Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Select-and-Sample for Spike-and-Slab Sparse Coding

Probabilistic inference serves as a popular model for neural processing. It is still unclear, however, how approximate probabilistic inference can be accurate and scalable to very high-dimensional continuous latent spaces. Especially as typical posteriors for sensory data can be expected to exhibit complex latent dependencies including multiple modes. Here, we study an approach that can efficiently be scaled while maintaining a richly structured posterior approximation under these conditions. As example model we use spike-and-slab sparse coding for V1 processing, and combine latent subspace selection with Gibbs sampling (select-and-sample). Unlike factored variational approaches, the method can maintain large numbers of posterior modes and complex latent dependencies. Unlike pure sampling, the method is scalable to very high-dimensional latent spaces. Among all sparse coding approaches with non-trivial posterior approximations (MAP or ICA-like models), we report the largest-scale results. In applications we firstly verify the approach by showing competitiveness in standard denoising benchmarks. Secondly, we use its scalability to, for the first time, study highly-overcomplete settings for V1 encoding using sophisticated posterior representations. More generally, our study shows that very accurate probabilistic inference for multi-modal posteriors with complex dependencies is tractable, functionally desirable and consistent with models for neural inference.
Improving schools in challenging contexts: Exploring the possible

This article outlines the findings from a small-scale research study that explored how a group of secondary schools in challenging contexts had improved and raised attainment successively over a 5-year period. The study points to the importance of external factors and how they influence a school's ability to improve and to sustain improvement. The study also identified certain strategies for improvement that schools found to be successful in securing improved performance. The article argues that more highly differentiated improvement approaches to school improvement are needed for schools in such circumstances. It concludes by suggesting that while schools in challenging contexts can raise attainment and performance through their own efforts, the external environment remains an important influence upon a school's ability to improve.
Expression of the copper‐zinc superoxide dismutase gene in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The demonstration of a genetic linkage between the copper‐zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has aroused interest in the role of SOD1 in motoneuronal death. We investigated the expression of the human SOD1 gene at a cellular level in the motoneurons of patints with sporadic amytrophic lateral sclerosis, patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and normal control subjects, using a quantitative insitu hybridization technique. There were no significant differences between the amountf os SOD1 messenger RNA observed in patints wtih sporadic disease, patients with familial disease, and normal control subjects. However, many of the atrophic motoneurons from patients with sporadic or familial disease had significantly lower levls of SOD1 messenger RNA, compared to morphologically intact motoneurons. Moreover, motoneurons in the normal spinal ventral horn and precentral motor cortex exhibited significantly higher levels of SOD1 messenger RNA than did other neurons. Our study indicated that vulnerable neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis exhibit high levels of SOD1 messenger RNA, suggesting a close relatioship between the SOD1 gene and the pathogenesisof amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The Context of Ethnicity

The current study bridges research on peer relational and physical victimization with research on ethnic victimization and situates this research in the context of ethnic diversity. Specifically, the authors investigate how ethnic, relational, and physical victimization relate to concurrent levels of depression/anxiety and physical aggression and assess individual and classroom ethnic differences in these associations. These associations are tested using data from a cross-sectional sample of Aboriginal, Asian, and Caucasian adolescents in Grades 6 and 7. Overall, ethnic, relational, and physical victimization were significantly intercorrelated and showed common and unique associations with depression/anxiety and physical aggression that differed modestly by ethnicity. Levels of classroom ethnic diversity differentially influenced some of the associations between ethnic (but not relational or physical) victimization and adjustment problems for Aboriginal and Asian adolescents.
BONE MARROW FAILURE Recent developments in myelodysplastic syndromes

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) represent the most common class of acquired bonemarrow failure syndromes in adults. Although MDSs are increasinglywell understood from a biological standpoint, including discovery of . 40 MDS-associated recurrently mutated genes in the last 7 years, improved pathological insight has not yet translated into highly effective or curative therapies for most patients suffering from these disorders. Collectively, the term MDS describes a diverse group of clonal disorders of hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, abnormal “dysplastic” cell morphology, and potential for clonal evolution. Increasing failure of cellular differentiation is associated with evolution to secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML), currently arbitrarily defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as$20%myeloid blasts in the blood or marrow, or the presence of one of several AML-defining karyotypic abnormalities [eg, t(15;17), t(8;21), inv(16), or t(16;16)] regardless of blast proportion. AML is ultimately diagnosed in up to 30% of MDS cases. In this review, we describe recent advances in our collective understanding of the genetic basis of MDS in the context of existing knowledge and survey how thesefindingsmay contribute to improvements in diagnosis and prognostic assignment of patients, serve as predictors or biomarkers of response to treatment, and aid development of future therapies. MDS cell biology and immunobiology, animal models, the contribution of the marrow microenvironment to MDS development and persistence, and familial predisposition to MDS are also areas of active development but are beyond the scope of this review.
A Highly Linear Fully Integrated Powerline Filter for Biopotential Acquisition Systems

Powerline interference is one of the most dominant problems in detection and processing of biopotential signals. This work presents a new fully integrated notch filter exhibiting high linearity and low power consumption. High filter linearity is preserved utilizing active-RC approach while IC implementation is achieved through replacing passive resistors by R-2R ladders achieving area saving of approximately 120 times. The filter design is optimized for low power operation using an efficient circuit topology and an ultra-low power operational amplifier. Fully differential implementation of the proposed filter shows notch depth of 43 dB (78 dB for 4th-order) with THD of better than -70 dB while consuming about 150 nW from 1.5 V supply.
Microsatellite changes in nipple aspirate fluid and breast tissue from women with breast carcinoma or its precursors.

PURPOSE Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) have been identified in a variety of human cancers. The purpose of this prospective study was to determine whether (a) DNA can be isolated from nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) and PCR amplified to large fragments, (b) LOH and MSI are detectable in NAF, and (c) LOH and MSI in tissue and NAF increase with disease progression from precursor lesions to cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Forty-six matched samples from breast lesions, normal breast, and NAF were microdissected, and DNA was extracted. Eleven microsatellite markers from seven chromosomes that have a high frequency of LOH/MSI in breast cancer were designed and respectively amplified. RESULTS LOH and/or MSI were identified in 22 of 46 (48%) breast lesions, including LOH in 8 of 36 (22%) proliferative/papilloma (P/Pap) and 7 of 10 (70%) cancer specimens, whereas MSI was found in 14 of 36 (39%) P/Pap and 6 of 10 (60%) cancer specimens. LOH/MSI loci in which alterations were detected in the 22 tissue specimens were PCR amplified using matched NAF DNA. LOH/MSI was detected in NAF from both P/Pap (5 of 15; 33%) and breast cancer (3 of 7; 43%) samples. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that (a) DNA from NAF, a physiological fluid collected noninvasively, can be PCR amplified and used to screen for LOH and MSI alterations that are known to be linked to breast cancer, suggesting that this methodology might prove useful for breast cancer screening, and (b) similar to findings in breast tissue, LOH and MSI alterations increase in frequency with disease progression in NAF, which suggests that NAF is a surrogate for breast tissue which has important prognostic implications.
THE LONG RANGE EFFECT OF SLEEP ON RETENTION

A test is made of the hypothesis that a greater number of nonsense syllables will be retained after intervals of 24, 48 and 144 hours when learning is followed immediately by 8 hours sleep than when learning is followed by normal waking activities. The results for the 144-hour interval support the hypothesis at the p<. 01 level of confidence but the differences at 48 and 24 hours are decreasing and insignificant. The possible roles of consolidation and interference are discussed and the need for further research into the critical period necessary for consolidation to occur is emphasized.
Humanistic Psychology and the Mental Health Worker

This article discusses the precarious relationship of humanistic psychology to the mental health worker in our current managed care, empirically based, behaviorally focused, excessively medication-oriented mental health system. Some of the challenges, frustrations, and potential successes of bringing real and nurturing human relationships in the context of humanistic psychology into the day-to-day involvements with clients for the mental health worker are described. Some of the particular ethical dilemmas of the mental health worker attempting to work in this context of humanistic psychology are discussed, inclusive of the enormous difficulties of bringing humanistic psychology into the all pervasive medical model that controls mental health practice in our society. Through a series of case descriptions, the author provides a narrative account of his own experiences in attempting to bring the authentic nurturing relationship context of humanistic psychology into his various mental health worker jobs. The author reaches the conclusion that this relationship context of humanistic psychology is in actuality being practiced by many mental health workers without knowing it by name. He further concludes that in spite of the challenges and frustrations of engaging in real and nurturing relationships with clients as part of the mental health worker’s job in our current society, the core ingredients of empathy, authenticity, and realness of bond between client and mental health worker, which are the hallmarks of humanistic psychology, are apparently being practiced with partial success through the cleverness, flexibility, and humane-ness of mental health workers despite the enormous obstacles against this kind of humanistic practice.
Building a Political Constituency for Urban School Reform

In this article, the author argues that urban school reform falters, in part, because of the lack of an organized political constituency among the stakeholders with the most direct interest in school improvement, that is, parents whose children attend urban schools. The author examines community organizing as a potential strategy to build such a constituency. Drawing primarily on extensive fieldwork research, he constructs a case study of one of the country’s largest community organizing networks, the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). He analyzes the network’s Alliance Schools initiative to promote school reform in 120 public schools in districts across the state. This article finds that organizing efforts like the IAF, despite important limitations, are beginning to create an external force for change in district policy as well as to collaborate internally with educators to produce change in the practice of education within schools.
The Second Heart Sound in Old Age

The second heart sound was studied by phonocardiography and carotid tracings in 103 elderly subjects without overt evidence of heart disease. Their ages ranged from 60 to 99 years. A normal type of splitting was found in 55.3 percent, and a single sound in 41.7 percent. The difference between these percentages and those found in 60 normal younger persons was not significant. Thus, a single second sound should not be considered a typical finding in old age. However, a reverse type of splitting, noted in only 3 patients, should be regarded as evidence of severe latent heart disease.
Schadenfreude and just world belief

Abstract The present study tested the hypothesis that a threat of a just world belief intensifies experience of schadenfreude (i.e., pleasure at another's misfortune). The participants read scenarios which were designed to threaten or maintain their just world belief. Subsequently, they were transferred to an online magazine presenting funny stories about other peoples' failures. As presumed, the participants exposed to the threat of just world belief spent more time on reading. These results confirmed the existence of a link between just world threat and schadenfreude.
Public and Private in Middle Eastern Women's History

It is remarkable that the conceptual framework of public and private spheres has never dominated Middle Eastern women’s history. Given the media’s sensationalist fascination with Muslim women’s veils, one might have expected a vigorous scholarly critique of its simplistic dichotomies of public and private. While much has certainly been written about the current revival of veiling in Middle East, little has been written on the historical contexts that have defined the meaning of those veils. There has thus been virtually no debate about the usefulness of the terms “private” and “public” in defining those contexts. Why this suprising lacuna? It may simply reflect the thin ranks of historians who specialize in the Middle East. It also likely reflects postcolonial scholars’ general distrust of terms that carry the baggage of Western imperial hegemony. As Europeanists have also acknowledged, Habermasian public and private spheres are historically contingent categories that do not travel well through European history, much less the histories of other regions. So the lacuna may be a healthy sign that scholars of the Middle East have avoided normative European categories that might distort local experience. But avoidance may also incur steep costs to historical understanding. First, by not interrogating the terms public and private directly, scholars are unable to check their misuse—for the terms are widely used by non-specialists in contemporary debates about modernity, democracy, women’s status, and Islamic morality in the region. Second, rejection of universal categories in favor of localist terminology may encourage the cultural exceptionalism and essentialism that revisionist and feminist historians have sought to combat. A purely local focus denies the reality of transnational historical experience. This essay therefore argues, in likely contrast to others in this retrospective, for more extensive experimentation with public and private as lenses of historical analysis. It is only through the direct interrogation of the concepts in local historical contexts, and through direct scholarly debate about their merits, that we may succeed in redefining them in truly universal terms or in identifying new conceptual frameworks that foster comparative and transnational historical understanding. As a step toward that goal, this essay examines the tentative and often unexamined uses of the terms “public” and “private” in historical studies of gender boundaries in the Middle East. It aims to tease out areas of consensus and debate
Trends in Surgery for Crohn's Disease in the Era of Infliximab

Objective:To examine the use of surgical procedures for Crohn's disease since the introduction of infliximab. Summary Background Data:Prior studies have shown that the overall rate of surgery for Crohn's disease has not changed significantly since the introduction of infliximab, an immunomodulator considered particularly effective in treating Crohn's fistulas. How infliximab has affected individual rates of specific types of procedures, particularly surgery for intestinal fistulas, is unknown. Methods:We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample to identify all hospital admissions for Crohn's disease for each year from 1993 through 2004. Cases of Crohn's disease and relevant surgical interventions were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Using US Census data to establish population denominators, trends in population-based rates of use of these procedures were examined over time. Trends were tested for significance with Spearman rank correlation tests. Results:From 1993 to 2004, there was no statistically significant change in population-based rates of small bowel and right colon resection, while rates of left colon resection, other colon resection, and rectal resection declined moderately. However, rates of surgical repair of fistulas of the small intestine, the most commonly performed fistula operation, increased by 60%, from 1.5 per 1,000,000 in 1993 to 2.4 per 1,000,000 in 2004 (P = 0.04). Conclusions:During the period of adoption of infliximab as a novel treatment for Crohn's disease, overall rates of bowel resections have either remained relatively stable or decreased moderately, while rates of small bowel fistula repair have increased significantly. These findings call into question the effectiveness of infliximab in preventing the need for surgery for Crohn's disease at the population level.
Length-Constrained and Connected Tours for Sensor Networks

We consider a variant of the data gathering problem in sensor networks using multiple mobile elements, where each sensor must be visited with a given minimum frequency. We will construct solutions to this problem where the network is partitioned to possibly several regions, so that a single mobile element visits every node within each region. Therefore we need to partition the network and construct mobile element paths (or tours in our case) that are not too long, so that every sensor can be visited with the required frequency. Assuming the mobile elements move with some average speed, a periodic constraint for visiting a node, translates to a tour length constraint for the mobile element that visits this node. We construct solutions to this problem based on connected tour covers. We propose a divide-and-conquer heuristic to design connected tour covers for this problem and evaluate the performance using several experiments.
Religious Doubt and Health: Exploring the Potential Dark Side of Religion

The purpose of this study is to test two hypotheses about the relationship between religious doubt and health. The first hypothesis specifies that people who have more doubts about their faith will be less satisfied with their health, and experience more symptoms of depression than individuals who have fewer doubts about their religious beliefs. The second hypothesis states that the potentially deleterious effects of religious doubt will be greater for people who occupy formal roles in the church. Findings from a nationwide survey provide support for both hypotheses. The results underscore the importance of looking at the potential costs, as well as the benefits, of religious involvement.
Early maladaptive schemas in relation to facets of psychopathy and institutional violence in offenders with personality disorders

Purpose Current knowledge suggests that the psychopathy construct is multifaceted in nature, and reflects different underlying pathological mechanisms, including neurobiological dysfunction and maladaptive cognitions. Although many contemporary studies focus on neurobiological aspects of psychopathy, few have addressed the maladaptive cognitions. Method In this study, we examined facets of Hare's psychopathy construct in terms of their associations with maladaptive cognitions, as defined by Young's cognitive theory of Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS). Personality disordered offenders (N = 124) were assessed with the PCL-R and the Young Schema Questionnaire. Results The PCL-R Lifestyle and Antisocial Facets were significantly related to EMS Mistrust/Abuse and Insufficient Self-Control, consistent with our hypotheses, and were significantly, but negatively, related to EMS Subjugation. Also as hypothesized, EMS showed no associations with the PCL-R Affective and Interpersonal facets. Contrary to our expectation, EMS did not predict institutional violence. Conclusion Our findings suggest that schemas relating to mistrust, inadequate self-control/low frustration tolerance, and autonomy/dominance, play a role in the impulsive lifestyle and antisocial behaviour features of psychopathy. Treatments that focus on ameliorating these schemas may lead to better outcomes in psychopathic offenders.
Financial support and practical help between older parents and their middle-aged children in Europe

ABSTRACT Financial support and practical help between older parents and their middle-aged children vary greatly among the regions of Europe. Northern and Western Europe is characterised by a high likelihood of practical help to and financial transfers from parents, while in Southern and Eastern Europe these kinds of support are much less likely. Financial transfers to parents show an almost opposite distribution, with more children supporting a parent in Southern and Eastern welfare regimes. Using the second wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe encompassing 14 European countries conducted in 2006–07, these country differences can be linked to different social policies. Controlling for different aspects of country composition in terms of individual characteristics and family structures impacting on intergenerational support, it was found that the more services and transfers provided publicly, the more people aged 50 or more years helped their older parents sporadically, and the less monetary support they provided. On the other hand, generous public transfers enabled parents aged 64 or more years to support their offspring financially. Thus, neither ‘crowding in’ nor ‘crowding out’, but a modification of private transfers depending on public transfers and vice versa is found, suggesting a specialisation of private and public support.
Immunosuppression and the Risk of Post‐Transplant Malignancy Among Cadaveric First Kidney Transplant Recipients

The success of renal transplantation may be counterbalanced by serious adverse medical events. The effect of immunosuppression on the incidence of de novo neoplasms among kidney recipients should be monitored continuously. Using data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, we studied the association of induction therapy by immunosuppression with antilymphocyte antibodies, with the development of de novo neoplasms. The study population included more than 41 000 recipients who received a cadaveric first kidney transplant after December 31, 1995, and were followed through February 28, 2002.