Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Causal Relationships Underlying Episodic Memory Network Dynamics in Older Adults Abbreviated title : Causal Network Dynamics in Aging

The most reliable finding in functional neuroimaging studies of cognitive aging is a more widespread brain activity pattern in older than younger adults. The additional regions recruited by older adults are functionally connected to core task-network regions, and frequently contribute to task performance in this group, suggesting that older adults may compensate for core task-network deficits by expanding the task-related network. This hypothesis is difficult to resolve with functional neuroimaging alone, because it is unclear both how to define reliable causal trends in which connections are important (e.g., local versus indirect connections). To address this problem we examined functional connectivity measures as quantified by a region's local within-module degree (WMD), or their between-module degree (BMD) between distant cortical communities. We combined these graph theoretical measures with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in order to resolve the central hypothesis. We applied enhancing (5Hz) or impairing (1Hz) rTMS to a core episodic encoding region, the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) and predicted that (1) if older adults compensate for local deficits by boosting BMD, then enhancing left PFC function should reduce BMD, whereas impairing it, should increase BMD and (2) that this effect should be correlated with DTI measures of white-matter integrity. Both predictions were confirmed, supporting for the compensatory interpretation of an expanded task network in older adults. More generally, the results illustrate the power of combining rTMS with functional and structural connectivity measures to investigate age-related changes in network architecture. An integrated account of the functional dynamics of cortical connectivity in aging is incomplete. Our approach is to unite network theory, brain stimulation, and diffusion tractography in order determine how the aging brain adapts to local changes in cortical reactivity during episodic encoding. We found that aging brains adapt their local and distal connectivity patterns in a frequency-selective manner, and that these changes are constrained by white matter connectivity. These results help to advance a mechanistic understanding of the network dynamics associated with episodic memory performance, and suggest novel interventions to improve memory functioning in later adulthood.
Resolving the Tevatron Top Quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry Puzzle: Fully Differential Next-to-Next-to-Leading-Order Calculation.

We determine the dominant missing standard model (SM) contribution to the top quark pair forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron. Contrary to past expectations, we find a large, around 27%, shift relative to the well-known value of the inclusive asymmetry in next-to-leading order QCD. Combining all known standard model corrections, we find that A(FB)(SM)=0.095±0.007. This value is in agreement with the latest DØ measurement [V. M. Abazov et al. (D0 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 90, 072011 (2014)] A(FB)(D∅)=0.106±0.03 and about 1. 5σ below that of CDF [T. Aaltonen et al. (CDF Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 87, 092002 (2013)] A(FB)(CDF)=0.164±0.047. Our result is derived from a fully differential calculation of the next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to inclusive top pair production at hadron colliders and includes-without any approximation-all partonic channels contributing to this process. This is the first complete fully differential calculation in NNLO QCD of a two-to-two scattering process with all colored partons.
Agricultural biotechnology: risks and opportunities for developing country food security

Agricultural biotechnology presents opportunities for reducing poverty, food insecurity, child malnutrition, and natural resource degradation. Small farmers in developing countries are faced with many problems and constraints which biotechnology may assist. About 1.2 billion people, or one of every five humans, live in a state of absolute poverty, on the equivalent of US$1 a day or less. Modern biotechnology is not a silver bullet for achieving food security, but, used in conjunction with traditional knowledge and conventional agricultural research methods, it may be a powerful tool. Policies must expand and guide research and technology development to solve problems of importance to poor people. Research should focus on crops relevant to small farmers and poor consumers in developing countries, such as bananas, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, rice, maize, wheat, and millet, along with livestock. Labelling may also be needed to identify content for cultural and religious reasons or simply because consumers want to know about the contents of their food and the processes used to produce it. It is also urgent that global biosafety standards and local regulatory capacity be strengthened within developing countries.
Are false implicatures lies? An empirical investigation

Lies are typically defined as asserted falsehoods uttered with the intention of deceiving the hearer. A particularly problematic case for this definition is that of false implicatures. These are prototypically cases where the proposition expressed by the speaker’s utterance is true, yet an implicature conveyed by this proposition in context is false. However, implicature is a diverse category and whether a blanket statement such as “false implicatures are lies,” as some have argued can account for all of them is open to investigation. We present an experimental investigation of whether naïve participants define different types of implicatures as lies. Our results show that only a couple of types of implicatures were strongly rated as lies by participants. These results suggest that participants distinguish between different types of communicated meanings on linguistic grounds, contributing both to the literature on lying, as well as to theoretical discussions of how different types of meaning are communicated.
Monitoring approach to open quantum dynamics using scattering theory

It is shown how S-matrix theory and the concept of continuous quantum measurements can be combined to yield Markovian master equations which describe the environmental interaction non-perturbatively. The method is then applied to obtain the master equation for the effects of a gas on the internal dynamics of an immobile complex quantum system, such as a trapped molecule, in terms of the exact multi-channel scattering amplitudes.
The Scientific Gaze in American Transgender Politics: Contesting the Meanings of Sex, Gender, and Gender Identity in the Bathroom Rights Cases

Abstract In this article, I examine how conflicts over transgender bathroom rights have ignited debates concerning the fundamental nature of transgender identity. Through an institutional and discursive analysis of North Carolina's House Bill 2 or “bathroom bill,” the Title IX case in Gloucester County School Board v. G. G. , and similar federal court cases, I explore how and why forces both on the right and in the LGBTQ movement have come to rely on scientific expertise to legitimate their conceptions. As conservatives have marshaled evidence to challenge notions that transgender identity is innate, LGBTQ and transgender organizations as well as the American Civil Liberties Union have crafted a “born this way” biopolitical construction of transgender identity. I find that at their core, these conflicts are over the meanings of gender and sex in relation to transgender identity. Conservatives posit sex as biologically rooted and gender as a psychological phenomenon, whereas transgender advocates subsume gender identity into the definition of sex in arguing that constitutional and federal civil rights law must recognize gender identity as a biologically constitutive element of sex. I conclude by noting the limits of a liberal assimilationist and litigation-centric transgender politics and by exploring alternatives to this biopolitical form of transgender political identity.
Eye Detection Using Optimal Wavelet Packets and Radial Basis Functions (RBFs)

The eyes are important facial landmarks, both for image normalization due to their relatively constant interocular distance, and for post processing due to the anchoring on model-based schemes. This paper introduces a novel approach for the eye detection task using optimal wavelet packets for eye representation and Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) for subsequent classification ("labeling") of facial areas as eye versus non-eye regions. Entropy minimization is the driving force behind the derivation of optimal wavelet packets. It decreases the degree of data dispersion and it thus facilitates clustering ("prototyping") and capturing the most significant characteristics of the underlying (eye regions) data. Entropy minimization is thus functionally compatible with the first operational stage of the RBF classifier, that of clustering, and this explains the improved RBF performance on eye detection. Our experiments on the eye detection task prove the merit of this approach as they show that eye images compressed using optimal wavelet packets lead to improved and robust performance of the RBF classifier compared to the case where original raw images are used by the RBF classifier.
Differential large-scale chromatin compaction and intranuclear positioning of transcribed versus non-transcribed transgene arrays containing β-globin regulatory sequences

Previous work has demonstrated a more decondensed large-scale chromatin structure and a more internal nuclear position for gene-rich versus gene-poor chromosome regions. Here, we show that large-scale chromatin opening and changes in intranuclear positioning of chromosome regions can be induced by normal levels of endogenous transcription factors acting on mammalian regulatory sequences. We transfected mouse erythroleukemia cells with a 15 kbp plasmid containing a lac operator repeat plus β-globin regulatory sequences driving a β-galactosidase reporter gene. After green-fluorescent-protein/lac-repressor fusion-protein binding or after fluorescence in situ hybridization, the volume and location of the transgene array signal were measured. With both detection methods, we found that the volume was severalfold larger when transcription was on. While silent transgene arrays were located close to the nuclear membrane, we observed a significantly more internal position for the transcriptionally active state. Our results indicate that both large-scale chromatin decondensation and changes in nuclear positioning as observed for large, complex gene-rich chromosome regions can be reproduced by endogenous regulatory sequences acting within simple repetitive transgene arrays.
Unemployment, Hysteresis and Transition

In this paper, we quantify the degree of persistence in the unemployment rates of transition countries using a variety of methods benchmarked against the EU. Initially, we work with the concept of linear 'Hysteresis' as described by the presence of unit roots in unemployment as in most empirical research on this area. Given that this is potentially a narrow definition, we also take into account the existence of structural breaks and nonlinear dynamics in unemployment. Finally, we examine whether CEECs' unemployment presents features of multiple equilibria, that is, if it remains locked into a new level whenever some structural change or sufficiently large shock occurs. Our findings show that, in general, we can reject the unit-root hypothesis after controlling for structural changes and business-cycle effects, but we can observe the presence of a high and low unemployment equilibria. The speed of adjustment is faster for CEECs than the EU, although CEECs tend to move more frequently between equilibria. Copyright (c) Scottish Economic Society 2004.
Crystalline silicate dust around evolved stars. I. The sample stars

This is the rst paper in a series of three where we present the rst comprehensive inventory of solid state emission bands observed in a sample of 17 oxygen-rich circumstellar dust shells surrounding evolved stars. The data were taken with the Short and Long Wavelength Spectrographs on board of the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and cover the 2.4 to 195 m wavelength range. The spectra show the presence of broad 10 and 18 m bands that can be attributed to amorphous silicates. In addition, at least 49 narrow bands are found whose position and width indicate they can be attributed to crystalline silicates. Almost all of these bands were not known before ISO. The incredible richness of the crystalline silicate spectra observed by ISO allows detailed studies of the mineralogy of these dust shells, and is a telltale about the origin and evolution of the dust. We have measured the peak positions, widths and strengths of the individual, continuum subtracted bands. Based on these measurements, we were able to order the spectra in sequence of decreasing crystalline silicate band strength. We found that the strength of the emission bands correlates with the geometry of the circumstellar shell, as derived from direct imaging or inferred from the shape of the spectral energy distribution. This naturally divides the sample into objects that show a disk-like geometry (strong crystalline silicate bands), and objects whose dust shell is characteristic of an outflow (weak crystalline silicate bands). All stars with the 33.6 m forsterite band stronger than 20 percent over continuum are disk sources. We dene spectral regions (called complexes) where a concentration of emission bands is evident, at 10, 18, 23, 28, 33, 40 and 60 m. We derive average shapes for these complexes and compare these to the individual band shapes of the programme stars. In an Appendix, we provide detailed comments on the measured band positions and strengths of individual sources.
brother of cdo (umleitung) is cell-autonomously required for Hedgehog-mediated ventral CNS patterning in the zebrafish

The transmembrane protein Brother of Cdo (Boc) has been implicated in Shh-mediated commissural axon guidance, and can both positively and negatively regulate Hedgehog (Hh) target gene transcription, however, little is known about in vivo requirements for Boc during vertebrate embryogenesis. The zebrafish umleitung (umlty54) mutant was identified by defects in retinotectal axon projections. Here, we show that the uml locus encodes Boc and that Boc function is cell-autonomously required for Hh-mediated neural patterning. Our phenotypic analysis suggests that Boc is required as a positive regulator of Hh signaling in the spinal cord, hypothalamus, pituitary, somites and upper jaw, but that Boc might negatively regulate Hh signals in the lower jaw. This study reveals a role for Boc in ventral CNS cells that receive high levels of Hh and uncovers previously unknown roles for Boc in vertebrate embryogenesis.
Effects of Integrated Care on Disease-Related Hospitalisation and Healthcare Costs in Patients with Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Respiratory Illnesses: A Propensity-Matched Cohort Study in Switzerland

Background: There is an ongoing discussion on the further promotion of integrated care models in many healthcare systems. Only a few data, which examine the effect of integrated care models on medical expenditures and quality of care in chronically ill patients, exist. Aims: To investigate the effect of integrated care models on disease-related hospitalisations as a quality indicator and healthcare costs in patients with either diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or respiratory illnesses. Methods: A propensity-matched retrospective cohort study based on a large Swiss health insurance database (2012–2013) was performed for three chronic patient groups (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses), who were enrolled in an integrated care model and compared to individuals in a standard care model. Multivariate regression models were applied to estimate the effect of integrated care models on disease-related hospitalisations and healthcare costs. Results: The matched cohorts included a total of 12,526 patients with diabetes, 71,778 with cardiovascular diseases and 17,498 with respiratory illnesses, in which each one half was enrolled in integrated care models and the other half in standard care models. Diabetes and cardiovascular patients with integrated care models had a significantly lower probability of disease-related hospitalisation compared to those with standard care models (p < 0.01). Healthcare costs were statistically significant lower in all three patient groups with integrated care, but with the highest effect in patients with diabetes (Swiss francs (CHF) –778). Conclusions: Integrated care may provide an effective strategy to improve the quality of care and to reduce healthcare costs in chronically ill patients. Study findings intend to contribute to the ongoing political discussion on integrated care and provide evidence for improved and more effective care of patients with chronic diseases.
X-ray continuum variability of MCG-6-30-15

This paper presents a comprehensive examination of the X-ray continuum variability of the bright Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG‐6-30-15. The source clearly shows the strong, linear correlation between rms variability amplitude and flux first seen in Galactic X-ray binaries. The highfrequency power spectral density (PSD) of MCG‐6-30-15 is examined in detail using a Monte Carlo fitting procedure and is found to be well represented by a steep power law at high frequencies (with a power-law index α ≈ 2.5), breaking to a flatter slope (α ≈ 1) below f br ≈ 0.6‐2.0 × 10 −4 Hz, consistent with the previous results of Uttley, McHardy & Papadakis. The slope of the power spectrum above the break is energy dependent, with the higher energies showing a flatter PSD. At low frequencies the variations between different energy bands are highly coherent, while at high frequencies the coherence is significantly reduced. Time lags are detected between energy bands, with the soft variations leading the hard ones. The magnitude of the lag is small (200 s for the frequencies observed) and is most likely frequency dependent. These properties are remarkably similar to the temporal properties of the Galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. The characteristic time-scales in these two types of source differ by ∼10 5 ; assuming that these time-scales scale linearly with black hole mass then suggests a
Contextual Interactions in Grating Plaid Configurations Are Explained by Natural Image Statistics and Neural Modeling

Processing natural scenes requires the visual system to integrate local features into global object descriptions. To achieve coherent representations, the human brain uses statistical dependencies to guide weighting of local feature conjunctions. Pairwise interactions among feature detectors in early visual areas may form the early substrate of these local feature bindings. To investigate local interaction structures in visual cortex, we combined psychophysical experiments with computational modeling and natural scene analysis. We first measured contrast thresholds for 2 × 2 grating patch arrangements (plaids), which differed in spatial frequency composition (low, high, or mixed), number of grating patch co-alignments (0, 1, or 2), and inter-patch distances (1° and 2° of visual angle). Contrast thresholds for the different configurations were compared to the prediction of probability summation (PS) among detector families tuned to the four retinal positions. For 1° distance the thresholds for all configurations were larger than predicted by PS, indicating inhibitory interactions. For 2° distance, thresholds were significantly lower compared to PS when the plaids were homogeneous in spatial frequency and orientation, but not when spatial frequencies were mixed or there was at least one misalignment. Next, we constructed a neural population model with horizontal laminar structure, which reproduced the detection thresholds after adaptation of connection weights. Consistent with prior work, contextual interactions were medium-range inhibition and long-range, orientation-specific excitation. However, inclusion of orientation-specific, inhibitory interactions between populations with different spatial frequency preferences were crucial for explaining detection thresholds. Finally, for all plaid configurations we computed their likelihood of occurrence in natural images. The likelihoods turned out to be inversely related to the detection thresholds obtained at larger inter-patch distances. However, likelihoods were almost independent of inter-patch distance, implying that natural image statistics could not explain the crowding-like results at short distances. This failure of natural image statistics to resolve the patch distance modulation of plaid visibility remains a challenge to the approach.
Coupled Discriminative Feature Learning for Heterogeneous Face Recognition

This paper presents a coupled discriminative feature learning (CDFL) method for heterogeneous face recognition (HFR). Different from most existing HFR approaches which use hand-crafted feature descriptors for face representation, our CDFL directly learns discriminative features from raw pixels for face representation. In particular, a couple of image filters is learned in CDFL to simultaneously exploit discriminative information and to reduce the appearance difference of face images captured across different modalities. With the help of the learned filters, CDFL can maximize the interclass variations and minimize the intraclass variations of the learned feature vectors, and meanwhile maximize the correlation of face images of the same person from different modalities by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem. Experimental results on three different heterogeneous face recognition applications show the effectiveness of our proposed approach.
Access to livelihood assets among youth with and without disabilities in South Africa: implications for health professional education.

PURPOSE This study compared access to 5 livelihood assets among disabled and non-disabled youth, to inform health professionals on inequities related to disability and to monitor the transformation agenda aimed at creating an inclusive society. METHODS Fieldworkers interviewed 989 youth (18 - 35 years; 523 (52.9%) disabled youth (DY), 466 (47.1%) non-disabled youth (NDY)) at 9 sites in 5 South African provinces. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic characteristics and livelihood assets. Chi-squared and t-tests were used for comparisons. RESULTS Doctors at hospitals and nurses at clinics are health professionals most frequently seen. Far fewer DY than NDY attended and completed school. Unemployment was markedly more common among DY than among NDY. Barriers to accessing employment for DY were poor health and lack of skills development, and a lack of job opportunities for NDY. Both groups received the same amount of support from immediate household members, but significantly more NDY received support from extended family, friends, partners, and neighbours. They spent significantly more time engaging in all free-time activities. NDY reported more access to bathrooms, phone, and newspapers, as well as public services and the business sector. Participation and access were limited for both groups because of inaccessible public transport. CONCLUSION This paper shows that DY have a greater struggle to access livelihood assets than non-disabled peers. The Disability Studies Academic Programme at the University of Cape Town is an initiative that seeks to take specific focused action with disability organisations in order to address the inequities faced by disabled youth to ensure their inclusion in development to the same degree as their non-disabled peers.