Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical connectivity provides a sufficient foundation for specific functional connectivity in neocortical neural microcircuits

It is well-established that synapse formation involves highly selective chemospecific mechanisms, but how neuron arbors are positioned before synapse formation remains unclear. Using 3D reconstructions of 298 neocortical cells of different types (including nest basket, small basket, large basket, bitufted, pyramidal, and Martinotti cells), we constructed a structural model of a cortical microcircuit, in which cells of different types were independently and randomly placed. We compared the positions of physical appositions resulting from the incidental overlap of axonal and dendritic arbors in the model (statistical structural connectivity) with the positions of putative functional synapses (functional synaptic connectivity) in 90 synaptic connections reconstructed from cortical slice preparations. Overall, we found that statistical connectivity predicted an average of 74 ± 2.7% (mean ± SEM) synapse location distributions for nine types of cortical connections. This finding suggests that chemospecific attractive and repulsive mechanisms generally do not result in pairwise-specific connectivity. In some cases, however, the predicted distributions do not match precisely, indicating that chemospecific steering and aligning of the arbors may occur for some types of connections. This finding suggests that random alignment of axonal and dendritic arbors provides a sufficient foundation for specific functional connectivity to emerge in local neural microcircuits.
Efficient parameter estimation for spatio-temporal models of pattern formation: case study of Drosophila melanogaster

MOTIVATION Diffusable and non-diffusable gene products play a major role in body plan formation. A quantitative understanding of the spatio-temporal patterns formed in body plan formation, by using simulation models is an important addition to experimental observation. The inverse modelling approach consists of describing the body plan formation by a rule-based model, and fitting the model parameters to real observed data. In body plan formation, the data are usually obtained from fluorescent immunohistochemistry or in situ hybridizations. Inferring model parameters by comparing such data to those from simulation is a major computational bottleneck. An important aspect in this process is the choice of method used for parameter estimation. When no information on parameters is available, parameter estimation is mostly done by means of heuristic algorithms. RESULTS We show that parameter estimation for pattern formation models can be efficiently performed using an evolution strategy (ES). As a case study we use a quantitative spatio-temporal model of the regulatory network for early development in Drosophila melanogaster. In order to estimate the parameters, the simulated results are compared to a time series of gene products involved in the network obtained with immunohistochemistry. We demonstrate that a (mu,lambda)-ES can be used to find good quality solutions in the parameter estimation. We also show that an ES with multiple populations is 5-140 times as fast as parallel simulated annealing for this case study, and that combining ES with a local search results in an efficient parameter estimation method.
The Research Object Suite of Ontologies: Sharing and Exchanging Research Data and Methods on the Open Web

Research in life sciences is increasingly being conducted in a digital and online environment. In particular, life scientists have been pioneers in embracing new computational tools to conduct their investigations. To support the sharing of digital objects produced during such research investigations, we have witnessed in the last few years the emergence of specialized repositories, e.g., DataVerse and FigShare. Such repositories provide users with the means to share and publish datasets that were used or generated in research investigations. While these repositories have proven their usefulness, interpreting and reusing evidence for most research results is a challenging task. Additional contextual descriptions are needed to understand how those results were generated and/or the circumstances under which they were concluded. Because of this, scientists are calling for models that go beyond the publication of datasets to systematically capture the life cycle of scientific investigations and provide a single entry point to access the information about the hypothesis investigated, the datasets used, the experiments carried out, the results of the experiments, the people involved in the research, etc. In this paper we present the Research Object (RO) suite of ontologies, which provide a structured container to encapsulate research data and methods along with essential metadata descriptions. Research Objects are portable units that enable the sharing, preservation, interpretation and reuse of research investigation results. The ontologies we present have been designed in the light of requirements that we gathered from life scientists. They have been built upon existing popular vocabularies to facilitate interoperability. Furthermore, we have developed tools to support the creation and sharing of Research Objects, thereby promoting and facilitating their adoption.
Hiv/aids – Research and Palliative Care Dovepress Prevalence of Anemia and Nutritional Status among Hiv-positive Children Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy in Harar, Eastern Ethiopa

Purpose: Anemia and growth retardation are common manifestations of HIV-positive children, which threaten their lives. Therefore, this study tried to assess the burden of anemia and the nutritional status of HIV-positive children receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in eastern Ethiopa. Patients and methods: A total of 108 records of children on ART followed up in Hiwot Results: Approximately 54.4% of the children had been anemic before the initiation of their ART (at baseline): 7.8% were severely anemic and 44.7% were moderately anemic. These percentages were higher in preschool children than in school children (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 4.80 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 1.96, 11.75]), and were higher in males than in females (AOR: 2.61 [95% CI: 1.06, 6.45]). The prevalence of anemia was reduced to 39.2% 1 year after initiation of ART. The increasing of hemoglobin values was highly significant for both zidovudine (AZT)-and stavudine (d4T)-based ART (P,0.05). At baseline, 51.6% of the study subjects were underweight (weight-forage Z score less than-2 standard deviation [SD]); 49.1% were stunted (height-forage Z score less than-2 SD); and 31.5% were wasted (body mass index less than Conclusion: There was high prevalence of anemia and growth failure among HIV-infected children in the study area. However, there was a decline after initiation of ART. Therefore, adherence counseling to strengthen the uptake of ART is recommended. Moreover, large-scale, prospective studies should be done to understand the magnitude and etiology of the problems with HIV-negative control groups.
Irish student teachers’ beliefs about self, learning and teaching: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT This paper explores the beliefs about self-as-teacher, learning and teaching of preservice elementary teachers during a three-year undergraduate programme. Using a qualitative grounded theory analysis, the study examined the initial beliefs or personal theories of 27 preservice teachers during their first Semester. Longitudinal data were gathered from 7 of these students over the three-year duration of their teacher education programme through iterative interviews and reflective journal analysis. The findings demonstrate expansion in preservice teachers’ understandings of the teacher’s role, the value of reflective practice, the differential needs of learners and approaches to pedagogy. Findings point to lacunae in preservice teachers’ capacity for critical reflective practice and demonstrate how classroom management concerns can cause preservice teachers to adopt more cautious and traditional pedagogical approaches, despite their espoused commitment to child-centred principles.
The complex soft X‐ray spectrum of NGC 4151

We present a detailed analysis of the complex soft X-ray spectrum of NGC 4151 measured by the RGS instruments on board XMM-Newton. The XMM-Newton RGS spectra demonstrate that the soft X-ray emission is extremely rich in X-ray emission lines and radiative recombination continua (RRC), with no clear evidence for any underlying continuum emission. Line . emission and the associated RRC are clearly detected from hydrogen-like and helium-like ionization states of neon, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon. The measured lines are blueshifted with a velocity of ∼100-1000 km s -1 , with respect to the systemic velocity of NGC 4151, approximately consistent with the outflow velocities of the absorption lines observed in the ultraviolet spectrum of NGC 4151 by Kriss et al. in the mid-1990s, suggestive of an origin for the ultraviolet and soft X-ray emission in the same material. Plasma diagnostics from the observed helium-like triplets imply a range of electron temperatures of ∼(1-5) x 10 4 K and electron densities of between 10 8 and 10 10 cm -3 . The soft X-ray spectrum of NGC 4151 is extremely similar to that of NGC 1068, in terms of both the atomic species present and the relative strengths of the observed emission lines and RRC (reported recently by Kinkhabwala et al.), suggesting that the soft X-ray excesses observed in many type 2 Seyfert galaxies may be composed of similar emission features. Modelling the RGS spectra in terms of emission from photoionized and photoexcited gas in an ionization cone reproduces all of the hydrogen-like and helium-like emission features observed in the soft X-ray spectrum of NGC 4151 in detail and confirms the correspondence between the soft X-ray emission in NGC 4151 and 1068. NGC 4151 shows somewhat lower individual ionic column densities than those measured for NGC 1068, indicating that the material in the ionization cones of NGC 4151 may be somewhat more dense than the material in the ionization cones of NGC 1068.
Similar Word Model for Unfrequent Word Enhancement in Speech Recognition

The popular n-gram language model (LM) is weak for unfrequent words. Conventional approaches such as class-based LMs pre-define some sharing structures (e.g., word classes) to solve the problem. However, defining such structures requires prior knowledge, and the context sharing based on these structures is generally inaccurate. This paper presents a novel similar word model to enhance unfrequent words. In principle, we enrich the context of an unfrequent word by borrowing context information from some “similar words. ” Compared to conventional class-based methods, this new approach offers a fine-grained context sharing by referring to words that best match the target word, and it is more flexible as no sharing structures need to be defined by hand. Experiments on a large-scale Chinese speech recognition task demonstrated that the similar word approach can improve performance on unfrequent words significantly, while keeping the performance on general tasks almost unchanged.
Basic Principles of Critical Pedagogy

This article is intended to give some context to the discussion of critical pedagogy (CP) as one of the post method approaches to language teaching. It adopts the Frankfurt school principles as its main source in search for a more just society. It relates the school context to the social context in which it is embedded. It stresses empowering learners to think and act critically with the aim of transforming their life conditions. Although this approach has recently gained momentum, few studies have exclusively addressed it. Therefore, the present study aims at exploring major themes in CP including the libratory and problem posing education, teacher and student roles, praxis as the reflection on the world, and dialogism and to make suggestions for application of this approach in ELT classrooms. To achieve this aim, available books and articles written on the subject were scrutinized. The results showed that the transformative CP, despite being a new and useful approach, is barely explored and attended to in Iranian educational system.
New-Keynesian Models and Monetary Policy: A Reexamination of the Stylized Facts

Using an empirical New-Keynesian model with optimal discretionary monetary policy, we calibrate key parameters - the central bank's preference parameters; the degree of forward-looking behavior in the determination of inflation and output; and the variances of inflation and output shocks - to match some broad characteristics of U.S. data. Our preferred parameterizations all imply a small concern for output stability but a large preference for interest rate smoothing, and a small degree of forward-looking behavior in price-setting but a large degree of forward-looking in the determination of output. We provide some intuition for these results and discuss their consequences for practical monetary policy analysis.
A Comparison of Casual In-Clinic Blood Pressure Measurements to Standardized Guideline-Concordant Measurements in Severely Obese Individuals

Background/Objectives. The objective of this study was to compare casual BP taken in a bariatric clinic to standardized guideline-concordant BP. Subjects/Methods. A cross sectional analysis was performed using baseline data from a weight management trial. Patients were recruited from a Canadian bariatric care program. Standardized BP was performed using a Watch BP oscillometric device. Casual in-clinic BP single readings, taken using a Welch Allyn oscillometric device, were chart-abstracted. Paired t-tests, Bland-Altman plots, and Pearson's correlations were used for analysis. Results. Data from 134 patients were analyzed. Mean age was 41.5 ± 8.9 y, mean BMI was 46.8 ± 6.5 kg/m2, and 40 (30%) had prior hypertension. Mean casual in-clinic BP was 128.8 ± 14.1/81.6 ± 9.9 mmHg and mean standardized BP was 133.2 ± 15.0/82.0 ± 10.3 mmHg (difference of −4.3 ± 12.0 for systolic (p < 0.0001) and −0.4 ± 10.0 mmHg for diastolic BP (p = 0.6)). Pearson's coefficients were 0.66 (p < 0.0001) for SBP and 0.50 (p < 0.0001) for DBP. 28.4% of casual versus 26.9% of standardized measurements were ≥140/90 mmHg (p < 0.0001). Conclusion. In this bariatric clinic, casual BP was unexpectedly lower than standardized BP. This could potentially lead to the underdiagnosis of hypertension.
Representing the people : a survey among members of statewide and sub-state parliaments

1. Representing the People in Parliaments 2. Representational Roles 3. The Representation and Old and New Groups 4. From Agency to Institutions and Back: Comparing Legislators' Acting on on Behalf of Women in Parliamentary Democracies 5. Electoral Rules and Legislators' Personal Vote-Seeking 6. Agreement, Loyalty and Discipline A Sequential Approach to Party Unity 7. MPs' inter-party Contacts and the Operation of Party Democracy 8. Legislators' Constituency Orientation 9. Do the Media Set the Agenda of Parliament or is it the Other Way Around? Agenda Interactions Between MPs and Mass Media 10. Career Patterns in Multilevel Systems 11. The Institutional Constraints of Representation Appendix
Evaluation of the BDProbeTec ET System for Direct Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Samples: a Multicenter Study

ABSTRACT We evaluated the BDProbeTec ET system (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, Md.), a strand displacement amplification-based technique, for direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 867 clinical samples. Of 294 extrapulmonary specimens, 52 had positive results by both BDProbeTec ET and culture and 209 had negative results by both methods; sensitivity and specificity were 76.5 and 95.9%, respectively. After resolution of discrepancies, the sensitivity rose to 77.8%.
Addicted to Lust

Few other cultural issues alarm conservative Protestant families and communities more than the seemingly ubiquitous threat of pornography. Thanks to widespread access to the internet, conservative Protestants now face a reality in which every Christian man, woman, and child with a smartphone can access limitless pornography in his or her bathroom, at work, or at a friend’s sleepover. Once confident of their victory over pornography in society at large, conservative Protestants now fear that “porn addiction” is consuming even the most faithful. How are conservative Protestants adjusting to this new reality? And what are its consequences in their lives? Drawing on over 130 interviews, as well as numerous national surveys, Addicted to Lust shows that, compared to other Americans, pornography shapes the lives of conservative Protestants in ways that are uniquely damaging to their mental health, spiritual lives, and intimate relationships. Samuel Perry demonstrates how certain pervasive beliefs within the conservative Protestant subculture unwittingly create a context in which those who use pornography are often overwhelmed with shame and discouragement, sometimes to the point of depression or withdrawal from faith altogether. Conservative Protestant women who use pornography feel a “double shame,” both for sinning sexually and for sinning “like a man,” while conflicts over pornography in marriages are escalated with patterns of lying, hiding, blowing up, or threats of divorce. Addicted to Lust shines new light on one of the most talked-about problems facing conservative Christians.
White Matter Damage Disorganizes Brain Functional Networks in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Although progressive functional brain network disruption has been one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s Disease, little is known about the origin of this functional impairment that underlies cognitive symptoms. We investigated how the loss of white matter (WM) integrity disrupts the organization of the functional networks at different frequency bands. The analyses were performed in a sample of healthy elders and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. Spontaneous brain magnetic activity (measured with magnetoencephalography) was characterized with phase synchronization analysis, and graph theory was applied to the functional networks. We identified WM areas (using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging) that showed a statistical dependence between the fractional anisotropy and the graph metrics. These regions are part of an episodic memory network and were also related to cognitive functions. Our data support the hypothesis that disruption of the anatomical networks influences the organization at the functional level resulting in the prodromal dementia syndrome of MCI.
Efficient integration of inertial observations into visual SLAM without initialization

The use of accelerometer and gyro observations in a visual SLAM implementation is beneficial especially in high dynamic situations. The downside of using inertial is that traditionally high prediction rates are required as observations are provided at high sample rates. An accurate orientation and velocity estimate must also be maintained at all times in order to integrate the inertial observations and correct for the effect of gravity.
Human Exposure following Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection of Multiple Animal Species in a Metropolitan Zoo

From 1997 to 2000, Mycobacterium tuberculosis was diagnosed in two Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), three Rocky Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), and one black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in the Los Angeles Zoo. DNA fingerprint patterns suggested recent transmission. An investigation found no active cases of tuberculosis in humans; however, tuberculin skin-test conversions in humans were associated with training elephants and attending an elephant necropsy.
AGSE2007/32 ENDGAME: OPTIMAL SELLING STRATEGIES IN ONLINE AUCTIONS

Online auctions have emerged as a major opportunity for individuals to start businesses or for established businesses to diversify and grow their markets. To-date, research interest has focused largely on the technological entrepreneur rather than the Internet based (cyber) entrepreneur. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of participants in online auctions. Response to changed independent variables under actual market conditions was measured. In order to test the study’s hypotheses, a one way ANOVA was initially undertaken to separately examine differences in the % of Recommended retail price (RRP) for each of the study’s three independent variables – postage, starting price and length of auction. Following this initial analysis, a factorial ANOVA was undertaken to assess the interactive effects of the three independent variables on the % of RRP obtained by the seller. Finally, an OLS regression analysis was undertaken to assess the effects of selling strategies on the % of RRP obtained.
A Study of Corruption, Foreign Aid, and Economic Growth

OF DISSERTATION A STUDY OF CORRUPTION, FOREIGN AID, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Foreign aid donors increasingly demand that aid is used efficiently and effectively. This study examines the effect of corruption levels, measured by the Corruption Perceptions Index, within a recipient country on the levels of economic growth. A growing literature outlines the mechanisms through which corruption impedes economic growth and is summarized within. Additionally, as longevity gains may result from foreign aid but are not captured in economic growth, this study computes a variable called the Life Quality Indicator (Life Quality) that combines such gains with economic growth and examines corruption’s effect on Life Quality growth. As any windfall, foreign aid has been argued to exacerbate problems within corrupt countries—causing economic decline. This study develops an interaction of corruption levels and the ratio of aid receipts to GDP to examine the effects of this interaction on economic growth and Life Quality growth. Conducting a regression analysis shows the relationships between the interaction term and economic growth and the interaction term and Life Quality growth are negative, leading to policy recommendations that corrupt countries not receive foreign aid. Using game theory, this study predicts the outcomes of interactions between aid recipients and donors during the Cold War, post-Cold War, and in the present. The present predicted outcomes suggest that recipients will be the winners because they are able to choose between receiving aid from emerging donors and from the Development Assistant Committee (DAC). Policy guidance to the aid community includes understanding that emerging donors may exert influence on aid recipients and programs to monitor this influence ensuring that it does not become exploitation may be necessary. Finally, a case study of Russia is presented, highlighting corruption and foreign aid receipts in the post-Soviet timeframe. A separate analysis is conducted on the countries that were in the Eastern Bloc to determine whether Russia’s corruption and aid receipts are associated with lower levels of economic and Life Quality growth than that experienced by other Eastern Bloc countries. While results do not show this, the negative relationship between the interaction term and economic and Life Quality growth is also found in this subset.