SHREC ’ 15 Track : Non-rigid 3 D Shape Retrieval †

Non-rigid 3D shape retrieval has become a research hotpot in communities of computer graphics, computer vision, pattern recognition, etc. In this paper, we present the results of the SHREC’15 Track: Non-rigid 3D Shape Retrieval. The aim of this track is to provide a fair and effective platform to evaluate and compare the performance of current non-rigid 3D shape retrieval methods developed by different research groups around the world. The database utilized in this track consists of 1200 3D watertight triangle meshes which are equally classified into 50 categories. All models in the same category are generated from an original 3D mesh by implementing various pose transformations. The retrieval performance of a method is evaluated using 6 commonly-used measures (i.e., PR-plot, NN, FT, ST, E-measure and DCG.). Totally, there are 37 submissions and 11 groups taking part in this track. Evaluation results and comparison analyses described in this paper not only show the bright future in researches of non-rigid 3D shape retrieval but also point out several promising research directions in this topic.
Metabolic syndrome, endothelial injury, and subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objectives: To study the link between metabolic syndrome (MetS), endothelial injury, and atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Consecutive SLE patients without a history of arterial thrombosis were screened for atherosclerosis at the carotid and coronary arteries by B-mode ultrasound [intima–media thickness (IMT)] and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scan (Agatston calcium scores), respectively. Plasma levels of homocysteine, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM)-1, P-selectin, and soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) were assayed. Patients were stratified according to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria for MetS, using the Asian criteria for abdominal obesity. Risk factors for atherosclerosis were studied. Results: Of the 123 SLE patients (93% women; age 47.9±11 years; SLE duration 10.9±7.0 years) studied, 20 (16.3%) had MetS. The prevalence of MetS in the SLE patients was significantly higher than in 492 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (9.6%; p=0.03). Coronary calcification and abnormal carotid IMT were detected in 38 (31%) and 72 (59%) of SLE patients, respectively. Patients with MetS had a significantly higher Agatston score (69.5±95 vs. 16.4±57; p=0.03) and a numerically higher carotid IMT (p=0.43) than those without. In a logistic regression model, the MetS [odds ratio (OR) 3.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–9.59, p=0.049] was associated with coronary atherosclerosis after adjustment for age and other risk factors. In addition, patients with MetS had significantly higher levels of hsCRP (p=0.002), homocysteine (p=0.03), and sTM (p=0.01). Conclusions: The MetS is more prevalent in SLE patients than the general population and is associated with endothelial injury and coronary atherosclerosis. More aggressive control of risk factors is justified in these patients.
Lethal, Sublethal, and Behavioral Effects of Sulfur-Containing Products in Bioassays of Three Species of Orchard Mites

ABSTRACT The effects of three sulfur products (calcium polysulfide [ = lime sulfur], dry flowable sulfur, and ammonium thiosulfate, a plant nutrient), were tested in bioassays against a predatory mite, Galandromus occidentalis (Nesbitt), and two species of tetranychid (pest) mites, twospotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) and European red mite [Panonychus ulmi (Koch)]. Calcium polysulfide and ammonium thiosulfate were acutely toxic on contact to adult females of all three mite species, causing 58–100% mortality in 48 h. Dry flowable sulfur, in contrast, was nontoxic to adults of all three species. Fresh residues of the sulfur products were essentially nontoxic to females of G. occidentalis and T. urticae. Galandromus occidentalis consumed 8.2 and 4.0× fewer prey contaminated with residues of calcium polysulfide and ammonium thiosulfate; dry flowable sulfur had no effect on prey consumption. Higher posttreatment temperatures (32 versus 18°C) did not affect the toxicity of dry flowable sulfur to G. occidentalis and T. urticae. The toxic effect of the sulfur products was not related to the concentration of elemental S but rather to some intrinsic characteristic of the compound itself. There were substantial differences in the responses of different stages of G. occidentalis. Residues that were nontoxic to adult females were highly toxic to hatching larvae, including those of dry flowable sulfur. In addition, all three products were highly repellent to adult female G. occidentalis. The lethal effect of calcium polysulfide on larvae was still present when the laboratory-aged residues onbean leaves were 8–9 d old. Field-aged residues on apple (Malus spp.) leaves were highly toxic (89% mortality) after 7 d, but mortality declined to 50 and 17% after 14 and 22 d, respectively. The increasing use of sulfur-containing products is detrimental to predatory mites and may play a role in the diminishing effectiveness of integrated mite control in Washington apple orchards.
Responses of Winter Wheat Yields to Warming-Mediated Vernalization Variations Across Temperate Europe

Rapid climate warming, with much higher warming rates in winter and spring, could affect the vernalization fulfillment, a critical process for induction of crop reproductive growth and consequent grain filling in temperate winter crops. However, regional observational evidence of the effects of historical warming-mediated vernalization variations on temperate winter crop yields is lacking. Here, we statistically quantified the interannual sensitivity of winter wheat yields to vernalization degree days (VDD) during 1975–2009 and its spatial relationship with multi-year mean VDD over temperate Europe (TE), using EUROSTAT crop yield statistics, observed and simulated crop phenology data and gridded daily climate data. Our results revealed a pervasively positive interannual sensitivity of winter wheat yields to variations in VDD (γVDD) over TE, with a mean γVDD of 2.8 ± 1.5 kg ha–1 VDD–1. We revealed a significant (p < 0.05) negative exponential relationship between γVDD and multi-year mean VDD for winter wheat across TE, with higher γVDD in winter wheat planting areas with lower multi-year mean VDD. Our findings shed light on potential vulnerability of winter wheat yields to warming-mediated vernalization variations over TE, particularly considering a likely future warmer climate.
A Qualitative Analysis of the Experience of Caring for an Individual with an Eating Disorder

The thesis sought to explore the experience of caring for an individual with an eating disorder. It is comprised of three standalone papers. Paper one and two have been prepared for submission to a journal and in accordance with the journal guidelines. Paper one is a systematic literature review synthesising qualitative studies relating to the experience and impact of caring for, or living with an individual with an eating disorder. Databases were systematically searched and twenty studies were included in the review. Nine core themes emerged from the meta-synthesis. Eating disorders were found to have a pervasive impact on family members mediated by a number of factors. Cognitive appraisals affected the caregiving experience and responses to the individual. The experience of caregiving was continually reappraised leading to a process of adaptation over time.Paper two is a qualitative study which sought to examine caregivers? accounts of managing Anorexia Nervosa with an emphasis on accommodation responses. Eight participants were interviewed and transcripts were analysed using a grounded theory approach. A theory of the processes by which accommodation responses operate was developed which emphasised the importance of caregivers? emotional resources in mediating responses. Difficulty managing anorexia nervosa led to low perceived efficacy and diminished resources. Subsequently caregiving aims shifted in line with accommodation responses. Carers recognised accommodation as counterproductive to recovery and experienced internal conflict (dissonance) which was reduced using a number of cognitive and behavioural strategies. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed with reference to existing literature.Paper three is a critical review of the research process, focusing on the experience of undertaking qualitative research. Personal reflections of the process, as well as the implications of the research for the researcher? s professional practice and for the wider profession are discussed.
Steady-state visually evoked potential correlates of object recognition memory

Object recognition memory (ORM) refers to both recognition of an object and the memory of having seen it before. In humans, ORM has been investigated using functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques with tests of episodic memory retrieval involving recollection of previously studied items. Processes involved in the maintenance of a mental state adopted for the performance of a retrieval task (retrieval mode) appear to involve right frontal neural regions. More transient processes occurring at the time of item recollection (retrieval success) have shown scalp activity over parietal and right frontal regions. This activity is thought to originate in the medial temporal lobes and the underlying right frontal cortex respectively. The aforementioned findings have been derived mainly from studies using verbal stimuli. It is uncertain whether the same neural regions are involved in object recollection. It is also uncertain whether sustained modal and transient item-related activity involve the same or different right frontal regions. In this study, steady-state probe topography (SSPT) was used to investigate both sustained and transient processes involved in the retrieval of abstract pictorial objects from memory. The ability to vary the evaluation period of the steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) allows investigation of cognitive processes occurring over different time scales. Neural regions involved in sustained modal processes were identified by examining the SSVEP values averaged over the duration of a memory retrieval task. Sustained SSVEP effects were observed over right fronto-temporal regions. Neural regions involved in transient retrieval success processes were identified by comparing the transient SSVEP responses to tasks with different memory loads. Comparison of a higher with a lower memory load condition showed SSVEP effects over parieto-temporal and right inferior frontal regions. Larger differences between memory loads gave effects that were larger and more right lateralized. Retrieval mode and retrieval success processes showed SSVEP effects over different right frontal regions. It was also found that, in contrast to the left lateralized parietal ERP response to recollected verbal stimuli, the SSVEP effects produced with abstract pictorial shapes showed a more bilateral pattern. This was considered to reflect the relatively non-verbalizable pictorial nature of the stimuli.
Heuristics for Automatic Localization of Software Faults

Developing effective debugging strategies to guarantee the reliability of software is important. By analyzing the debugging process used by experienced programmers, four distinct tasks are found to be consistently performed: (1) determining statements involved in program failures, (2) selecting suspicious statements that might contain faults, (3) making hypotheses about suspicious faults (variables and locations), and (4) restoring program state to a specific statement for verification. If all four tasks could be performed with direct assistance from a debugging tool, the debugging effort would become much easier. We have built a prototype debugging tool, Spyder, to assist users in conducting the first and last tasks. Spyder executes the first task by using dynamic program slicing and the fourth task by backward execution. This research focuses on the second task, reducing the search domain containing faults, referred to as fault localization. Several heuristics are presented here based on dynamic program slices and information obtained from testing. A family tree of the heuristics is constructed to study effective application of the heuristics. The relationships among the heuristics and the potential order of using them are also explored. A preliminary study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the heuristics proposed. Results of our study show the promise of fault localization based on these heuristics as well as suggest criteria for precise application of the heuristics (e.g., the standard of selecting thresholds). A new debugging paradigm equipped with these heuristics is expected to reduce human interaction time significantly and aid in the debugging of complex software. This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the Software Engineering Research Center at Purdue University, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (NSF Grant ECD–8913133), and by National Science Foundation Grant CCR–8910306. A condensed version of this paper appears as [33].
The Informal Public in Soviet Society: Double Morality at Work

Dans cet article, l'A. explique l'evolution de la sphere publique dans la societe sovietique. Il est question ici de la dualite de la notion de public: entre systeme social officiel garantit par la sructure etatique et de parti et un systeme informel de codes et de valeurs non ecrits et pourtant clairement etablis que sont les tusoskas
Transgenic barley lines prove the involvement of TaCBF14 and TaCBF15 in the cold acclimation process and in frost tolerance

The enhancement of winter hardiness is one of the most important tasks facing breeders of winter cereals. For this reason, the examination of those regulatory genes involved in the cold acclimation processes is of central importance. The aim of the present work was the functional analysis of two wheat CBF transcription factors, namely TaCBF14 and TaCBF15, shown by previous experiments to play a role in the development of frost tolerance. These genes were isolated from winter wheat and then transformed into spring barley, after which the effect of the transgenes on low temperature stress tolerance was examined. Two different types of frost tests were applied; plants were hardened at low temperature before freezing, or plants were subjected to frost without a hardening period. The analysis showed that TaCBF14 and TaCBF15 transgenes improve the frost tolerance to such an extent that the transgenic lines were able to survive freezing temperatures several degrees lower than that which proved lethal for the wild-type spring barley. After freezing, lower ion leakage was measured in transgenic leaves, showing that these plants were less damaged by the frost. Additionally, a higher Fv/Fm parameter was determined, indicating that photosystem II worked more efficiently in the transgenics. Gene expression studies showed that HvCOR14b, HvDHN5, and HvDHN8 genes were up-regulated by TaCBF14 and TaCBF15. Beyond that, transgenic lines exhibited moderate retarded development, slower growth, and minor late flowering compared with the wild type, with enhanced transcript level of the gibberellin catabolic HvGA2ox5 gene.
ESP Teaching : A Matter of Controversy 1

Teaching English for Specific Purposes was and is a controversial issue among EFL teachers and others. Whether the EFL teacher or the specialist in the field should teach ESP courses is the matter of controversy. In the current research, an experiment is conducted to find out who is better qualified for the job: the EFL teacher or the specialist in the field? Forty out of sixty second-year medical students studying at an Iranian medical sciences university were randomly selected. Then, they were divided into two equal classes of twenty members each. Later, the classes were assigned to two teachers: a TEFL teacher and a GP. Everything being equal, including the textbook, the course started. The two classes were taught for an entire semester. At the end of the course, two types of measures were used: an achievement test and a five-point Likert Scale. Analysis of the results showed that the EFL teacher's class scored higher in every aspect of the final achievement test, and that they expressed greater satisfaction with his class than the competing class on the Likert Scale.
Polyomavirus BK after Kidney Transplantation – Role of Molecular and Immunologic Markers

Polyomavirus-associated nephropathy in kidney transplantation is viewed as a complication of prolonged, intense immunosuppression, which disrupts the balance between antiviral immune control and polyomavirus replication. The prevalence rate ranges from 1-10% in kidney transplant programs around the world, with graft failure and return to dialysis in > 50%. Most cases are caused by the human polyomavirus BK, which asymptomatically infects more than 80% of the general population. Reactivation of BK virus replication and high urine viral loads precede increasing plasma BK viral loads and histologically defined as well as clinically manifest nephropathy. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction protocols have proven valuable as surrogate markers to follow the course of polyomavirus-associated nephropathy and to guide preemptive reduction of immunosuppression. As these assays enter clinical routine diagnostic laboratories, quality control becomes important. Testing of BK virus-specific antibodies and T-cells is currently being explored for a better characterization of the virus/host balance. The BK virus-like particles IgG in enzyme-linked immunosorbent essays are recognized as sensitive indicators of recent BK virus exposure. However, no humoral immune responses have been identified to correlate with protection from BKV viremia or disease. BK virus-specific T-cells are generally of low frequencies in the peripheral blood of both healthy donors and kidney transplant patients alike, but significantly increase at the time when plasma BK virus loads decrease, hence representing relatively late indicators of regaining control. We discuss the currently available data on molecular and immune markers regarding promises and caveats. (Trends in Transplant. 2009;3:85-102) Corresponding author: Hans H. Hirsch, Hans.Hirsch@unibas.ch
Creatively Adapting Mastery Learning and Outcome-Based Education to the Social Work Classroom.

This workshop was presented on outcome-based education and described how the instructional method called mastery learning compliments it and can be adapted for social work education. Although outcome-based education involves creating clearly outlined expected student outcomes, by itself'it is not an instructional method. Mastery learning is a behavioral instructional method that involves using time flexibly to increase student learning. Some of the essential elements of mastery learning include: (1) choosing instructional content; (2) writing instructional objectives; (3) performing vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment; (4) communicating learning objectives to students; and (5) criterion referenced instead of norm referenced grading. Mastery learning has been successfully used in higher education and social work education. The essential elements of mastery learning can be implemented in whole or in part, and in ways ranging from simple to complex. Several ways are discussed on how social work educators can implement mastery learning to better fit classroom use, including classroom structure, testing, and grading. A cautionary note on how to anticipate time involvement for faculty is discussed. Overall, social work educators may find that mastery learning provides them with increased awareness and control over the essential content taught in their classrooms. (Contains 3 figures and 55 references.) (JDM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Online memes, affinities, and cultural production

This chapter explores social practices of propagating online "memes" (pronounced "meems") as a dimension of cultural production and transmission. Memes are contagious patterns of "cultural information" that get passed from mind to mind and directly generate and shape the mindsets and significant forms of behavior and actions of a social group. Memes include such things as popular tunes, catchphrases, clothing fashions, architectural styles, ways of doing things, icons,jingles, and the like.
Multiple myeloma shows no intra-disease clustering of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes

Background Characterization of the immunoglobulin gene repertoire has improved our understanding of the immunopathogenesis of lymphoid tumors. Early B-lymphocyte precursors of multiple myeloma are known to exist and might be susceptible to antigenic drive. Design and Methods To verify this hypothesis, we collected a database of 345 fully readable multiple myeloma immunoglobulin sequences. We characterized the immunoglobulin repertoire, analyzed the somatic hypermutation load, and investigated for stereotyped receptor clusters. Results Compared to the normal immunoglobulin repertoire, multiple myeloma displayed only modest differences involving only a few genes, showing that the myeloma immunoglobulin repertoire is the least skewed among mature B-cell tumors. Median somatic hypermutation load was 7.8%; median length of complementarity determining-region 3 was 15.5 amino acids. Clustering analysis showed the absence of myeloma specific clusters and no similarity with published chronic lymphocytic leukemia or lymphoma subsets. Conclusions Analysis of multiple myeloma immunoglobulin repertoire does not support a pathogenetic role for antigen selection in this tumor.