Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Integrative Neuroscience

Based on this evidence, it has been proposed that representations of reward value are anatomically segregated from strict S–R associations in the dorsal striatum, with the former being confi ned to the dorsomedial striatum (in rodents; caudate in primates) (Yin and Knowlton, 2006; Balleine et al., 2007; Johnson et al., 2007). Under this idea, dorsomedial striatum stores response–outcome (R–O) associations to drive goal-directed action selection, whereas the dorsolateral striatum (rodents; putamen in primates) stores the traditional sensorimotor (S–R) associations previously ascribed to all of the striatum. This proposal makes several predictions. First the hypothesis described above predicts that associations between reward value and movements should be represented in dorsomedial but not dorsolateral striatum, whereas associations between cues and responses, independent of reward value, should be represented in neural activity in dorsolateral but not dorsomedial striatum. Additionally, neural activity in dorsomedial striatum at the time an action is executed might be expected to change rapidly to refl ect changes in the value of the associated outcome. To test these predictions, we recorded single-unit activity in the medial and lateral dorsal striatum of rats engaged in a task in which two distinct movements were associated with four outcomes , in a blocked design. Two different manipulations, reward size and reward delay, were used to vary the value of the outcomes. In addition, each trial was cued by one of three odors, the identity of which indicated which of the two movements would lead to
Some Paradoxes of Whistleblowing

By "paradox" I mean an apparent? and, in this case, real? inconsistency between theory (our systematic understanding of whistleblowing) and the facts (what we actually know, or think we know, about whistle blowing). What concerns me is not a few anomalies, the exceptions that test a rule, but a flood of exceptions that seems to swamp the rule. This paper has four parts. The first states the standard theory of whistleblowing. The second argues that the standard theory is para doxical, that it is inconsistent with what we know about whistleblowers. The third part sketches what seems to me a less paradoxical theory of whistleblowing. The fourth tests the new theory against one classic case of whistleblowing, Roger Boisjoly's testimony before the presi dential commission investigating the Challenger disaster ("the Rogers Commission"). I use that case because the chief facts are both uncon troversial enough and well-known enough to make detailed exposition unnecessary. For the same reason, I also use that case to illustrate various claims about whistleblowing throughout the paper.
Is My Mobile Ringing? Evidence for Rapid Processing of a Personally Significant Sound in Humans

Anecdotal reports and also empirical observations suggest a preferential processing of personally significant sounds. The utterance of one's own name, the ringing of one's own telephone, or the like appear to be especially effective for capturing attention. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the time course and functional neuroanatomy of the voluntary and the involuntary detection of personally significant sounds. To address this issue, we applied an active and a passive listening paradigm, in which male and female human participants were presented with the SMS ringtone of their own mobile and other's ringtones, respectively. Enhanced evoked oscillatory activity in the 35–75 Hz band for one's own ringtone shows that the brain distinguishes complex personally significant and nonsignificant sounds, starting as early as 40 ms after sound onset. While in animals it has been reported that the primary auditory cortex accounts for acoustic experience-based memory matching processes, results from the present study suggest that in humans these processes are not confined to sensory processing areas. In particular, we found a coactivation of left auditory areas and left frontal gyri during passive listening. Active listening evoked additional involvement of sensory processing areas in the right hemisphere. This supports the idea that top-down mechanisms affect stimulus representations even at the level of sensory cortices. Furthermore, active detection of sounds additionally activated the superior parietal lobe supporting the existence of a frontoparietal network of selective attention.
Risk Factors for Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight Among Pregnant Indian Women: A Hospital-based Prospective Study

Objectives: The present study was undertaken to study the maternal risk factors for preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW) with a special emphasis on assessing the proportions of maternal genitourinary and periodontal infections among Indian women and their association with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods: A hospital-based prospective study comprising 790 pregnant women visiting the obstetrics clinic for a routine antenatal check-up was undertaken. Once recruited, all study participants underwent clinical and microbiological investigations for genitourinary infections followed by a dental check-up for the presence of periodontitis. The study participants were followed up until their delivery to record the pregnancy outcomes. Infectious and non-infectious risk factors for PTB and LBW were assessed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Independent risk factors for PTB and LBW were reported in terms of adjusted relative risk (ARR) with the 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Rates of PTB and LBW in the study population were 7.6% and 11.4%, respectively. Previous preterm delivery (ARR, 5.37; 95% CI, 1.5 to 19.1), periodontitis (ARR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.1 to 4.9), Oligohydramnios (ARR, 5.23; 95% CI, 2.4 to 11.5), presence of Nugent’s intermediate vaginal flora (ARR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.4 to 5.1), gestational diabetes mellitus (ARR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.0 to 8.3), and maternal height <1.50 m (ARR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.1 to 4.1) were risk factors for PTB, while periodontitis (ARR, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.6 to 6.9), gestational hypertension (ARR, 3.70; 95% CI, 1.3 to 10.8), maternal height <1.50 m (ARR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.1) and genital infection during later stages of pregnancy (ARR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.2 to 6.1) were independent risk factors for LBW. Conclusions: Our study findings underscore the need to consider screening for potential genitourinary and periodontal infections during routine antenatal care in developing countries.
The effectiveness of structural and realistic arithmetic curricula in children with special needs

ABSTRACT In this article a comparison is made between structural (traditional) and realistic curricula in teaching arithmetic to educable mentally retarded and learning disabled children. Two studies will be presented concerning the effectiveness of curricula. The EMR‐children (N = 16) in study 1 and the LD‐children (N = 28) in study 2 with serious arithmetic deficits were trained with these curricula in adding and subtracting with renaming. The means of the children in study 1 show no significant difference between groups, but within groups only the progress of the children trained with a structural curriculum was higher. In study 2 the results of the children trained with a structural curriculum were higher than the results of the children trained with a realistic curriculum. Observations show that at the end of the training many children still used inadequate problem solving strategies. It is argued that none of the curricula is sufficiently specific to teach these children adding and subtracting with .
Age estimation using local matched filter binary pattern

The automatic age estimation systems from facial images are often very complex and difficult to achieve, because of the aging process complexity. Such a system can be used in security, man-machine interactions, and biometrics. Research in this field has advanced during the last years. This paper proposes an age estimation system based on the shape and gray level texture intensity, extracted from facial images. The main contribution of this work is the design of a new descriptor named Local Matched Filter Binary Pattern, which detects and encodes face areas containing wrinkles. This descriptor, combined with parameters extracted by the active appearance model, enables the design of a high discriminative age. The experiments performed on the FG-net database, and the compared results approved this descriptor's efficiency in age estimation.
A PRG for lipschitz functions of polynomials with applications to sparsest cut

We give improved pseudorandom generators (PRGs) for Lipschitz functions of low-degree polynomials over the hypercube. These are functions of the form ψ(P(x)), where P:{1,-1}n -> R is a low-degree polynomial and ψ:R -> R is a function with small Lipschitz constant. PRGs for smooth functions of low-degree polynomials have received a lot of attention recently and play an important role in constructing PRGs for the natural class of polynomial threshold functions [12,13,24,16,15]. In spite of the recent progress, no nontrivial PRGs were known for fooling Lipschitz functions of degree O(log n) polynomials even for constant error rate. In this work, we give the first such generator obtaining a seed-length of (log n)~O(l2/ε2) for fooling degree l polynomials with error ε. Previous generators had an exponential dependence on the degree l. We use our PRG to get better integrality gap instances for sparsest cut, a fundamental problem in graph theory with many applications in graph optimization. We give an instance of uniform sparsest cut for which a powerful semi-definite relaxation (SDP) first introduced by Goemans and Linial and studied in the seminal work of Arora, Rao and Vazirani [3] has an integrality gap of exp(Ω((log log n)1/2)). Understanding the performance of the Goemans-Linial SDP for uniform sparsest cut is an important open problem in approximation algorithms and metric embeddings. Our work gives a near-exponential improvement over previous lower bounds which achieved a gap of Ω(log log n) [11,21]. Our gap instance builds on the recent short code gadgets of Barak et al. [5].
Attitudes toward Mormons and Voter Behavior in the 2012 Presidential Election

Abstract Prior to the 2012 presidential election, some commentators speculated that Mitt Romney's status as a devout and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would undermine his presidential aspirations. Using the 2012 American National Election Survey, this study examines the relationship between attitudes toward Mormons and voter behavior in the United States in that election year. It finds that attitudes toward Mormons had a statistically-significant effect on turnout — though these effects differed according to party identification. It additionally finds that these attitudes influenced vote choice. In both cases, the substantive effects were small, indicating that anti-Mormon feelings did play a role in the 2012 presidential election, but they did not determine the final outcome.
Nash equilibria in competitive societies, with applications to facility location, traffic routing and auctions

We consider the following class of problems. The value of an outcome to a society is measured via a submodular utility function (submodularity has a natural economic interpretation: decreasing marginal utility). Decisions, however, are controlled by non-cooperative agents who seek to maximise their own private utility. We present, under basic assumptions, guarantees on the social performance of Nash equilibria. For submodular utility functions, any Nash equilibrium gives an expected social utility within a factor 2 of optimal, subject to a function-dependent additive term. For non-decreasing, submodular utility functions, any Nash equilibrium gives an expected social utility within a factor 1+/spl delta/ of optimal, where 0/spl les//spl delta//spl les/1 is a number based upon discrete curvature of the function. A condition under which all sets of social and private utility functions induce pure strategy Nash equilibria is presented. The case in which agents themselves make use of approximation algorithms in decision making is discussed and performance guarantees given. Finally we present specific problems that fall into our framework. These include competitive versions of the facility location problem and k-median problem, a maximisation version of the traffic routing problem studied by Roughgarden and Tardos (2000), and multiple-item auctions.
Variability in the rhetorical structure of research article introductions: The case of civil engineering

Previous genre studies have mostly examined article introductions either in the Introduction-Method-Results-Discussion (IMRD) context or without specifying whether they are followed by a Literature Review section. This paper presents a detailed structural analysis of 30 article introductions, which are all followed by a Literature Review, in an applied discipline (i.e., civil engineering). The analysis identifies different types of introductions based on their major communicative functions, structural flows, and the nature and orientations of the studies reported. Among them, the two major categories of introductions were systematically studied and compared (i.e., the “Two-move Orientation” type and the “Research-oriented Traditional Creating a Research Space” type). They were found to differ greatly concerning their length, functions and organization. However, generally, when there is a subsequent Literature Review, the introductions are fairly flexibly yet simply structured with no dense use of sub-moves. The findings help to inform genre-based EAP writing instruction and materials writing.
School Community in Different Magnet Program Structures

This study utilizes self-reported survey data from teachers to compare indicators of school community in whole school-dedicated magnets in which all students are enrolled in the magnet program and program within school (PWS) magnets in which only a portion of the students participate in the magnet program. The indicators of community assessed in this study are categorized as internal (i.e., within the school) and external (i.e., involving home-school relations). Whole school magnets were found to be characterized by higher levels of internal and external community. Specifically, whole school magnet teachers report greater goal congruence, teacher commitment, and parent involvement. These findings are purported to result from all teachers and students choosing whole school magnets, differences in SES of the students enrolled in these school types, and dilution of indicators of community in PWS magnets from mixing magnet students and teachers with those in the traditional school program. The results varied byschool size.
Reliability and Validity of Outcome Expectancy-Related Measures in Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy using data collected from students in secondary school physical education classes. Dependent measures were examined for construct, concurrent, and predictive validity, as well as internal and temporal reliability. The results of the investigation indicated the following. First, confirmatory factor analyses for the dependent variables (outcome likelihood, outcome value, outcome expectancy) revealed a suitable fit of the data with a hypothesized factor structure. Second, significant associations between these variables and other personal beliefs and values provided sound evidence for the concurrent validity of outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy. Third, results of regression analyses revealed that outcome likelihood and outcome value had strong predictive validity in predicting physical activity behaviors. Finally, the internal reliabilities of self-report scales for the outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy over a three-semester period were satisfactory. The temporal reliabilities were also acceptable.
U87MG glioma cells overexpressing IL-17 acclerate early-stage growth in vivo and cause a higher level of CD31 mRNA expression in tumor tissues

Immunological alterations have been reported to be involved in glioma, the most common malignant disease of the adult brain. Our recent study identified higher levels of IL-17 in glioma specimens. The present study investigated the role and possible mechanisms of IL-17 in glioma tumorigenesis. Human IL-17 cDNA was cloned and inserted into the eukaryotic pEGFP-N1 expression vector, which was used to transfect the glioma U87MG cell line, resulting in a high level of IL-17 expression in these cells. The cells were then transfected with IL-17 (pEGFP-N1-IL-17-U87MG) or mock (pEGFP-N1-U87MG) vector or left untransfected (U87MG) and subcutaneously inoculated into the right flank of nude mice. The results revealed that the pEGFP-N1-IL-17-U87MG cells grew more rapidly in the early stages (P<0.05, determined on day 32 post-inoculation compared with the other two groups). Quantitative (q)PCR detected higher mouse (m)CD31 mRNA levels in the IL-17-transfected group (P<0.01) compared with the mock-transfected and untransfected groups. IL-17 transfection altered the mRNA expression of a panel of molecules that are associated with immunity and inflammation in U87MG cells in vitro. An effect of the vector was identified, whereby the mock transfection strongly inhibited cell growth in vivo and dramatically altered the mRNA levels of multiple molecules in the cell culture in vitro compared with the untransfected cells. The present study confirmed that IL-17 overexpression may enhance glioma cell growth in vivo, which may be associated with accelerated angiogenesis. IL-17 overexpression may also alter the cellular mRNA expression of immune-related molecules.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Spotlight on Fatty Acid Oxidation and Lipoperoxidation Products

In several human diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), produced mainly by mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, is increased. In cancer cells, the increase of ROS production has been associated with mtDNA mutations that, in turn, seem to be functional in the alterations of the bioenergetics and the biosynthetic state of cancer cells. Moreover, ROS overproduction can enhance the peroxidation of fatty acids in mitochondrial membranes. In particular, the peroxidation of mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin leads to the formation of reactive aldehydes, such as 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) and malondialdehyde (MDA), which are able to react with proteins and DNA. Covalent modifications of mitochondrial proteins by the products of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in the course of oxidative cell stress are involved in the mitochondrial dysfunctions observed in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Such modifications appear to affect negatively mitochondrial integrity and function, in particular energy metabolism, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, antioxidant defenses and stress responses. In neurodegenerative diseases, indirect confirmation for the pathogenetic relevance of LPO-dependent modifications of mitochondrial proteins comes from the disease phenotypes associated with their genetic alterations.
Personality and Disease: A Call for Replication

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Potential role of high‐field MRI for studies in Parkinson's disease

Recent advancements in high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology (3 T and higher), providing increased signal sensitivity and images with more prominent contrasts intrinsic to the brain, offer new opportunities for assessing brain alterations in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this article, the principle benefits of high field MRI for PD research are described and new findings at high magnetic fields are reviewed. Several high field MRI methodologies, including structural MRI, imaging of brain iron, diffusion tensor imaging, arterial spin labeling perfusion imaging, rotating frame imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, are critically reviewed for their potential roles in studies of PD. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
Macronutrients Intake of Top Level Cyclists During Continuous Competition - Change in the Feeding Pattern

In order to quantify the nutritional status and the feeding pattern of professional cyclists during continuous competition, food intake was accurately measured and recorded using the weighed inventory of food (over three 24 h periods) during all meals in ten top professional cyclists during a real 3 weeks' competition. A 24 h period was defined as the time between the start of one stage and the next start. The 24 h period intake of energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate was used to discover whether these intakes met requirements for endurance exercise. The average intake of energy and macronutrients was: energy = 23.5 +/- 1.8 MJ/24 h period, carbohydrate = 841.4 +/- 66.2 g/ 24h period; protein = 201.8 +/- 17.7g/24 h period; and fat = 158.6 +/- 16.3 g/24 h period. The carbohydrate, protein and fat contribution to energy was 60.0%, 14.5%, and 25.5% respectively. Fluid intake per 24h period was 3.29 +/- 0.94l (1.26 +/- 0.55 l during the race). Our study shows a similar energy intake in comparison with the only previous study in 1989 but there is a change in the feeding pattern of top level cyclists. A more important role is given to the intake of carbohydrate just after competitions together with an increase in protein intake. Both changes could have a positive effect on performance.