Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Connections between Anterior Inferotemporal Cortex and Superior Temporal Sulcus Regions in the Macaque Monkey

We examined the connections between the anterior inferotemporal cortex and the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in the macaque monkey by injecting Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) or wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) into the dorsoanterior and ventroanterior subdivisions of TE (TEad and TEav, respectively) and observing the labeled terminals and cell bodies in STS. We found a clear dichotomy in the connections of the rostral part of STS: the injections into TEad resulted in a dense distribution of labeled terminals and cell bodies in the upper bank of rostral STS, whereas labeling was confined to the lower bank and fundus of rostral STS after injections into TEav. The distribution of labeling in the rostral STS was discontinuous from the distribution of labeling surrounding the injection sites: the lower bank of the rostral STS was spared from labeling in the TEad injection cases, and TEad had only sparse distribution in the TEav injection cases. These results revise the classical view that the lower bank of rostral STS is connected with TE, whereas the upper bank of rostral STS is connected with the parietal, prefrontal, and superior temporal regions (Seltzer and Pandya, 1978, 1991, 1994). The upper bank of the rostral STS is called the superior temporal polysensory area (STP), because it was previously found that neurons there respond to auditory, somatosensory, and visual stimuli. The present results thus suggest that the polymodal representation in STP interacts more with information processing in TEad than TEav. It is also suggested that the information processing in the ventral bank of the rostral STS is distinct from that in TEad, and the former more directly interacts with TEav than TEad.
Infinitely divisible cascade analysis of network traffic data

Infinitely divisible cascades are a model class previously introduced in the field of turbulence to describe the statistics of velocity fields. In this paper, using a wavelet reformulation of the cascades, we investigate their ability to analyze band model scaling properties of data and compare their fundamental ingredients to those of other scaling model classes such as self-similar and multifractal processes. We also propose an estimation procedure for the propagator or kernel of the cascades. Finally the cascade model is successfully applied to describe Internet TCP network traffic data, bringing new insights into their scaling properties and revealing a pitfall in existing techniques.
Quantitative imaging of tissue sections using infrared scanning technology

Quantification of immunohistochemically (IHC) labelled tissue sections typically yields semi‐quantitative results. Visualising infrared (IR) ‘tags’, with an appropriate scanner, provides an alternative system where the linear nature of the IR fluorophore emittance enables realistic quantitative fluorescence IHC (QFIHC). Importantly, this new technology enables entire tissue sections to be scanned, allowing accurate area and protein abundance measurements to be calculated from rapidly acquired images. Here, some of the potential benefits of using IR‐based tissue imaging are examined, and the following are demonstrated. Firstly, image capture and analysis using IR‐based scanning technology yields comparable area‐based quantification to those obtained from a modern high‐resolution digital slide scanner. Secondly, IR‐based dual target visualisation and expression‐based quantification is rapid and simple. Thirdly, IR‐based relative protein abundance QIHC measurements are an accurate reflection of tissue sample protein abundance, as demonstrated by comparison with quantitative fluorescent Western blotting data. In summary, it is proposed that IR‐based QFIHC provides an alternative method of rapid whole‐tissue section low‐resolution imaging for the production of reliable and accurate quantitative data.
Knowing good from bad: differential activation of human cortical areas by positive and negative outcomes

Previous research has identified a component of the event‐related brain potential (ERP), the feedback‐related negativity, that is elicited by feedback stimuli associated with unfavourable outcomes. In the present research we used event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings to test the common hypothesis that this component is generated in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex. The EEG results indicated that our paradigm, a time estimation task with trial‐to‐trial performance feedback, elicited a large feedback‐related negativity (FRN). Nevertheless, the fMRI results did not reveal any area in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex that was differentially activated by positive and negative performance feedback, casting doubt on the notion that the FRN is generated in this brain region. In contrast, we found a number of brain areas outside the posterior medial frontal cortex that were activated more strongly by positive feedback than by negative feedback. These included areas in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, right superior frontal gyrus, and striatum. An anatomically constrained source model assuming equivalent dipole generators in the rostral anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, and right superior frontal gyrus produced a simulated scalp distribution that corresponded closely to the observed scalp distribution of the FRN. These results support a new hypothesis regarding the neural generators of the FRN, and have important implications for the use of this component as an electrophysiological index of performance monitoring and reward processing.
Development of NK cell expansion methods using feeder cells from human myelogenous leukemia cell line

Background Natural killer (NK) cells constantly survey surrounding tissues and remove newly generated cancer cells, independent of cancer antigen recognition. Although there have been a number of attempts to apply NK cells for cancer therapy, clinical application has been somewhat limited because of the difficulty in preparing a sufficient number of NK cells. Therefore, ex vivo NK cell expansion is one of the important steps for developing NK cell therapeutics. Methods CD3+ depleted lymphocytes were cocultured with IL-2 and with feeder cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMCs], K562, and Jurkat) for 15 days. Expanded NK cells were tested for cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines. Results We compared feeder activities of three different cells-PBMC, K562, and Jurkat. K562 expanded NK cells by almost 20 fold and also showed powerful cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. K562-NK cells remarkably expressed the NK cell activation receptors, NKG2D, and DNAM-1. K562-NK cells exhibited more than two-fold production of cytotoxic granules compared with Jurkat-NK cells, producing more perforin and granzyme B than naïve NK cells. Conclusion Our findings suggest that K562 are more efficient feeder cells than Jurkat or PBMCs. K562 feeder cells expanded NK cells by almost 20 fold and showed powerful cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. We herein propose an intriguing approach for a design of NK cell expansion.
Stabilization laws for collective motion in three dimensions

This paper proposes a framework for the design of control laws that stabilize relative equilibria in a model of identical, steered particles moving in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Under the assumption of all-to-all communication, the derived control laws only require relative orientations and positions. We extend the obtained results in the presence of limited communication topologies by equipping each agent with a consensus estimator.
SPARTA: A scheduling policy for thwarting differential power analysis attacks

Embedded systems (ESs) have been widely used in various application domains. It is very important to design ESs that guarantee functional correctness of the system under strict timing constraints. Such systems are known as the real-time embedded systems (RTESs). More recently, RTESs started to be utilized in safety and reliability critical areas, which made the overlooked security issues, especially confidentiality of the communication, a serious problem. Differential power analysis attacks (DPAs) pose serious threats to confidentiality protection mechanisms, i.e., implementations of cryptographic algorithms, on embedded platforms. In this work, we present a scheduling policy, SPARTA, that thwarts DPAs. Theoretical guarantees and preliminary experimental results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the SPARTA scheduler.
The Concept of Fit in Information Systems Research

The impacts of information technology on business performance has been a focus of research in recent years. In this regard, contingency models based on the notion of " fit " between the organization's management of IT, its environment, strategy, and structure seem to hold some promise. However, given different conceptual definitions of fit adopted and statistical analysis methods chosen by researchers, results of empirical studies may vary. Six perspectives are examined as they pertain to the relationships between the firm's environmental uncertainty, its strategic orientation, its structure, its strategic management of IT, and its performance, namely moderation, mediation and matching as bivariate approaches to fit, and covariation, profile deviation and gestalts as systems approaches. These relationships are analyzed by means of an empirical study of 110 small and medium-sized enterprises. Results obtained from applying and comparing the six perspectives illustrate their significant differences and confirm the need for conceptual and methodological rigor when applying contingency theory in IS research.
Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Quickly Resolve Symptoms Associated with EBV-Induced Infectious Mononucleosis in Patients with Atopic Predispositions

Case series Patient: Female, 24 • Male, 35 Final Diagnosis: EBV-induced infectious mononucleosis Symptoms: Fever • general malaise • lymphadenopathy Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Physical examination and serological testing Specialty: Infectious diseases Objective: Rare co-existance of disease or pathology Background: Infectious mononucleosis is a clinical syndrome most commonly associated with primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. In adults, the symptoms can often be severe and prolonged, sometimes causing serious complications. Analgesic or antipyretic drugs are normally used to relieve the symptoms. However, there is no causal treatment for the disease. Case Report: Two cases of adult patients with atopic predispositions developed nocturnal fever, general fatigue, pharyngitis and lymphadenopathy after an exacerbation of atopic symptoms or those of allergic rhinitis. Due to the positive results for EBV viral-capsid antigen (VCA) IgM and negative results for EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA) IgG, diagnoses of infectious mononucleosis induced by EBV were made in both cases. Although oral antibiotics or acetaminophen alone did not improve the deteriorating symptoms, including fever, headache and general fatigue, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as tiaramide or loxoprofen, completely improved the symptoms quickly after the initiation. Conclusions: In these cases, given the atopic predispositions of the patients, an enhanced immunological response was likely to be mainly responsible for the pathogenesis of the symptoms. In such cases, NSAIDs, that are known to reduce the activity of EBV, may dramatically improve the deteriorating symptoms quickly after the initiation. In the present cases, the immunosuppressive property of these drugs was considered to suppress the activity of lymphocytes and thus provide the rapid and persistent remission of the disease.
Delayed neurotrophin treatment following deafness rescues spiral ganglion cells from death and promotes regrowth of auditory nerve peripheral processes: Effects of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor and fibroblast growth factor

The extent to which neurotrophic factors are able to not only rescue the auditory nerve from deafferentation‐induced degeneration but also promote process regrowth is of basic and clinical interest, as regrowth may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of cochlear prostheses. The use of neurotrophic factors is also relevant to interventions to promote regrowth and repair at other sites of nerve trauma. Therefore, auditory nerve survival and peripheral process regrowth were assessed in the guinea pig cochlea following chronic infusion of BDNF + FGF1 into scala tympani, with treatment initiated 4 days, 3 weeks, or 6 weeks after deafferentation from deafening. Survival of auditory nerve somata (spiral ganglion neurons) was assessed from midmodiolar sections. Peripheral process regrowth was assessed using pan‐Trk immunostaining to selectively label afferent fibers. Significantly enhanced survival was seen in each of the treatment groups compared to controls receiving artificial perilymph. A large increase in peripheral processes was found with BDNF + FGF1 treatment after a 3‐week delay compared to the artificial perilymph controls and a smaller enhancement after a 6‐week delay. Neurotrophic factor treatment therefore has the potential to improve the benefits of cochlear implants by maintaining a larger excitable population of neurons and inducing neural regrowth. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE SEISMIC RESPONSE OF BRIDGE BEARINGS

This paper contains the findings of an experimental study on the seismic response of three types of standard bridge bearings: (a) steel-reinforced elastomeric bearings, (b) steel-reinforced elastomeric bearings with PTFE disks, and (c) PTFE spherical bearings. The experimental program which was conducted partly at UC San Diego and partly at UC Berkeley included cyclic tests at various velocities and displacements for which these bearings have not been designed but may experience during an earthquake. The primary conclusions of these tests are that elastomeric bridge bearings perform exceptionally even under seismic loading conditions, accommodating well beyond the 50% limit proposed by current design guidelines for non-seismic conditions. PTFE-elastomeric bearings perform adequately but cannot accommodate rotations reliably. Spherical bearings featuring general-purpose adhesives perform very poorly under seismic conditions; however, when high-temperatures adhesives are used in their construction, these bearing perform very well under seismic conditions.
Diagnosis of NUT Midline Carcinoma Using a NUT-specific Monoclonal Antibody

NUT midline carcinoma (NMC) is a uniformly lethal malignancy that is defined by rearrangement of the nuclear protein in testis (NUT) gene on chromosome 15q14. NMCs are morphologically indistinguishable from other poorly differentiated carcinomas, and the diagnosis is usually made currently by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). As normal NUT expression is confined to testis and ovary, we reasoned that an immunohistochemical (IHC) stain for NUT would be useful in diagnosing NMC. To this end, we raised a highly specific rabbit monoclonal antibody, C52, against a recombinant NUT polypeptide, and developed an IHC staining protocol. The sensitivity and specificity of C52 staining was evaluated in a panel of 1068 tissues, predominantly diverse types of carcinomas (n=906), including 30 NMCs. Split-apart FISH for NUT rearrangement was used as a “gold standard” diagnostic test for NMC. C52 immunoreactivity among carcinomas was confined to NMCs. IHC staining had a sensitivity of 87%, a specificity of 100%, a negative predictive value of 99%, and a positive predictive value of 100%. Two new cases of NMC containing BRD4-NUT fusions were detected by C52 IHC, but missed by conventional FISH. In both instances, these tumors contained cryptic BRD4-NUT rearrangements, as confirmed by FISH using a refined set of probes. Some germ cell tumors, including 64% of dysgerminomas, showed weak NUT immunoreactivity, consistent with the expression of NUT in normal germ cells. We conclude that IHC staining with the C52 monoclonal antibody is a highly sensitive and specific test that reliably distinguishes NMC from other forms of carcinoma. The NUT antibody is being prepared for commercial release and will be available in the near future.
Coronal magnetic fields inferred from IR wavelength and comparison with EUV observations

Spectropolarimetry using IR wavelength of 1075 nm has been proved to be a powerful tool for directly mapping solar coronal magnetic fields including transverse component directions and line-of-sight component intensities. Solar tomography, or stereoscopy based on EUV observations, can supply 3-D information for some magnetic field lines in bright EUV loops. In a previous paper ( Liu and Lin, 2008) the locations of the IR emission sources in the 3-D coordinate system were inferred from the comparison between the polarization data and the potential-field-sourcesurface (PFSS) model, for one of five west limb regions in the corona ( Lin et al., 2004). The paper shows that the region with the loop system in the active region over the photospheric area with strong magnetic field intensity is the region with a dominant contribution to the observed Stokes signals. So, the inversion of the measured Stokes parameters could be done assuming that most of the signals come from a relatively thin layer over the area with a large photospheric magnetic field strength. Here, the five limb coronal regions are studied together in order to study the spatial correlation between the bright EUV loop features and the inferred IR emission sources. It is found that, for the coronal regions above the stronger photospheric magnetic fields, the locations of the IR emission sources are closer to or more consistent with the bright EUV loop locations than those above weaker photospheric fields. This result suggests that the structures of the coronal magnetic fields observed at IR and EUV wavelengths may be different when weak magnetic fields present there.
Analytical studies of particle dynamics in bending waves in planetary rings

Particles inside a planetary ring are subject to forcing due to the central planet, moons in inclined orbits, self-gravity of the ring and other forces resulting from radiation drag, collisional effects and the Lorentz force arising from the magnetic field of the planet. We write down the equations of motion of a single particle inside the ring and solve them analytically. We find that the importance of the shear caused by variation of the radial velocity component with the local vertical direction cannot be ignored and it may be responsible for damping of the bending waves in planetary rings as observed by the Voyager data. We present the wave profile resulting from the dissipation. We estimate the surface mass density of the C-ring to be of the order of σ ∼ 1.2-1.6 g cm -2 , and the height h ∼ 2.2-2.4 m. These theoretical results are in agreement with observations.
A high quality factor varactor technology evaluation

Providing a high quality factor scalable varactor in an integrated technology is a wager. How to insure that your device will give the highest quality factor possible? In order to response this questions, we let the bases of a varactor gauge combining electrical performance and geometrical sizes. Giving a targeted capacitance, it could furnish a qualitive idea of the adequacy with technology performance. It could furnish also a indicator for comparison with other devices. As example of varactor gauge application, we present a comparison between two diode varactor devices in two BiCMOS technologies.
Users’ Support as a Social Resource in Educational Services: Construct Validity and Measurement Invariance of the User-Initiated Support Scale (UISS)

Social support is an important resource for reducing the risks of stress and burnout at work. It seems to be particularly helpful for educational and social professionals. The constant and intense relationships with users that characterize this kind of service can be very demanding, increasing stress and leading to burnout. While significant attention has been paid to supervisors and colleagues in the literature, users have rarely been considered as possible sources of social support. The only exception is the Zimmermann et al.’s (2011) research, focused on customer support as a resource for workers’ well-being. This paper proposes the validation of the customer-initiated support scale developed by Zimmermann et al. (2011), translated into Italian and focused on educational services users (children’s parents), to measure the user support perceived by workers: the User-Initiated Support Scale (UISS). In Study 1 (105 teachers), which specifically involved educators and kindergarten teachers, the items and scale properties were preliminarily examined using descriptive analyses and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In Study 2 (304 teachers), the construct and criterion validity and scale dimensionality were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In Study 3 (304 teachers from Study 2 and 296 educators), measurement invariance (MI) was tested. The EFA results from Study 1 showed a one-factor solution (explained variance, 67.2%). The scale showed good internal coherence (alpha = 0.88). The CFA in Study 2 validated the one-factor solution (comparative fit index = 0.987; standardized root mean square residual = 0.054). Bivariate correlations confirmed construct validity; the UISS was positively associated (convergent) with user gratitude, and not associated (divergent) with disproportionate customer expectations. Regarding the criterion validity test, the UISS was strongly correlated with burnout and job satisfaction. The analysis of MI performed on the Study 3 data confirmed the equality of the parameters of the covariance structure model between the two samples of kindergarten teachers and educators. This research study offers a useful version of a tool for measuring a crucial, but often ignored, protective resource for all professionals working directly with people (patients, students, and service users) that can represent important sources of well-being, directly or indirectly lessening the negative impacts of job demands.
Helioseismology challenges models of solar convection

Convection is the mechanism by which energy is transported through the outermost of the sun (1). Solar turbulent convection is notoriously difficult to model across the entire convection zone, where the density spans many orders of magnitude. In PNAS, Hanasoge et al. (2) use recent helioseismic observations to derive stringent empirical constraints on the amplitude of large-scale convective velocities in the solar interior. They report an upper limit that is far smaller than predicted by a popular hydrodynamic numerical simulation.