Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of Spatial Attention Control in Frontal and Parietal Cortex

Theories of spatial attentional control have been largely based upon studies of patients suffering from visuospatial neglect, resulting from circumscribed lesions of frontal and posterior parietal cortex. In the intact brain, the control of spatial attention has been related to a distributed frontoparietal attention network. Little is known about the nature of the control mechanisms exerted by this network. Here, we used a novel region-of-interest approach to relate activations of the attention network to recently described topographic areas in frontal cortex [frontal eye field (FEF), PreCC/IFS (precentral cortex/inferior frontal sulcus)] and parietal cortex [intraparietal sulcus areas (IPS1–IPS5) and an area in the superior parietal lobule (SPL1)] to examine their spatial attention signals. We found that attention signals in most topographic areas were spatially specific, with stronger responses when attention was directed to the contralateral than to the ipsilateral visual field. Importantly, two hemispheric asymmetries were found. First, a region in only right, but not left SPL1 carried spatial attention signals. Second, left FEF and left posterior parietal cortex (IPS1/2) generated stronger contralateral biasing signals than their counterparts in the right hemisphere. These findings are the first to characterize spatial attention signals in topographic frontal and parietal cortex and provide a neural basis in support of an interhemispheric competition account of spatial attentional control.
LBP edge-mapped descriptor using MGM interest points for face recognition

In recent years, face recognition has become a popular topic in academia and industry. Current local methods such as the local binary pattern (LBP), and scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) perform better than holistic methods, but their high complexity levels limit their application. In addition, SIFT-based schemes are sensitive to illumination variation. We propose an LBP edge-mapped descriptor that uses maxima of gradient magnitude (MGM) points. It can completely illustrate facial contours and has low computational complexity. Under variable lighting, experimental results show that our proposed method has a 16.5% higher recognition rate and requires 9.06 times less execution time than SIFT in the FERET database subset fc. In addition, when applied to the Extended Yale Face Database B, our method outperformed SIFT-based approaches as well as saving about 70.9% in execution time. Furthermore, in uncontrolled conditions, our method has a 0.82% higher recognition rate than local derivative pattern histogram sequences (LDPHS) in the Unconstrained Facial Images (UFI) database.
Effectiveness of the Integration of ICT Tools and Activities to Foster Awareness as the First Stage to Reach Learning Autonomy

Este articulo presenta un estudio de investigacion-accion que integro las actividades realizadas en dos asignaturas cursadas por los estudiantes de ingles de primer semestre durante un semestre academico. Los estudiantes recibieron orientacion de sus docentes en cuanto a la toma de decisiones, trabajo independiente, y el desarrollo de procesos metacognitivos para estudiar ingles usando herramientas TICs. Los investigadores consideran que el desarrollo de la conciencia metacognitiva es una condicion clave para facilitar el aprendizaje autorregulado que a su vez es la base de comportamientos y actitudes que evidencian el inicio de los estudiantes en el proceso de desarrollo de la autonomia. Los datos provienen de las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre la efectividad de las actividades realizadas, reflexiones y el desempeno de los estudiantes en la clase de ingles. Los resultados sugieren que el integrar el uso de las estrategias metacognitivas, las actividades independientes, y el uso de las TICs en el contexto del aprendizaje de idiomas a nivel basico genera un impacto positivo en el desempeno de los estudiantes. Lo anterior, no solo contribuye al desarrollo de la competencia linguistica de los estudiantes, sino tambien les proporciona conocimientos sobre si mismos como aprendices. Esta experiencia tambien puede ser transferida a otros aspectos de la vida academica de los estudiantes permitiendoles lograr los objetivos de aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. El enfoque en el que se enmarco esta experiencia muestra que la comprension de los estudiantes mejora en la medida en que esta sea consistente con las teorias socioculturales del aprendizaje.
Changes in the Dynamics of Foliar N Metabolites in Oak Saplings by Drought and Air Warming Depend on Species and Soil Type

Climate change poses direct or indirect influences on physiological mechanisms in plants. In particular, long living plants like trees have to cope with the predicted climate changes (i.e. drought and air warming) during their life span. The present study aimed to quantify the consequences of simulated climate change for foliar N metabolites over a drought-rewetting-drought course. Saplings of three Central European oak species (i.e. Quercus robur, Q. petraea, Q. pubescens) were tested on two different soil types (i.e. acidic and calcareous). Consecutive drought periods increased foliar amino acid-N and soluble protein-N concentrations at the expense of structural N in all three oak species. In addition, transient effects on foliar metabolite dynamics were observed over the drought-rewetting-drought course. The lowest levels of foliar soluble protein-N, amino acid-N and potassium cation with a minor response to drought and air warming were found in the oak species originating from the driest/warmest habitat (Q. pubescens) compared to Q. robur and Q. petraea. Higher foliar osmolyte-N and potassium under drought and air warming were observed in all oak species when grown on calcareous versus acidic soil. These results indicate that species-specific differences in physiological mechanisms to compensate drought and elevated temperature are modified by soil acidity.
CryptoDL: Deep Neural Networks over Encrypted Data

Machine learning algorithms based on deep neural networks have achieved remarkable results and are being extensively used in different domains. However, the machine learning algorithms requires access to raw data which is often privacy sensitive. To address this issue, we develop new techniques to provide solutions for running deep neural networks over encrypted data. In this paper, we develop new techniques to adopt deep neural networks within the practical limitation of current homomorphic encryption schemes. More specifically, we focus on classification of the well-known convolutional neural networks (CNN). First, we design methods for approximation of the activation functions commonly used in CNNs (i.e. ReLU, Sigmoid, and Tanh) with low degree polynomials which is essential for efficient homomorphic encryption schemes. Then, we train convolutional neural networks with the approximation polynomials instead of original activation functions and analyze the performance of the models. Finally, we implement convolutional neural networks over encrypted data and measure performance of the models. Our experimental results validate the soundness of our approach with several convolutional neural networks with varying number of layers and structures. When applied to the MNIST optical character recognition tasks, our approach achieves 99.52\% accuracy which significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions and is very close to the accuracy of the best non-private version, 99.77\%. Also, it can make close to 164000 predictions per hour. We also applied our approach to CIFAR-10, which is much more complex compared to MNIST, and were able to achieve 91.5\% accuracy with approximation polynomials used as activation functions. These results show that CryptoDL provides efficient, accurate and scalable privacy-preserving predictions.
Merger Strategies and Shareholder Value During Times of Relaxed Antitrust Enforcement: The Case of Large Mergers During the 1980s

Most of what we know about the merger strategy-shareholder value relationship comes from studies based on the 1948-1979 FTC Large Merger Series. However, the market for acquisitions changed dramatically in the 1980s as government policies facilitated “mergers for efficiency, ” rather than “merger for diversity. ” We update the list of large mergers through 1988, classify each with a categorical and continuous measure of merger “relatedness, ” and then calculate three capital market measures of value creation. Regardless of construct de& nition, we find no evidence that the mergers in the 1980s were more strategic or value creators than those from prior periods.
Maternal mobile phone exposure alters intrinsic electrophysiological properties of CA1 pyramidal neurons in rat offspring

Some studies have shown that exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF) may result in structural damage to neurons. In this study, we have elucidated the alteration in the hippocampal function of offspring Wistar rats (n = 8 rats in each group) that were chronically exposed to mobile phones during their gestational period by applying behavioral, histological, and electrophysiological tests. Rats in the EMF group were exposed to 900 MHz pulsed-EMF irradiation for 6 h/day. Whole cell recordings in hippocampal pyramidal cells in the mobile phone groups did show a decrease in neuronal excitability. Mobile phone exposure was mostly associated with a decrease in the number of action potentials fired in spontaneous activity and in response to current injection in both male and female groups. There was an increase in the amplitude of the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) in mobile phone rats compared with the control. The results of the passive avoidance and Morris water maze assessment of learning and memory performance showed that phone exposure significantly altered learning acquisition and memory retention in male and female rats compared with the control rats. Light microscopy study of brain sections of the control and mobile phone-exposed rats showed normal morphology. Our results suggest that exposure to mobile phones adversely affects the cognitive performance of both female and male offspring rats using behavioral and electrophysiological techniques.
Multi-country real-life experience of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration

Background/aims Real-life anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy use in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) was assessed in a retrospective, observational study in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and Venezuela. Methods Medical records of patients with wAMD, who started ranibizumab treatment between 1 January 2009 and 31 August 2009, were evaluated. Data were collected until the end of treatment and/or monitoring or until 31 August 2011. Results 2227 patients who received ≥1 anti-VEGF injection with a baseline visual acuity assessment and ≥1 postbaseline visual acuity assessment for the treated eye were evaluated. Visual acuity improved until about day 120; thereafter, visual acuity gains were not maintained. Mean change in visual acuity score from baseline to years 1 and 2 was +2.4 and +0.6 letters, respectively. Patients received a mean of 5.0 and 2.2 injections in the first and second year, respectively. There were substantial differences in visual outcomes and injection frequency between countries. More frequent visits and injections were associated with greater improvements in visual acuity. Conclusions In clinical practice, fewer injections are administered than in clinical trials. Anti-VEGF treatment resulted in an initial improvement in visual acuity; however, this was not maintained over time. Trial registration number NCT01447043.
Stability of an Inverse Problem in Potential Scattering on The Real Line

In the later part of the paper we shall assume in addition that p decays exponentially at −∞. The support properties of the potential imply that the right reflection coefficient r(k) admits a meromorphic continuation to the upper half-plane C+ = {k ∈ C, Im k > 0} with at most finitely many poles. The inverse problem under consideration consists of recovery of the potential p from the sequence {r(in), n = 1, 2 . }. This sequence will be referred to as “the data”. We remark that part of the motivation for studying this problem comes from an inverse boundary value problem for the Schrodinger operator with radially symmetric potential in two dimensions. We refer to the paper by J.
Mechanism of recovery from acute virus infection: treatment of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-infected mice with monoclonal antibodies reveals that Lyt-2+ T lymphocytes mediate clearance of virus and regulate the antiviral antibody response

After intravenous infection of mice, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus multiplied in spleens and livers, attaining highest concentrations on days 4 to 6. The subsequent clearance was as rapid, and 8 to 10 days after inoculation, infectivity was usually below detectability. During the effector phase of virus elimination, both cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) activity and the number of cells producing antiviral antibodies were high. Monoclonal antibodies directed against T lymphocytes and T-lymphocyte subsets were inoculated once intravenously 5, 6, or 7 days after infection of the animals, and the effects on antiviral immune responses, as well as on elimination of virus from the organs, were determined. Treatment with anti-Thy-1 and anti-Lyt-2 antibodies blocked elimination of the virus and profoundly diminished the activity of spleen CTLs but reduced the antibody response partially (anti-Thy-1) or increased it (anti-Lyt-2). In contrast, treatment with the anti-L3T4 antibody had essentially no effect on either virus elimination or CTL response but abolished antibody production. We conclude that Lyt-2+ (cytotoxic-suppressive) T lymphocytes are needed for elimination of the virus and also regulate the humoral response but that antiviral antibodies are not essential for control of the infection.
The developing brain and neural plasticity: Implications for normality, psychopathology, and resilience.

GOALS OF THIS CHAPTER 2 PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 3 THE BRAIN AS A DYNAMIC, SELF-ORGANIZING DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEM 3 SELF-ORGANIZATION 4 THE DEVELOPING BRAIN 4 EXPERIENCE AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT 6 Mechanisms of Neural Plasticity 7 Neural Plasticity: Historical Aspect 9 Neurobiological Pathways to Psychopathology 13 Social Experience and Brain Development and Functioning 14 CONTRIBUTION OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN ATYPICAL POPULATIONS TO FURTHERING INSIGHTS INTO TYPICAL NEUROBIOLOGICAL PROCESSES 14 Autism 14 A View from Schizophrenia 17 RESILIENCE 20 Theoretical Approach 21 Avoiding Reductionism 22 Equifinality and Multifinality 23 Technology, Methodology, and Resilience 23 EXPERIENCE AND THE BRAIN: A BRIEF HISTORY 24 NEURAL PLASTICITY 26 Plasticity: General Definition 26 Neural Plasticity: Fundamental Concepts from Neuroscience 26 Forms of Neural Plasticity: What Changes 27 Neural Plasticity Associated with Environmental Enrichment 29 Behavioral Effects of Enrichment 30 Mechanisms of Neural Plasticity: How Does This Change Take Place? 31 Applications of Neural Plasticity to Resilience 33 Investigating Neural Plasticity and Resilience 34 Emotion and Resilience 34 Hemispheric EEG Asymmetry 37 Resilience and Hemispheric Asymmetry 38 Neuroendocrinology, Immunology, and Resilience 38 Cognitive Processing and Resilience 41 Assessment of Links between Cognition and Resilience 42 Genetics and Resilience 45 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS 47 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 51 REFERENCES 51
. Exposure Data 1.1 Identification of the Agent Mineral Oils, Untreated or Mildly Treated

Mineral oils (also known as base oils, mineral base oils or lubricant base oils) are chemical substances prepared from naturally occurring crude petroleum oil. Crude oil is distilled first at atmospheric pressure and then under high vacuum to yield vacuum distillates and residual fractions that can be further refined to mineral oils. Mineral oils refined from petroleum crude oils are complex and variable mixtures of straight and branched-chain paraffinic, naph-thenic (cycloparaffinic), and aromatic hydrocarbons having carbon numbers of 15 or more and boiling points in the range of 300–600°C (IARC, 1984). Mineral oils are described by several dozen generic " petroleum stream " Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) numbers. Many mineral oils may have more than one CAS number because different refiners submitted slightly different descriptions for similar refining streams when CAS numbers were being assigned (both in the United States of America and Europe) (CONCAWE, 1997). The hydrocarbon composition and physical characteristics of a mineral oil depend on both the composition of the original crude oil and the processes used during refining (e.g. solvent extraction, hydro-treatment) (CONCAWE, 1997). Production processes of mineral oils have changed substantially over time (IARC, 1987; Tolbert, 1997). In the past, many mineral oils were only mildly refined and contained significant levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Acid treatment was initially used to remove PAHs and other impurities and to improve the technical properties of the finished oils. In recent decades, acid treatment has largely been replaced by extensive refining with solvent extraction and/or hydro-treatment, which has further reduced the level of PAHs and other contaminants. Mineral oils have been produced by means of the severe hydro-treatment procedure since the 1960s (Kane et al., 1984; Mackerer et al., 2003). Regulatory pressures in the USA further encouraged the move to highly refined mineral oils in the mid-1980s (Woskie et al., 2003). There are several assays that can be used to determine if a mineral oil is highly or severely refined (Mackerer et al., 2003). Two useful Since that time new data have become available, which have been incorporated in this Monograph, and taken into consideration in the present evaluation.
Effect of injected vitamin A and level of dietary vitamin E on alpha-tocopherol status in gestating swine.

A 2 x 2 trial was conducted to determine the effects of injected vitamin A and dietary level of vitamin E on blood serum and tissue concentrations of alpha-tocopherol during early gestation of gilts. Thirty-two crossbred gilts were fed a corn soybean meal basal diet supplemented with DL-alpha tocopheryl acetate to provide either 25 or 500 IU of vitamin E/kg of diet. Gilts were fed daily 1.9 kg/gilt beginning 7 days before breeding until day 25 of gestation. Sixteen gilts were injected (i.m.) with 350,000 IU of retinol palmitate 7 days before breeding, at the time of breeding (d0), and 7 days after breeding. Blood samples were collected on day -7, 0, 7, and 24, and all gilts were slaughtered on day 25 of gestation. Supplemental vitamin E at 500 IU/kg of diet increased alpha-tocopherol concentrations (P < 0.01) in blood serum in all tissues examined, including reproductive and embryonic, except fat. Vitamin A injections had no effect (P > 0.10) on blood serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations except on day 7 when a small increase (P < 0.06) was noted. Vitamin A injections had no effect (P > 0.10) on tissue alpha-tocopherol concentrations. Increasing dietary level of vitamin E increased blood serum and tissue alpha-tocopherol concentrations, and vitamin A injections had little or no effect on these concentrations during the early gestation of gilts.
PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION: COPING MECHANISMS AND SUPPORT NEEDS

The purpose of this research was to explore the subjective experiences of families of children with mental retardation, specifically the sources of stress and coping for these families. Interviews were conducted with families to shed light on their subjective experiences of coping and stress. In an effort to increase understanding of the worldview of these families, issues in theory, practice, and future research are briefly discussed. Social support and empowerment oriented professional practice were found to have a mediating effect on family stress. URI http://hdl.handle. net/1903/1954 Collections Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations UMD Theses and Dissertations DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328. Please send us your comments. Web Accessibility Parents of children with mental retardation: Coping Mechanisms and Support Needs UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MAKE A GIFT
Moderate alcohol consumption and the risk of endometrial cancer.

In a multicenter case-control study that included 400 cases and 297 controls, we examined the relation of moderate alcohol consumption to risk of endometrial cancer. We estimated average weekly intake of alcohol during adulthood from the reported frequency of intake of beer, wine, and liquor. The relative risk of endometrial cancer was 0.82 (95% confidence interval = 0.6-1.2) among women who drank, compared with lifelong abstainers. The weak protective effect of alcohol was due to a stronger inverse association among young women (< 55 years). In young women, the age-adjusted relative risks for three levels of drinking ( < 1, 1-4, > 4 drinks per week), from lowest to highest, were 0.78, 0.64, and 0.41 compared with nondrinkers. The risk estimates were not materially altered after adjustment for a variety of factors related to alcohol intake and to low risk of the disease (for example, smoking, oral contraceptive use, low body mass index, increased physical activity). The protective effect of alcohol could not be attributed to one particular type of alcohol-containing beverage, but beer appeared to have the most pronounced effect. These results suggest an inverse association between moderate alcohol consumption and endometrial cancer risk among young women, but support for a causal association is qualified and requires confirmation.
Patterns of Relating: An Adult Attachment Perspective

Introduction. The Definition of Adult Reciprocal Attachment. The Relevance of Adult Reciprocal Attachment. Developmental Perspectives. Working Models. Patterns of Insecure Attachment. Defensive Processes in Attachment Theory. The Measurement of Adult Attachment. Personality Disorders Research. Attachment and Psychotherapy. The Boundaries of Adult Reciprocal Attachment. References.
The long-term maintenance of cytotoxic T cell memory does not require persistence of antigen

I have used the transfer of primed lymphocytes into syngeneic irradiated recipients to investigate whether the persistence of antigen is required in the long-term maintenance of cytolytic T cell memory to influenza virus. Animals were immunized with influenza virus (A/WSN) and used 17 wk later as either donors for T cells or as lethally irradiated recipients. Naive age-matched mice served as controls. At intervals of 4, 8, 16, and 25 wk after T cell transfer, experimental and control groups were immunized with a heterologous virus (A/JAP) and splenocytes tested for lytic activity to influenza virus 3 and 6 d after immunization. Lytic activity 3 d after infection (a property exclusive to a memory cytotoxic T cell response) (Effros, R. B., J. Bennink, and P. C. Doherty. 1978. Cell. Immunol. 36:345.; and Hill, A. B., R. V. Blanden, C. R. Parrish, and A. Mullbacher. 1992. Immunol. Cell Biol. 70:259), was only observed by primed and naive irradiated recipients reconstituted with memory T cells. No day 3 responses were observed when naive T cells were transferred into irradiated primed or unprimed recipients. These observations demonstrate that cytolytic T cell memory to influenza virus is long lived in the absence of antigen.