Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Neural Input or Processing Play a Greater Role in the Magnitude of Neuroimaging Signals?

An important constraint on how hemodynamic neuroimaging signals such as fMRI can be interpreted in terms of the underlying evoked activity is an understanding of neurovascular coupling mechanisms that actually generate hemodynamic responses. The predominant view at present is that the hemodynamic response is most correlated with synaptic input and subsequent neural processing rather than spiking output. It is still not clear whether input or processing is more important in the generation of hemodynamics responses. In order to investigate this we measured the hemodynamic and neural responses to electrical whisker pad stimuli in rat whisker barrel somatosensory cortex both before and after the local cortical injections of the GABAA agonist muscimol. Muscimol would not be expected to affect the thalamocortical input into the cortex but would inhibit subsequent intra-cortical processing. Pre-muscimol infusion whisker stimuli elicited the expected neural and accompanying hemodynamic responses to that reported previously. Following infusion of muscimol, although the temporal profile of neural responses to each pulse of the stimulus train was similar, the average response was reduced in magnitude by ∼79% compared to that elicited pre-infusion. The whisker-evoked hemodynamic responses were reduced by a commensurate magnitude suggesting that, although the neurovascular coupling relationships were similar for synaptic input as well as for cortical processing, the magnitude of the overall response is dominated by processing rather than from that produced from the thalamocortical input alone.
The subthalamic nucleus, oscillations, and conflict

The subthalamic nucleus (STN), which is currently the most common target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD), has received increased attention over the past few years for the roles it may play in functions beyond simple motor control. In this article, we highlight several of the theoretical, interventional, and electrophysiological studies that have implicated the STN in response inhibition. Most influential among this evidence has been the reported effect of STN DBS in increasing impulsive responses in the laboratory setting. Yet, how this relates to pathological impulsivity in patients' everyday lives remains uncertain. © 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Probabilistic Model Checking for Uncertain Scenario-Aware Data Flow

The Scenario-Aware Dataflow (SADF) model is based on concurrent actors that interact via channels. It combines streaming data and control to capture scenarios while incorporating hard and soft real-time aspects. To model data-flow computations that are subject to uncertainty, SADF models are equipped with random primitives. We propose to use probabilistic model checking to analyze uncertain SADF models. We show how measures such as expected time, long-run objectives like throughput, as well as timed reachability—can a given system configuration be reached within a deadline with high probability? —can be automatically determined. The crux of our method is a compositional semantics of SADF with exponential agent execution times combined with automated abstraction techniques akin to partial-order reduction. We present the semantics in detail and show how it accommodates the incorporation of execution platforms, enabling the analysis of energy consumption. The feasibility of our approach is illustrated by analyzing several quantitative measures of an MPEG-4 decoder and an industrial face recognition application.
To Investigate the Flow Structure of Discontinuous Vegetation Patches of Two Vertically Different Layers in an Open Channel

In the present study, the flow structure of discontinuous double-layered vegetation patches was investigated using a 3D Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM). The channel domain was built using GAMBIT (Geometry and Mesh Building Intelligent Toolkit). For the simulation and postprocessing, FLUENT (ANSYS) was used to analyze the distribution of the mean velocity, Reynolds stresses, and other flow properties against two different flow conditions. The results captured by the turbulence model at specific locations and the cross section are presented in the form of various velocity profiles and contour plots. In the gap portion, the velocity was visibly lower than that in the vegetation areas, while the influence of patch distribution was not visible in the overlying flow layer. The velocity profiles at critical locations were categorized by numerous modulation points and velocity projections close to the bed, principally for positions straight after the vegetation structures. A distinction in the velocity at the topmost of the smaller vegetation structure was prominent. Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulence intensity exhibited large fluctuations inside the vegetation regions and just behind the vegetation structures compared with in the gap regions.
Cancer Mortality Following Radiotherapy for Benign Gynecologic Disorders

The purpose of this study is to quantify cancer mortality in relationship to organ-specific radiation dose among women irradiated for benign gynecologic disorders. Included in this study are 12,955 women treated for benign gynecologic disorders at hospitals in the Northeastern U.S. between 1925 and 1965; 9,770 women treated by radiation and 3,186 women treated by other methods. The average age at treatment was 45.9 years (range, 13–88 years), and the average follow-up period was 30.1 years (maximum, 69.9 years). Radiation doses to organs and active bone marrow were reconstructed by medical physicists using original radiotherapy records. The highest doses were received by the uterine cervix (median, 120 Gy) and uterine corpus (median, 34 Gy), followed by the bladder, rectum and colon (median, 1.7–7.2 Gy), with other abdominal organs receiving median doses ≤1 Gy and organs in the chest and head receiving doses <0.1 Gy. Standardized mortality rate ratios relative to the general U.S. population were calculated. Radiation-related risks were estimated in internal analyses using Poisson regression models. Mortality was significantly elevated among irradiated women for cancers of the uterine corpus, ovary, bladder, rectum, colon and brain, as well as for leukemia (exclusive of chronic lymphocytic leukemia) but not for cancer of the cervix, Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, or chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Evidence of a dose-response was seen for cancers of the ovary [excess relative risk (ERR) = 0.31/Gy, P < 0.001], bladder (ERR = 0.21/Gy, P = 0.02) and rectum (ERR = 0.23/Gy, P = 0.05) and suggested for colon (ERR = 0.09/Gy, P = 0.10), but not for cancers of the uterine corpus or brain nor for non-chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Relative risks of mortality due to cancers of the stomach, pancreas, liver and kidney were close to 1.0, with no evidence of dose-response over the range of 0–1.5 Gy. Breast cancer was not significantly associated with dose to the breast or ovary. Mortality due to cancers of heavily irradiated organs remained elevated up to 40 years after irradiation. Significantly elevated radiation-related risk was seen for cancers of organs proximal to the radiation source or fields (bladder, rectum and ovary), as well as for non-chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Our results corroborate those from previous studies that suggest that cells of the uterine cervix and lymphopoietic system are relatively resistant to the carcinogenic effects of radiation. Studies of women irradiated for benign gynecologic disorders, together with studies of women treated with higher doses of radiation for uterine cancers, provide quantitative information on cancer risks associated with a broad range of pelvic radiation exposures.
A Novel Skin Lesion Detection Approach Using Neutrosophic Clustering and Adaptive Region Growing in Dermoscopy Images

This paper proposes novel skin lesion detection based on neutrosophic clustering and adaptive region growing algorithms applied to dermoscopic images, called NCARG. First, the dermoscopic images are mapped into a neutrosophic set domain using the shearlet transform results for the images. The images are described via three memberships: true, indeterminate, and false memberships. An indeterminate filter is then defined in the neutrosophic set for reducing the indeterminacy of the images. A neutrosophic c-means clustering algorithm is applied to segment the dermoscopic images. With the clustering results, skin lesions are identified precisely using an adaptive region growing method. To evaluate the performance of this algorithm, a public data set (ISIC 2017) is employed to train and test the proposed method. Fifty images are randomly selected for training and 500 images for testing. Several metrics are measured for quantitatively evaluating the performance of NCARG. The results establish that the proposed approach has the ability to detect a lesion with high accuracy, 95.3% average value, compared to the obtained average accuracy, 80.6%, found when employing the neutrosophic similarity score and level set (NSSLS) segmentation approach.
Organizations, Credibility, and the Psychology of Collective Action

Political organizations frequently attempt to recruit sympathetic citizens to support their causes. Doing so requires communicating credibility—that is, persuading potential new supporters that they can actually achieve the goals they set out to achieve. In this article we investigate two of the predominant kinds of information that organizations might use to establish credibility: retrospective information (about past successes) and prospective information (about future plans). Using one field experiment and one survey experiment, we find that retrospective information fails to increase people’s willingness to spend scarce resources supporting political organizations. We find that this occurs because information about past successes suggests that the organization can succeed without any additional help. In contrast, we find that prospective information motivates new participants to become active.
Requirements Evolution Understanding Formally Software Engineering Processes within Industrial Contexts Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Bando n. 203.15.11

This report considers software requirements evolution within industrial production environments. Any production environment consists of diverse stakeholders interacting through processes focused on particular aspects of software production. Thus, software is the result of cooperating processes in which the human is the main actor. Effective cooperation requires stakeholders to understand their different viewpoints on the processes. Stakeholder interaction, cooperation and negotiation result in shifts in the grounds for agreement. These shifts drive requirements evolution. This report takes requirements evolution as an unavoidable feature of software production. Classically, requirements evolution is seen as an error in the engineering process. By contrast, this report considers requirements evolution as an essential feature of good design processes. This report and the work it describes were funded by a grant of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Bando n. 203.15. 11, Research Program: Requirements Evolution: Understanding Formally Engineering Processes within Industrial Contexts.
Learning-Based Mean-Payoff Optimization in an Unknown MDP under Omega-Regular Constraints

We formalize the problem of maximizing the mean-payoff value with high probability while satisfying a parity objective in a Markov decision process (MDP) with unknown probabilistic transition function and unknown reward function. Assuming the support of the unknown transition function and a lower bound on the minimal transition probability are known in advance, we show that in MDPs consisting of a single end component, two combinations of guarantees on the parity and mean-payoff objectives can be achieved depending on how much memory one is willing to use. (i) For all $\epsilon$ and $\gamma$ we can construct an online-learning finite-memory strategy that almost-surely satisfies the parity objective and which achieves an $\epsilon$-optimal mean payoff with probability at least $1 - \gamma$. (ii) Alternatively, for all $\epsilon$ and $\gamma$ there exists an online-learning infinite-memory strategy that satisfies the parity objective surely and which achieves an $\epsilon$-optimal mean payoff with probability at least $1 - \gamma$. We extend the above results to MDPs consisting of more than one end component in a natural way. Finally, we show that the aforementioned guarantees are tight, i.e. there are MDPs for which stronger combinations of the guarantees cannot be ensured.
The Comparison of Participation in School-Aged Cerebral Palsy Children and Normal Peers: A Preliminary Study

Background Participation in daily activities during childhood is an important aspect for health and social development. Objectives This study was designed to investigate the participation of children with cerebral palsy aged 8 to 14 years, and their normal peers. Patients and Methods In this cross-sectional study, 30 children with cerebral palsy, and 30 normal children were selected via the non-probability convenience sampling. Their participation was evaluated with children’s assessment of participation and enjoyment (CAPE) through interviews. Results Significant differences were found between the means of the two groups regarding the diversity, intensity, overall participation (P = 0.000) and all types of the activities except the recreational activities. The children with cerebral palsy took part in the skill-based activities and overall activities individually compared to the normal peers. The children with cerebral palsy, in comparison with their normal peers, often performed most of the activities inside the house. The main effect of gender and the interaction between gender and groups were not statistically significant in any of the variables of the CAPE test. Conclusions Physical disability can influence the children’s daily activities and socialization. Understanding the participation of physically disabled children can help health care professionals in designing and introducing appropriate treatment according to their needs.
MCP-1 Feedback Loop Between Adipocytes and Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Causes Fat Accumulation and Contributes to Hematopoietic Stem Cell Rarefaction in the Bone Marrow of Patients With Diabetes

Fat accumulates in bone marrow (BM) of patients with diabetes. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms and consequences of this phenomenon. BM mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) from patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) constitutively express adipogenic markers and robustly differentiate into adipocytes (ADs) upon in vitro induction as compared with BM-MSCs from subjects without diabetes. Moreover, BM-ADs from subjects with T2D (T2D BM-ADs) paracrinally stimulate a transcriptional adipogenic program in BM-MSCs. Antagonism of MCP-1, a chemokine pivotally expressed in T2D BM-ADs, prevented the T2D BM-AD secretome from converting BM-MSCs into ADs. Mechanistic validation of human data was next performed in an obese T2D mouse model. Systemic antagonism of MCP-1 improved metabolic control, reduced BM fat, and increased osteocyte density. It also indirectly re-established the abundance of long-term versus short-term hematopoietic stem cells. We reveal a diabetic feedback loop in which 1) BM-MSCs are constitutively inclined to make ADs, and 2) mature BM-ADs, via secreted MCP-1, relentlessly fuel BM-MSC determination into new fat. Pharmacological inhibition of MCP-1 signaling can contrast this vicious cycle, restoring, at least in part, the balance between adipogenesis and hematopoiesis in BM from subjects with T2D.
Stimulus-reinforcement-based decision making and anxiety: impairment in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but not in generalized social phobia (GSP)

Background Generalized social phobia (GSP) involves the fear/avoidance of social situations whereas generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves an intrusive worry about everyday life circumstances. It remains unclear whether these, highly co-morbid, conditions represent distinct disorders or alternative presentations of a single underlying pathology. In this study, we examined stimulus-reinforcement-based decision making in GSP and GAD. Method Twenty unmedicated patients with GSP, 16 unmedicated patients with GAD and 19 age-, IQ- and gender-matched healthy comparison (HC) individuals completed the Differential Reward/Punishment Learning Task (DRPLT). In this task, the subject chooses between two objects associated with different levels of reward or punishment. Thus, response choice indexes not only reward/punishment sensitivity but also sensitivity to reward/punishment level according to between-object reinforcement distance. Results We found that patients with GAD committed a significantly greater number of errors than both the patients with GSP and the HC individuals. By contrast, the patients with GSP and the HC individuals did not differ in performance on this task. Conclusions These results link GAD with anomalous non-affective-based decision making. They also indicate that GSP and GAD are associated with distinct pathophysiologies.
Association of hearing impairment and mortality in older adults.

BACKGROUND Hearing impairment (HI) is highly prevalent in older adults and is associated with social isolation, depression, and risk of dementia. Whether HI is associated with broader downstream outcomes is unclear. We undertook this study to determine whether audiometric HI is associated with mortality in older adults. METHODS Prospective observational data from 1,958 adults ≥70 years of age from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression. Participants were followed for 8 years after audiometric examination. Mortality was adjudicated by obtaining death certificates. Hearing was defined as the pure-tone average of hearing thresholds in decibels re: hearing level (dB HL) at frequencies from 0.5 to 4kHz. HI was defined as pure-tone average >25 dB HL in the better ear. RESULTS Of the 1,146 participants with HI, 492 (42.9%) died compared with 255 (31.4%) of the 812 with normal hearing (odds ratio = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.36-1.98). After adjustment for demographics and cardiovascular risk factors, HI was associated with a 20% increased mortality risk compared with normal hearing (hazard ratio = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.03-1.41). Confirmatory analyses treating HI as a continuous predictor yielded similar results, demonstrating a nonlinear increase in mortality risk with increasing HI (hazard ratio = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.00-1.29 per 10 dB of threshold elevation up to 35 dB HL). CONCLUSIONS HI in older adults is associated with increased mortality, independent of demographics and cardiovascular risk factors. Further research is necessary to understand the basis of this association and whether these pathways might be amenable to hearing rehabilitation.
Evaluation of Serum Interleukin-10 Levels in Cirrhotic Patients with Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a very common bacterial infection in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. In these patients, cytokines as IL-10 are released to blood in response to infection. This study aimed to evaluate serumInterleukin-10 levels in cirrhotic patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and its role in prediction of SBP. We prospectively studied 65 subjects at our University Hospital, The subjects were subdivided into three groups; group I included 20 healthy subjects (control group), group II included 20 cirrhotic patients without SBP and group III included 25 cirrhotic patients with SBP. IL-10 levels in the serum of studied groups were analyzed by ELISA and measured at diagnosis and after resolution for SBP group. A significant difference in serum IL-10 levels was detected between studied groups (P=0.0001) with mean value was higher in cirrhotic patients with SBP than cirrhotic patients without SBP and control group (67.51±34.03 vs 26.50±13.03, 17.08±5.20pg/mL respectively). Furthermore, There was significant decrease in the levels of serum IL-10 after treatment than before treatment (at diagnosis) in SBP group. Serum IL-10 at cut off value (19.4 pg/ml) had high sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV (80%, 80%, 90%, and 64% respectively) with AUC was (0.864) and (p=0.0001). IL-10 levels in serum may be related to development of SBP. Serum IL-10 had high sensitivity and specificity in prediction of SBP.
Placing photovoice under erasure: a critical and complicit engagement with what it theoretically is (not)

Abstract While there have been multiple breaks, shifts and developments within the theories that shape photovoice (i.e. praxis and feminist standpoint theory), they are rarely accounted for in the ways in which photovoice is (re)constituted. In this paper, I ask and engage with the questions: what might it mean to reconceptualise photovoice through a substitution of these similar yet different iterations of these theories? What is produceable in turn? By placing these (mis)readings of theory in conversation with concepts key to photovoice, empowerment and voice, I provide not what photovoice should be but rather possible possibilities for what it could be.
The protracted acquisition of past tense aspectual values in child heritage Spanish

This study examines the knowledge of past tense aspectual distinctions in Spanish among 19 Spanish-English bilingual children born and raised in the United States. We compare their results with those of 12 of the children’s parents, who are long-term immigrants of Mexican background. We predicted more difficulties among the bilingual children with increasing age as well as strong correlations between performance and language dominance. As expected, the bilingual children showed low production of the imperfect form in characterizing situations, crucially with eventive predicates, but no deficits with the use of the preterit. In contrast to what was expected, target performance was not correlated with language dominance, and we found no correlation between performance and developmental age. However, at the individual level, the older children outperformed the younger children despite more prolonged contact with English. This contrasts with previous research claiming L1 attrition throughout the life span of the bilingual child to account for heritage speakers’ difficulties. Regarding the children’s parents, they all behaved at ceiling and showed no signs of attrition.
Psychosocial Factors and Community College Student Success

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between psychosocial factors and community college student success. Informed by college persistence models and motivational theory, we statistically integrated past research on five psychosocial categories (motivation, self-perceptions, attributions, self-regulation, and anxiety), examining their relationship with two student success outcomes: community college persistence (58 samples, N = 23,372) and achievement (186 samples, N = 56,095). Results indicated that psychosocial factors had small but meaningful relationships with community college persistence and achievement. Correlations were larger overall for motivation and self-perceptions, and when outcomes were more proximally related with student engagement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.