Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Works of George Herbert Mead, Vol. 1)

Written from the standpoint of the social behaviorist, this treatise contains the heart of Mead's position on social psychology. The analysis of language is of major interest, as it supplied for the first time an adequate treatment of the language mechanism in relation to scientific and philosophical issues. "If philosophical eminence be measured by the extent to which a man's writings anticipate the focal problems of a later day and contain a point of view which suggests persuasive solutions to many of them, then George Herbert Mead has justly earned the high praise bestowed upon him by Dewey and Whitehead as a 'seminal mind of the very first order. '" Sidney Hook, "The Nation""
Gamut Mapping to Preserve Spatial Luminance Variations

A spatial gamut mapping technique is proposed to overcome the shortcomings encountered with standard pointwise gamut mapping algorithms by preserving spatially local luminance variations in the original image. It does so by first processing the image through a standard pointwise gamut-mapping algorithm. The difference between the original image luminance Y and gamut mapped image luminance Y' is calculated. A spatial filter is then applied to this difference signal, whose output is added back to the gamut mapped signal Y'. The filtering operation can cause some pixel colors that lie near the gamut boundary to be moved outside of the gamut, hence a second gamut mapping step is required to move these pixel colors back into the gamut. Finally, all pixels are processed through a color correction function for the output device, and rendered for that device. The algorithm is designed to reduce many of the artifacts arising from standard pointwise techniques. Psychophysical experiments indicated an observer preference for the proposed algorithm.
Speech dasher: fast writing using speech and gaze

Speech Dasher allows writing using a combination of speech and a zooming interface. Users first speak what they want to write and then they navigate through the space of recognition hypotheses to correct any errors. Speech Dasher's model combines information from a speech recognizer, from the user, and from a letter-based language model. This allows fast writing of anything predicted by the recognizer while also providing seamless fallback to letter-by-letter spelling for words not in the recognizer's predictions. In a formative user study, expert users wrote at 40 (corrected) words per minute. They did this despite a recognition word error rate of 22%. Furthermore, they did this using only speech and the direction of their gaze (obtained via an eye tracker).
Intra-Industry Knowledge Spillovers and Scientific Labor Mobility

I test the hypothesis that the mobility of scientific and technical personnel is a conduit for knowledge spillovers among innovative firms. Using a variant of the standard Tobin's Q equation, I show that firms who have access to large pools of externally created knowledge in their industrial and technological neighborhoods enjoy additional market value as a result of higher scientific labor mobility, while they suffer from higher mobility whenever external knowledge is limited. Specifically, a percentage point increase in the mobility rate (one additional job change for each 100 scientists) increases market value by 1% to 3.1% through spillovers for a firm that has access to the mean spillover pool. This effect is largely offset by the standalone negative impact of labor mobility on market value, thus the firm breaks even in terms of the net private value of increased labor turnover. These results are consistent with previous findings and anecdotal evidence, and provide further insight into why innovative firms cluster in industrial districts.
Neuronal Activity in the Primary Somatosensory Thalamocortical Loop Is Modulated by Reward Contingency during Tactile Discrimination

Delayed-response sensory discrimination is believed to require primary sensory thalamus and cortex for early stimulus identification and higher-order forebrain regions for the late association of stimuli with rewarded motor responses. Here we investigate neuronal responses in the rat primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and ventral posterior medial nucleus of the thalamus (VPM) during a tactile discrimination task that requires animals to associate two different tactile stimuli with two corresponding choices of spatial trajectory to be rewarded. To manipulate reward expectation, neuronal activity observed under regular reward contingency (CR) was compared with neuronal activity recorded during freely rewarded (FR) trials, in which animals obtained reward regardless of their choice of spatial trajectory. Across-trial firing rates of S1 and VPM neurons varied according to the reward contingency of the task. Analysis of neuronal ensemble activity by an artificial neural network showed that stimulus-related information in S1 and VPM increased from stimulus sampling to reward delivery in CR trials but decreased to chance levels when animals performed FR trials, when stimulus discrimination was irrelevant for task execution. Neuronal ensemble activity in VPM was only correlated with task performance during stimulus presentation. In contrast, S1 neuronal activity was highly correlated with task performance long after stimulus removal, a relationship that peaked during the 300 ms that preceded reward delivery. Together, our results indicate that neuronal activity in the primary somatosensory thalamocortical loop is strongly modulated by reward contingency.
Researching class in the classroom: addressing the social class attainment gap in Initial Teacher Education

The social class attainment gap in education is now attracting an increased level of concern. Despite the efforts of the British New Labour government to address the continuing underachievement of working class pupils in England, there has been little progress. This paper reports on one aspect of a wider research study carried out in an Initial Teacher Education department in which this persistent educational problem was explicitly addressed. In this study student teachers were prompted to explore their own understandings of social class and underachievement by acting as school‐based researchers. The data collected by the student teachers revealed both silence and resistance surrounding social class in educational contexts. They identified social class and underachievement as overlapping constructions that were inextricably linked to the perceptions and practices of the teacher. Importantly, in reflecting on their experiences of the research process the student teachers were able to identify significant implications for their own future professional practice. This paper concludes by emphasising that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provides an important context in which to raise social class issues and to ensure that student teachers are effectively prepared to recognise and address the institutional barriers to learning faced by underachieving working class pupils.
Adverse pulmonary vascular effects of high dose tricyclic antidepressants: acute and chronic animal studies

Overdose of tricyclic antidepressants, which inhibit cellular serotonin (5-HT) uptake, sometimes causes acute respiratory syndrome-like symptoms. Their acute and chronic cardiopulmonary actions, which might be implicated, utilising both in vivo and ex vivo animal studies, were investigated in this study. Acute amitriptyline (AMI), iprindole and imipramine caused dose-dependent prolonged rises in pulmonary artery pressure and oedema in anaesthetised cats in vivo. Acute AMI, in isolated ex vivo blood-perfused rat lungs, also caused dose-dependent sustained vasoconstriction, which could be attenuated with either calcium channel inhibition or a nitric oxide donor. It was demonstrated that the pressor effects of AMI were not due to release of histamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, or the activities of cycloxygenase or lipoxygenase. After AMI, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction and the pressor actions of 5‐HT and noradrenaline were diminished, possibly due to uptake inhibition. Activities of the endothelial-based enzymes, nitric oxide synthase and endothelin-converting enzyme, were undiminished. Large acute doses of AMI caused oedema with rupture of capillaries and alveolar epithelium. Chronic iprindole raised pulmonary artery pressure and right ventricle (RV)/left ventricle (LV) + septal (S) weight. Chronic AMI led to attenuation of the pressor action of 5‐HT, especially when associated with chronic hypoxic-induced pulmonary hypertension. RV/LV+S weight increased, attributable to LV decline. The acute and chronic effects observed might have relevance to clinical overdose, while the attenuation of acute effects offers possible therapeutic options.
Active Unicameral Bone Cysts in the Upper Limb are at Greater Risk of Fracture

Purpose. To elucidate the natural history of unicameral bone cyst (UBC) and risk factors for pathological fracture. Methods. 14 males and 8 females (mean age, 9 years) diagnosed with UBC were reviewed. Cyst location, symptoms, and whether there was any fracture or surgery were recorded. Cyst parameters were measured on radiographs, and included (1) the cyst index, (2) the ratio of the widest cyst diameter to the growth plate diameter, and (3) the adjusted distance of the cyst border from the growth plate. Results. There were 11 upper- and 11 lower-limb cysts. 13 patients had pathological fractures and 9 did not. 20 patients were treated conservatively with limb immobilisation; 2 underwent curettage and bone grafting (one resolved and one did not). Seven cysts resolved (5 had fractures and 2 did not). The risk of fracture was higher in the upper than lower limbs (100% vs 18%, p<0.001). Fractured cysts were larger than unfractured cysts (mean cyst index, 4.5 vs. 2.2, p=0.07). Active cysts were more likely to fracture. Conclusion. Conservative management had a 30% resolution rate. Surgery should be considered for large active cysts in the upper limbs in order to minimise the fracture risk.
An efficient query indexing mechanism for filtering geo-textual data

Massive amount of data that are geo-tagged and associated with text information are being generated at an unprecedented scale. Users may want to be notified of interesting geo-textual objects during a period of time. For example, a user may want to be informed when tweets containing term "garage sale" are posted within 5 km of the user's home in the next 72 hours. In this paper, for the first time we study the problem of matching a stream of incoming Boolean Range Continuous queries over a stream of incoming geo-textual objects in real time. We develop a new system for addressing the problem. In particular, we propose a hybrid index, called IQ-tree, and novel cost models for managing a stream of incoming Boolean Range Continuous queries. We also propose algorithms for matching the queries with incoming geo-textual objects based on the index. Results of empirical studies with implementations of the proposed techniques demonstrate that the paper's proposals offer scalability and are capable of excellent performance.
Superiority in Rhesus Macaques of Targeting HIV-1 Env gp140 to CD40 versus LOX-1 in Combination with Replication-Competent NYVAC-KC for Induction of Env-Specific Antibody and T Cell Responses

ABSTRACT We compared the HIV-1-specific immune responses generated by targeting HIV-1 envelope protein (Env gp140) to either CD40 or LOX-1, two endocytic receptors on dendritic cells (DCs), in rhesus macaques primed with a poxvirus vector (NYVAC-KC) expressing Env gp140. The DC-targeting vaccines, humanized recombinant monoclonal antibodies fused to Env gp140, were administered as a boost with poly-ICLC adjuvant either alone or coadministered with the NYVAC-KC vector. All the DC-targeting vaccine administrations with poly-ICLC increased the low-level serum anti-Env IgG responses elicited by NYVAC-KC priming significantly more (up to a P value of 0.01) than in a group without poly-ICLC. The responses were robust and cross-reactive and contained antibodies specific to multiple epitopes within gp140, including the C1, C2, V1, V2, and V3, C4, C5, and gp41 immunodominant regions. The DC-targeting vaccines also elicited modest serum Env-specific IgA responses. All groups gave serum neutralization activity limited to tier 1 viruses and antibody-dependent cytotoxicity responses (ADCC) after DC-targeting boosts. Furthermore, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses specific to multiple Env epitopes were strongly boosted by the DC-targeting vaccines plus poly-ICLC. Together, these results indicate that prime-boost immunization via NYVAC-KC and either anti-CD40.Env gp140/poly-ICLC or anti-LOX-1.Env gp140/poly-ICLC induced balanced antibody and T cell responses against HIV-1 Env. Coadministration of NYVAC-KC with the DC-targeting vaccines increased T cell responses but had minimal effects on antibody responses except for suppressing serum IgA responses. Overall, targeting Env to CD40 gave more robust T cell and serum antibody responses with broader epitope representation and greater durability than with LOX-1. IMPORTANCE An effective vaccine to prevent HIV-1 infection does not yet exist. An approach to elicit strong protective antibody development is to direct virus protein antigens specifically to dendritic cells, which are now known to be the key cell type for controlling immunity. In this study, we have tested in nonhuman primates two prototype vaccines engineered to direct the HIV-1 coat protein Env to dendritic cells. These vaccines bind to either CD40 or LOX-1, two dendritic cell surface receptors with different functions and tissue distributions. We tested the vaccines described above in combination with attenuated virus vectors that express Env. Both vaccines, but especially that delivered via CD40, raised robust immunity against HIV-1 as measured by monitoring potentially protective antibody and T cell responses in the blood. The safety and efficacy of the CD40-targeted vaccine justify further development for future human clinical trials.
Polymorphism in Leptin and Leptin Receptor Genes May Modify Leptin Levels and Represent Risk Factors for Multiple Sclerosis

ABSTRACT Background: Leptin, the product of the ob gene, can modulate the immune responses and also seems to regulate Th1/Th2 balance by promoting a shift from the Th2 to the Th1 inflammatory cytokine pathway. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the association between polymorphisms of leptin gene (LEP) and leptin receptor gene (LEPR) and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS). In addition, we investigated the influence of these two common polymorphisms on plasma levels of leptin. Methods: This case–control study was conducted on 232 MS patients and 204 control subjects. Serum level measurement of leptin was performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). G-2548-A LEP polymorphism and 223A/G polymorphism of the LEPR were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: There was a significant difference in allele/genotype frequencies of LEP gene among MS patients and control subjects (p<0.01). The genotype frequencies of LEPR polymorphism were also significantly different between control subjects and MS patients (p=0.02). The mean serum level of leptin was significantly higher in MS patients as compared with the controls (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our study implicates a significant role of LEP and LEPR polymorphisms and also leptin levels in the risk of MS and its severity. Furthermore, our findings suggest LEP and LEPR polymorphisms as important predictors for increased serum leptin in Iranian MS patients. Although this study provides new clinically relevant information regarding genetic determinants modulating risk of MS, further investigations are necessary to understand better the mechanistic implications of these observations in the development of MS.
Improving Neural Language Models with a Continuous Cache

We propose an extension to neural network language models to adapt their prediction to the recent history. Our model is a simplified version of memory augmented networks, which stores past hidden activations as memory and accesses them through a dot product with the current hidden activation. This mechanism is very efficient and scales to very large memory sizes. We also draw a link between the use of external memory in neural network and cache models used with count based language models. We demonstrate on several language model datasets that our approach performs significantly better than recent memory augmented networks.
868 MHz: A noiseless environment, but no free lunch for protocol design

Lossy links are one of the fundamental characteristics of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A large amount of work has been performed on characterizing link properties of 802.15. 4 radios, in particular in the 2.4 GHz band. Unfortunately, the 2.4 GHz band has the apparent disadvantage of a crowded spectrum and considerable external interference, e. g. , from WiFi, Bluetooth or even microwave ovens. We therefore investigate the performance of radios operating on the alternative 868 MHz frequency band, which is basically noise-free as determined from extensive experiments on a large-scale indoor testbed featuring more than 100 nodes. Although the lack of external interference eases protocol design, our study reveals that - and characterizes to what extent - wireless links in the 868 MHz band still show large variations in performance that must be accounted for.
Youth Community Gardening Programming as Community Development: The Youth for EcoAction Program in Winnipeg, Canada

The Youth for EcoAction (YEA) program is a project of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg involving at-risk youth. This community development program focuses on urban agriculture and community gardening and was developed using the Circle of Courage pedagogy. The program was analyzed through participatory methods. YEA youth interns built skills, improved self-esteem, increased environmental awareness, enhanced food security, and fostered their own social networks to help counter the attraction to gangs and dealing with other issues. Benefits were also felt at a broader community level, through positive environmental, social, and physical changes. Youth-serving agencies, community development organizations, and government policy makers could look to the YEA as a model for youth empowerment and community revitalization. Le programme Youth for EcoAction (YEA) pour les jeunes a risque est l’œuvre des Clubs garcons et filles de Winnipeg. Il met l’accent sur l’agriculture urbaine et le jardinage communautaire. Les Clubs ont developpe YEA en recourant a la pedagogie du Cercle du courage. Pour analyser ce programme, les auteurs de cet article ont employe une methode participative. Pour les jeunes, les benefices de YEA incluent le developpement de competences, une securite alimentaire accrue et la formation de reseaux qui les aident a echapper a la tentation des gangs et autres problemes. A un niveau communautaire, les benefices comprennent des ameliorations environnementales, sociales et physiques. Pour les agences jeunesse, les organismes de developpement communautaire et les strateges gouvernementaux, le programme YEA peut servir de modele d’autonomisation des jeunes et de revitalisation de la communaute.
Concerted action of neuroepithelial basal shrinkage and active epithelial migration ensures efficient optic cup morphogenesis

Organ formation is a multi-scale event that involves changes at the intracellular, cellular and tissue level. Organogenesis often starts with the formation of characteristically shaped organ precursors. However, the cellular mechanisms driving organ precursor formation are often not clear. Here, using zebrafish, we investigate the epithelial rearrangements responsible for the development of the hemispherical retinal neuroepithelium (RNE), a part of the optic cup. We show that in addition to basal shrinkage of RNE cells, active migration of connected epithelial cells into the RNE is a crucial player in its formation. This cellular movement is driven by progressive cell-matrix contacts and actively translocates prospective RNE cells to their correct location before they adopt neuroepithelial fate. Failure of this migration during neuroepithelium formation leads to ectopic determination of RNE cells and consequently impairs optic cup formation. Overall, this study illustrates how spatiotemporal coordination between morphogenic movements and fate determination critically influences organogenesis.
The Nature of War in the Information Age: Clausewitzian Future

1. Classical Strategic Thought and the Nature of War 2. The Future Battlespace 3. Future Command and the Fate of Military Genius 4. How Strategic is Strategic Information Warfare? 5. Information Power: Strategy, geopolitics and the fifth dimension 6. Concluding Thoughts: A Clausewitzian future
Shifts of spatial attention cued by irrelevant numbers: Electrophysiological evidence from a target discrimination task

Fischer et al. demonstrated that a centrally presented number can shift attention to the left/right when its magnitude is small/large. Two electrophysiological studies described these attentional effects as event-related potentials (ERPs) at centro-parietal sites. Since both studies used target detection tasks, it remains currently unknown whether similar results would be obtained with a discrimination task. We used ERPs to test whether digit cues also induce attention shifts when participants perform a feature-discrimination task on targets. ERPs were recorded whereas subjects discriminated the colour of lateral targets that were preceded by a central non-predictive digit. Analysis of cue-locked controlateral vs. ipsilateral ERP activity showed the emergence of early preparatory attention-directing components in parietal and frontal regions. Moreover, target-locked P1 components at occipito-parietal sites were significantly modulated by digit magnitude-target side congruency. These results demonstrate that irrelevant digit cues also bias sensory processing when embedded in a feature-discrimination task.
Everything for Sale: How Non-Executive Directors Make a Difference

In 1940 the American Sociological Review published an article by the young C. Wright Mills who tried to rescue the concept of motive from psychology and claim it for sociology. Mills argued that motives were not individual springs to action but ‘typical vocabularies (that) have ascertainable functions in delimited societal situations’ (Mills, 1940: 904). He saw a motive as the social actor’s ‘unquestioning answer to questions of social conduct’. Consider, in 2005, an anonymous fund manager’s view of the Pilkington board’s response to Nipon Sheet Glass’s (NSG’s) first low offer in a takeover bid. The fund manager, presumably unknowingly, used motive in the precise Millsian sense, when he observed that Sir Nigel Rudd, non executive chair of Pilkingtons ‘knows what he is doing’. As our second quotation indicates, the fund manager was confident that Sir Nigel was motivated to rebuff NSG’s first low offer while indicating that the Pilkington Board was open to a higher one with a bid premium. This Millsian usage is conceptually important because motive is the precondition of coherent elite group action; but it is empirically problematic because the effects of motive are hard to demonstrate. The classic literature on business elites, for instance, Useem (1984) and Scott (1997) rarely engages in empirical studies which convincingly show how elite social motives make a difference. If we are to resume elite studies and restore them to their central place in radical social science, we have to demonstrate motive. This chapter takes up the call made in the introduction to deploy appropriate methods, which in our case combine network analysis with historical case study of outcomes.