Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Foreground and background at the cocktail party — A neural and behavioral study of top-down and bottom-up auditory attention

The mechanism by which a complex auditory scene is parsed into coherent objects depends on poorly-understood interactions between task-driven and stimulus-driven attentional processes. We illuminate these interactions in a simultaneous behavioralneurophysiological study, in which we manipulate subjects’ attention to different features of an auditory scene (with a regular target embedded in an irregular background). Our experimental results reveal that target focused attention correlates with a sustained increase in the neural target representation, beyond auditory attention’s well-known transient effects. This enhancement, in both power and coherence, occurs not between states of attending and non-attending, but rather between two separate attentional states, each focusing on different acoustic features of the stimulus. The enhancement originates in auditory cortex and covaries with both the behavioral state appropriate to the task and the bottom-up saliency of the target. Furthermore, the target’s perceptual detectability improves over time, correlating strongly with the target representation’s neural buildup. These results have substantial implications for models of foreground/ background organization and mechanisms mediating auditory object formation.
Disappearing mobile devices

In this paper, we extrapolate the evolution of mobile devices in one specific direction, namely miniaturization. While we maintain the concept of a device that people are aware of and interact with intentionally, we envision that this concept can become small enough to allow invisible integration into arbitrary surfaces or human skin, and thus truly ubiquitous use. This outcome assumed, we investigate what technology would be most likely to provide the basis for these devices, what abilities such devices can be expected to have, and whether or not devices that size can still allow for meaningful interaction. We survey candidate technologies, drill down on gesture-based interaction, and demonstrate how it can be adapted to the desired form factors. While the resulting devices offer only the bare minimum in feedback and only the most basic interactions, we demonstrate that simple applications remain possible. We complete our exploration with two studies in which we investigate the affordance of these devices more concretely, namely marking and text entry using a gesture alphabet.
Effect of Drake Passage on the global thermohaline circulation

The Ekman divergence around Antarctica raises a large amount of deep water to the ocean’s surface. The regional Ekman transport moves the upwclled deep water northward out of the circumpolar zone. The divergence and northward surface drift combine, in effect, to remove deep water from the interior of the ocean. This wind-driven removal process is facilitated by a unique dynamic constraint operating in the latitude band containing Drake Passage. Through a simple model sensitivity experiment WC show that the upwelling and removal of deep water in the circumpolar belt may be quantitatively related to the formation of new deep water in the northern North Atlantic. These results sho\c that stronger winds in the south can induct more deep water formation in the north and more deep outflow through the South Atlantic. The fact that winds in the southern hemisphere might influence the formation of deep water in the North Atlantic brings into question long-standing notions about the forces that drive the ocean’s thermohaline circu-
Privacy preserving association rule mining

The current trend in the application space towards systems of loosely coupled and dynamically bound components that enables just-in-time integration jeopardizes the security of information that is shared between the broker, the requester, and the provider at runtime. In particular, new advances in data mining and knowledge discovery that allow for the extraction of hidden knowledge in an enormous amount of data, impose new threats on the seamless integration of information. We consider the problem of building privacy preserving algorithms for one category of data mining techniques, association rule mining. We introduce new metrics in order to demonstrate how security issues can be taken into consideration in the general framework of association rule mining, and we show that the complexity of the new heuristics is similar to that of the original algorithms.
Semi-supervised SVMs for classification with unknown class proportions and a small labeled dataset

In the design of practical web page classification systems one often encounters a situation in which the labeled training set is created by choosing some examples from each class; but, the class proportions in this set are not the same as those in the test distribution to which the classifier will be actually applied. The problem is made worse when the amount of training data is also small. In this paper we explore and adapt binary SVM methods that make use of unlabeled data from the test distribution, viz., Transductive SVMs (TSVMs) and expectation regularization/constraint (ER/EC) methods to deal with this situation. We empirically show that when the labeled training data is small, TSVM designed using the class ratio tuned by minimizing the loss on the labeled set yields the best performance; its performance is good even when the deviation between the class ratios of the labeled training set and the test set is quite large. When the labeled training data is sufficiently large, an unsupervised Gaussian mixture model can be used to get a very good estimate of the class ratio in the test set; also, when this estimate is used, both TSVM and EC/ER give their best possible performance, with TSVM coming out superior. The ideas in the paper can be easily extended to multi-class SVMs and MaxEnt models.
ON A SEIR EPIDEMIC MODEL WITH DELAY

We improve previous results for an SEIR-type disease transmission model with fixed latency period, standard incidence and variable population size. Infected individuals are assumed to be unable to give birth, and individuals recover from the disease and acquire permanent immunity with probability f , and dies from the disease with probability 1 − f . In particular, by a novel application of the envelope method we give a complete classification of the equilibria, we show the stability of the disease free equilibrium for R0 < 1, and the proportional persistence of the disease for R0 > 1. AMS (MOS) Subject Classification. 25C10, 92D25
A comparison between novice and experienced compiler users in a learning environment

A locally built Modula-2 compiler has been used for number of years in our School. The messages that are emitted from the compiler when run by first and final year students have been logged. Over the last two years we have been improving the usefulness of these messages. This paper presents an analysis of these results.
The Assessment of Undergraduate Medical Students’ Satisfaction Levels With the Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Background: The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has been introduced as an efficient method for the assessment of medical students. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the satisfaction level of undergraduate medical students of internal medicine department with the OSCE. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, performed on all available undergraduate students at the end of their internal medicine training period in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The students responded to 15 multiple-choice questions with confirmed validity and reliability. Results: The majority of the students (94.5%) had a positive attitude toward the OSCE and mentioned that the OSCE format was a more appropriate type of exam than other methods of testing; however, 79.1% thought that the OSCE format was stressful. In addition, the participants’ sex had no effect on their level of satisfaction with the examination. Likewise, there was no significant correlation between their level of satisfaction and their age, marital status, or lack of previous experience with this type of exam. Conclusions: If the exam standards are met and a uniform dispersion of the scientific content is maintained, the OSCE method of assessment can be recommended as an efficient and applicable method for assessing medical students.
Complementing corpus analysis with web-based experimentation in research on World Englishes

Usage-based research in linguistics has to a large extent relied on corpus data. However, a feature’s “failure to appear in even a very large corpus (such as the Web) is not evidence for ungrammaticality, nor is appearance evidence for grammaticality” (Schütze and Sprouse 2013: 29). It is therefore advisable to complement corpus-based analyses with experimental data, so as to (ideally) obtain converging evidence. This paper reviews reasons for combining corpus linguistic with psycholinguistic experimental methods, and demonstrates how research on varieties of English can profit from experimentation. For a study of conversion in Asian Englishes, the maze task (Forster, Guerrera, and Elliot 2009; Forster 2010) was implemented with a web-based, open-source software. The results of the experiment dovetail with a previous analysis of the Corpus of Global Web-based English (Davies 2013). These results should encourage researchers not to base findings exclusively on corpus evidence, but corroborate them by means of experimental data.
Case report of metastatic invasive breast lobular carcinoma to the urinary bladder

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women except skin cancer. The common metastatic sites include lymph node, lung, liver and bone. However, metastasis to the bladder is extremely rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case of breast cancer metastasis to urinary bladder in Jordan which is reported. Nine years after the initial diagnosis of lobular breast carcinoma, the patient suffered from left side leg edema; Ultrasonography and Computed tomography scanning showed thickening of posterior bladder wall and bilateral hydronephrosis. The biopsy of the bladder confirmed metastatic lesion from the breast. In contrast to the primary tumor, bladder metastasis showed negative expression of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. However, Her2neu test was negative in both. The reported case confirms that bladder metastasis from breast cancer tend to occur late after the diagnosis of the primary tumor. Furthermore, bladder metastasis can be asymptomatic and heterogeneous in ER and PR expression in comparison with the primary tumor. This report supports the need for careful follow-up and early intervention whenever such clinical situation is suspected. This report supports further evaluation of receptor status at time of metastasis.
Cross-Frequency Phase–Phase Coupling between Theta and Gamma Oscillations in the Hippocampus

Neuronal oscillations allow for temporal segmentation of neuronal spikes. Interdependent oscillators can integrate multiple layers of information. We examined phase–phase coupling of theta and gamma oscillators in the CA1 region of rat hippocampus during maze exploration and rapid eye movement sleep. Hippocampal theta waves were asymmetric, and estimation of the spatial position of the animal was improved by identifying the waveform-based phase of spiking, compared to traditional methods used for phase estimation. Using the waveform-based theta phase, three distinct gamma bands were identified: slow gammaS (gammaS; 30–50 Hz), midfrequency gammaM (gammaM; 50–90 Hz), and fast gammaF (gammaF; 90–150 Hz or epsilon band). The amplitude of each sub-band was modulated by the theta phase. In addition, we found reliable phase–phase coupling between theta and both gammaS and gammaM but not gammaF oscillators. We suggest that cross-frequency phase coupling can support multiple time-scale control of neuronal spikes within and across structures.
Effects of Fibrosis Morphology on Reentrant Ventricular Tachycardia Inducibility and Simulation Fidelity in Patient-Derived Models

Myocardial fibrosis detected via delayed-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to be a strong indicator for ventricular tachycardia (VT) inducibility. However, little is known regarding how inducibility is affected by the details of the fibrosis extent, morphology, and border zone configuration. The objective of this article is to systematically study the arrhythmogenic effects of fibrosis geometry and extent, specifically on VT inducibility and maintenance. We present a set of methods for constructing patient-specific computational models of human ventricles using in vivo MRI data for patients suffering from hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and chronic myocardial infarction. Additional synthesized models with morphologically varied extents of fibrosis and gray zone (GZ) distribution were derived to study the alterations in the arrhythmia induction and reentry patterns. Detailed electrophysiological simulations demonstrated that (1) VT morphology was highly dependent on the extent of fibrosis, which acts as a structural substrate, (2) reentry tended to be anchored to the fibrosis edges and showed transmural conduction of activations through narrow channels formed within fibrosis, and (3) increasing the extent of GZ within fibrosis tended to destabilize the structural reentry sites and aggravate the VT as compared to fibrotic regions of the same size and shape but with lower or no GZ. The approach and findings represent a significant step toward patient-specific cardiac modeling as a reliable tool for VT prediction and management of the patient. Sensitivities to approximation nuances in the modeling of structural pathology by image-based reconstruction techniques are also implicated.
Interaction potential for aluminum nitride: A molecular dynamics study of mechanical and thermal properties of crystalline and amorphous aluminum nitride

An effective interatomic interaction potential for AlN is proposed. The potential consists of two-body and three-body covalent interactions. The two-body potential includes steric repulsions due to atomic sizes, Coulomb interactions resulting from charge transfer between atoms, charge-induced dipole-interactions due to the electronic polarizability of ions, and induced dipole–dipole (van der Waals) interactions. The covalent characters of the Al–N–Al and N–Al–N bonds are described by the three-body potential. The proposed three-body interaction potential is a modification of the Stillinger–Weber form proposed to describe Si. Using the molecular dynamics method, the interaction potential is used to study structural, elastic, and dynamical properties of crystalline and amorphous states of AlN for several densities and temperatures. The structural energy for wurtzite (2H) structure has the lowest energy, followed zinc-blende and rock-salt (RS) structures. The pressure for the structural transformation from w.
Are the Steep Declines in Food Stamp Participation Linked to Falling Welfare Caseloads

At all levels of income, former welfare recipients were more likely to leave the Food Stamp program than families that had not been on welfare, according to this brief based on the 1997 National Survey of America's Families. Among the poorest of the poor, those at 50 percent of the federal poverty line and below, former welfare families stopped using food stamps at twice the rate of nonwelfare families. About two-thirds of families that left the Food Stamp program appeared to be eligible based on their incomes. The most common reasons families gave for leaving the Food Stamp Program were increased earnings/a new job, or administrative problems and hassles.
Cross-Domain Kernel Induction for Transfer Learning

The key question in transfer learning (TL) research is how to make model induction transferable across different domains. Common methods so far require source and target domains to have a shared/homogeneous feature space, or the projection of features from heterogeneous domains onto a shared space. This paper proposes a novel framework, which does not require a shared feature space but instead uses a parallel corpus to calibrate domain-specific kernels into a unified kernel, to leverage graph-based label propagation in cross-domain settings, and to optimize semi-supervised learning based on labeled and unlabeled data in both source and target domains. Our experiments on benchmark datasets show advantageous performance of the proposed method over that of other state-of-the-art TL methods.
Estimating Soil Moisture with Landsat Data and Its Application in Extracting the Spatial Distribution of Winter Flooded Paddies

Dynamic monitoring of the spatial pattern of winter continuously flooded paddies (WFP) at regional scales is a challenging but highly necessary process in analyzing trace greenhouse gas emissions, water resource management, and food security. The present study was carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of extracting the spatial distribution of WFP through time series imagery of volumetric surface soil moisture content (θv) at the field scale (30 m). A trade-off approach based on the synergistic use of tasseled cap transformation wetness and temperature vegetation dryness index was utilized to obtain paddy θv. The results showed that the modeled θv was in good agreement with in situ measurements. The overall correlation coefficient (R) was 0.78, with root-mean-square ranging from 1.96% to 9.96% in terms of different vegetation cover and surface water status. The lowest error of θv estimates was found to be restricted at the flooded paddy surface with moderate or high fractional vegetation cover. The flooded paddy was then successfully identified using the θv image with saturated moisture content thresholding, with an overall accuracy of 83.33%. This indicated that the derived geospatial dataset of WFP could be reliably applied to fill gaps in census statistics.
Rc Inhibition in the Mouse Spinal Cord Authors and Affiliation 5 Rc Inhibition in the Mouse Spinal Cord 2

1 Title 1 Inhibitory synaptic modulation of Renshaw cell activity in the lumbar spinal cord of 2 neonatal mice. 3 4 Authors and Affiliation 5 Hiroshi Nishimaru, Tadachika Koganezawa, Miyo Kakizaki, Tatsuhiko Ebihara, 6 Yuchio Yanagawa 4 7 Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 8 305-8577, Japan, Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced 9 Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan, Department of 10 Genetic and Behavioral Neuroscience, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 11 Maebashi 371-8511, Japan, Japan Science and Technology Agency, CREST, Tokyo 12 102-0075, Japan 13 14 Articles in PresS. J Neurophysiol (April 21, 2010). doi:10.1152/jn.00100. 2010
Cute as candy: a qualitative study of perceptions of snus branding and package design among youth in Norway

Objectives Snus use has increased among youth in Norway in recent years and is now more prevalent than smoking. Concurrently, a range of new products and package designs have been introduced to the market. The aim of this study was to explore how youth perceive snus branding and package design, and the role, if any, of snus packaging on perceptions of appeal and harm of snus among youth. Participants Adolescent tobacco users and non-users (N=35) ages 15–17 years. Design We conducted interviews among 6 focus groups (each with 4–7 participants). Participants were shown snus packages with a variety of designs and with different product qualities (flavour additives, slim, regular, white and brown sachets) and group discussions focused on how they perceived packages and products. The focus group discussions were semistructured using a standard guide, and analysed thematically. Results The participants in the focus groups narrated distinct images of snus brands and associated user identities. Package design elements such as shapes, colours, images and fonts were described as guiding these perceptions. Packaging elements and flavour additives were associated with perceptions of product harm. The appeal of flavoured snus products and new types of snus sachets seemed to blend in with these processes, reinforcing positive attitudes and contributing to the creation of particular identities for products and their users. Conclusions The findings indicate that packaging is vital to consumer's identification with, and differentiation between, snus brands. In view of this, snus branding and packaging can be seen as fulfilling a similar promotional role as advertising messages: generating preferences and appeal.
Estrogen Receptor Protein Interaction with Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Leads to Activation of Phosphorylated Akt and Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 in the Same Population of Cortical Neurons: A Unified Mechanism of Estrogen Action

17β-Estradiol (E2)-induced neuroprotection is dependent on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) signaling cascades. We sought to determine whether E2 neuroprotective mechanisms are mediated by a unified signaling cascade activated by estrogen receptor (ER)–PI3K interaction within the same population of neurons or whether E2 activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and Akt are independent signaling events in different neuronal populations. Immunoprecipitation of E2-treated cortical neurons was conducted to determine a protein–protein interaction between ER and the PI3K regulatory subunit p85. Subsequently, cortical neurons were treated with E2 alone or in presence of MAPK inhibitors or PI3K inhibitors. Results of these analyses indicated a protein–protein interaction between ER and p85 that was time-dependent and consistent with the temporal profile for generation of Akt (pAkt) and ERK1/2 phosphorylation (pERK1/2). E2-induced phosphorylation of Akt, was first apparent at 10 min and maximal at 30 min. Simultaneously, E2-induced pERK1/2 was first apparent at 5–10 min and maximal at 30 min. Inhibition of PI3K completely blocked E2 activation of pAkt at 10 and 30 min and blocked E2 activation of ERK1/2 at 10 min, which revealed a PI3K-independent activation of ERK at 30 min. Double immunocytochemical labeling for pERK1/2 and pAkt demonstrated that E2 induced both signaling pathways in the same neurons. These results indicate a unified signaling mechanism for rapid E2 action that leads to the coordinated activation of both pERK1/2 and pAkt in the same population of neurons. Implications of these results for understanding estrogen mechanism of action in neurons and therapeutic development are considered.
On a question of Erdős and Moser

For two finite sets of real numbers A and B, one says that B is sum-free with respect to A if the sum set {b + b | b, b ∈ B, b 6= b} is disjoint from A. Forty years ago, Erdős and Moser posed the following question. Let A be a set of n real numbers. What is the size of the largest subset B of A which is sum-free with respect to A? In this paper, we show that any set A of n real numbers contains a set B of cardinality at least g(n) ln n which is sum-free with respect to A, where g(n) tends to infinity with n. This improves earlier bounds of Klarner, Choi, and Ruzsa and is the first superlogarithmic bound for this problem. Our proof combines tools from graph theory together with several fundamental results in additive number theory such as Freiman’s inverse theorem, the BalogSzemerédi theorem, and Szemerédi’s result on long arithmetic progressions. In fact, in order to obtain an explicit bound on g(n), we use the recent versions of these results, obtained by Chang and by Gowers, where significant quantitative improvements have been achieved.
The future of our democracies?: young party members in 6 European democracies

This book presents the results of a new comparative research project on the trajectories, motivations, perceptions and attitudes of young members (aged 18-25) of 13 different European political parties in GB, France, Germany, Spain, Norway and Hungary. The project combined a mass survey of 2919 young party members with 507 in-depth interviews.