Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Categorical, Yet Graded – Single-Image Activation Profiles of Human Category-Selective Cortical Regions

Human inferior temporal cortex contains category-selective visual regions, including the fusiform face area (FFA) and the parahippocampal place area (PPA). These regions are defined by their greater category-average activation to the preferred category (faces and places, respectively) relative to nonpreferred categories. The approach of investigating category-average activation has left unclear to what extent category selectivity holds for individual object images. Here we investigate single-image activation profiles to address (1) whether each image from the preferred category elicits greater activation than any image outside the preferred category (categorical ranking), (2) whether there are activation differences within and outside the preferred category (gradedness), and (3) whether the activation profile falls off continuously across the category boundary or exhibits a discontinuity at the boundary (category step). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure the activation elicited in the FFA and PPA by each of 96 object images from a wide range of categories, including faces and places, but also humans and animals, and natural and manmade objects. Results suggest that responses in FFA and PPA exhibit almost perfect categorical ranking, are graded within and outside the preferred category, and exhibit a category step. The gradedness within the preferred category was more pronounced in FFA; the category step was more pronounced in PPA. These findings support the idea that these regions have category-specific functions, but are also consistent with a distributed object representation emphasizing categories while still distinguishing individual images.
Reporting Tumor Molecular Heterogeneity in Histopathological Diagnosis

Background Detection of molecular tumor heterogeneity has become of paramount importance with the advent of targeted therapies. Analysis for detection should be comprehensive, timely and based on routinely available tumor samples. Aim To evaluate the diagnostic potential of targeted multigene next-generation sequencing (TM-NGS) in characterizing gastrointestinal cancer molecular heterogeneity. Methods 35 gastrointestinal tract tumors, five of each intestinal type gastric carcinomas, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, ampulla of Vater carcinomas, hepatocellular carcinomas, cholangiocarcinomas, pancreatic solid pseudopapillary tumors were assessed for mutations in 46 cancer-associated genes, using Ion Torrent semiconductor-based TM-NGS. One ampulla of Vater carcinoma cell line and one hepatic carcinosarcoma served to assess assay sensitivity. TP53, PIK3CA, KRAS, and BRAF mutations were validated by conventional Sanger sequencing. Results TM-NGS yielded overlapping results on matched fresh-frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues, with a mutation detection limit of 1% for fresh-frozen high molecular weight DNA and 2% for FFPE partially degraded DNA. At least one somatic mutation was observed in all tumors tested; multiple alterations were detected in 20/35 (57%) tumors. Seven cancers displayed significant differences in allelic frequencies for distinct mutations, indicating the presence of intratumor molecular heterogeneity; this was confirmed on selected samples by immunohistochemistry of p53 and Smad4, showing concordance with mutational analysis. Conclusions TM-NGS is able to detect and quantitate multiple gene alterations from limited amounts of DNA, moving one step closer to a next-generation histopathologic diagnosis that integrates morphologic, immunophenotypic, and multigene mutational analysis on routinely processed tissues, essential for personalized cancer therapy.
Ongoing liver inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis C and sustained virological response

Background Novel direct-acting antiviral DAA combination therapies tremendously improved sustained virologic response (SVR) rates in patients with chronic HCV infection. SVR is typically accompanied by normalization of liver enzymes, however, hepatic inflammation, i.e. persistently elevated aminotransferase levels may persist despite HCV eradication. Aim: To investigate prevalence and risk factors for ongoing hepatic inflammation after SVR in two large patient cohorts. Methods This post-hoc analysis was based on prospectively collected demographic and clinical data from 834 patients with SVR after HCV treatment with either PegIFN- or DAA-based treatment regimens from the PRAMA trial (n = 341) or patients treated at our outpatient clinic (n = 493). Results We observed an unexpected high prevalence of post-SVR inflammation, including patients who received novel IFN-free DAA-based therapies. Up to 10% of patients had ongoing elevation of aminotransferase levels and another 25% showed aminotransferase activity above the so-called healthy range. Several baseline factors were independently associated with post-SVR aminotransferase elevation. Among those, particularly male gender, advanced liver disease and markers for liver steatosis were strongly predictive for persistent ALT elevation. The use of IFN-based antiviral treatment was independently correlated with post-SVR inflammation, further supporting the overall benefit of IFN-free combination regimens. Conclusion This is the first comprehensive study on a large patient cohort investigating the prevalence and risk factors for ongoing liver inflammation after eradication of HCV. Our data show a high proportion of patients with ongoing hepatic inflammation despite HCV eradication with potential implications for the management of approximately one third of all patients upon SVR.
Special Issue on Design and Development: An Extreme-Value Model of Concept Testing

We model concept testing in new product development as a search for the most profitable solution to a design problem. When allocating resources, developers must balance the cost of testing multiple designs against the potential profits that may result. We propose extreme-value theory as a mathematical abstraction of the concept-testing process. We investigate the trade-off between the benefits and costs of parallel concept testing and derive closed-form solutions for the case of profits that follow extreme-value distributions. We analyze the roles of the scale and tail-shape parameters of the profit distribution as well as the cost of testing in determining the optimal number of tests and total budget for the concept phase of NPD. Using an example, we illustrate how to estimate and interpret the scale and tail-shape parameters. We find that the impact of declining concept-testing costs on expected profits, the number of concepts tested, and total spending depend on the scale/cost ratio and tail-shape parameter of the profit distribution.
Active Perspectives on Computational Learning and Testing Thesis Proposal

We investigate the potential benefits of interaction in a variety of classic learning theory topic areas, as well as the potential benefits that active learning can itself derive from these areas. Specifically, in the context of Bayesian learning, we find that access to a prior over target concepts can greatly benefit active learning algorithms, which are thereby enabled to significantly improve over their prior-dependent passive learning counterparts. We further show that these same benefits can be realized by a form of transfer learning, thereby eliminating the need for direct access to the target’s prior distribution. Finally, we describe several future research directions to be pursued in the near future: namely, the potential benefits of the pool-based active learning protocol in the context of property testing, using a specialized type of query to learn DNF formulae, and the ability of active learning to adapt to a drifting distribution.
Correlation

- This paper presents the analysis of spatial correlation in MIMO channels, calculated from data measured in oﬃce environments at 5.2GHz. Results are compared with those from channels generated using a stochastic MIMO channel model and the eﬀect of diﬀer-ent comparison metrics is shown. The suitability of the stochastic model under diﬀerent propagation conditions is also investigated.
Joint Identification of Genetic Variants for Physical Activity in Korean Population

There has been limited research on genome-wide association with physical activity (PA). This study ascertained genetic associations between PA and 344,893 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in 8842 Korean samples. PA data were obtained from a validated questionnaire that included information on PA intensity and duration. Metabolic equivalent of tasks were calculated to estimate the total daily PA level for each individual. In addition to single- and multiple-SNP association tests, a pathway enrichment analysis was performed to identify the biological significance of SNP markers. Although no significant SNP was found at genome-wide significance level via single-SNP association tests, 59 genetic variants mapped to 76 genes were identified via a multiple SNP approach using a bootstrap selection stability measure. Pathway analysis for these 59 variants showed that maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) was enriched. Joint identification of SNPs could enable the identification of multiple SNPs with good predictive power for PA and a pathway enriched for PA.
Effect of Temperature and Metal Ions on Degradation of Oxytetracycline in Different Matrices

Composting is widely applied in animal manure treatment and reclamation. The degradation of organic pollutants during the composting treatment is attributed to two parallel processes: one is the bioprocess induced by the used microorganisms, and the other is the chemical process. In order to clarify the relative contribution of the chemical process to the compositing, in this paper, oxytetracycline (OTC) was chosen to study the degradation of tetracyclines (TCs) in water and chicken manure. It was observed that the degradation of OTC in water was much faster than that in chicken mature. At 40°C, 95% of OTC in water could be removed in two days, while it took about one month in mature. By increasing the temperature to 50°C, 60°C and 70°C, the required degradation time (with the degradation efficiency more than 95%) was shortened to 22, 13 and 9 days, respectively. This difference was caused by desorption hysteresis and irreversible fixation due to the formation of complexes of OTC with co-existed metal ions in the matrix. It was found that the coexisted Ca2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ ions decreased the degradation of OTC, whereas Cu2+ ions promoted the degradation of OTC.
Synergistic Optimization of Thermoelectric Performance in P-Type Bi0.48Sb1.52Te3/Graphene Composite

We report the synergistic optimization of the thermoelectric properties in p-type Bi0.48Sb1. 52Te3 by the additional graphene. Highly dense Bi0.48Sb1. 52Te3 + graphene (x wt%, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) composites have been synthesized by zone-melting followed by spark plasma sintering. With the help of scanning electron microscopy, the graphene has been clearly observed at the edge of the grain in the composites. Due to the additional graphene, the composites show an improved power factor of 4.8 × 10−3 Wm−1K−2 with modified carrier concentration and suppressed lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, synergistic optimization in electrical and lattice properties by additional graphene leads to a great improvement in the figure of merit ZT (1.25 at 320 K).
Correlation of alcohol craving with striatal dopamine synthesis capacity and D2/3 receptor availability: a combined [18F]DOPA and [18F]DMFP PET study in detoxified alcoholic patients.

OBJECTIVE In abstinent alcoholic patients, a low availability of dopamine D2/3 receptors in the ventral striatum and adjacent putamen was associated with a high level of craving for alcohol. Alcohol craving may also depend on presynaptic dysfunction of striatal dopamine production, which may contribute to the risk of relapse. In this study, positron emission tomography (PET) was used to compare dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum in alcoholic patients and healthy comparison subjects. METHOD Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to map the net blood-brain clearance of the dopa decarboxylase substrate 6-[18F]fluoro-l-dopa, an index of dopamine synthesis capacity, in the striatum of 12 detoxified male alcoholic patients and 13 age-matched healthy men. The parametric maps were correlated with results of an earlier [18F]desmethoxyfallypride PET study of dopamine D2/3 receptor availability in the same 12 alcoholic patients and in 12 of the healthy volunteers. Alcohol craving was measured with the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire. Patients were followed for 6 months, and alcohol intake was recorded. RESULTS The magnitude of net blood-brain clearance in the striatum did not differ significantly between detoxified alcoholic patients and the comparison subjects. However, a voxel-wise correlation analysis of net blood-brain clearance in the alcoholic patients linked low levels of dopamine synthesis capacity in the bilateral putamen with high levels of alcohol craving. After normalization of net blood-brain clearance maps to the voxel-wise estimates of dopamine D2/3 receptor availability, there was still a negative correlation with alcohol craving. Alcohol craving at the time of scanning was associated with high level of alcohol intake in the 6-month follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS Simultaneous assay by PET of pre- and postsynaptic markers of dopamine neurotransmission indicated that a striatal dopamine deficit correlated with alcohol craving, which was associated with a high relapse risk.
Inferring Human Colonization History Using a Copying Model

Genome-wide scans of genetic variation can potentially provide detailed information on how modern humans colonized the world but require new methods of analysis. We introduce a statistical approach that uses Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) data to identify sharing of chromosomal segments between populations and uses the pattern of sharing to reconstruct a detailed colonization scenario. We apply our model to the SNP data for the 53 populations of the Human Genome Diversity Project described in Conrad et al. (Nature Genetics 38,1251-60, 2006). Our results are consistent with the consensus view of a single “Out-of-Africa” bottleneck and serial dilution of diversity during global colonization, including a prominent East Asian bottleneck. They also suggest novel details including: (1) the most northerly East Asian population in the sample (Yakut) has received a significant genetic contribution from the ancestors of the most northerly European one (Orcadian). (2) Native South Americans have received ancestry from a source closely related to modern North-East Asians (Mongolians and Oroquen) that is distinct from the sources for native North Americans, implying multiple waves of migration into the Americas. A detailed depiction of the peopling of the world is available in animated form.
Feature Diagrams and Logics: There and Back Again

Feature modeling is a notation and an approach for modeling commonality and variability in product families. In their basic form, feature models contain mandatory/optional features, feature groups, and implies and excludes relationships. It is known that such feature models can be translated into propositional formulas, which enables the analysis and configuration using existing logic- based tools. In this paper, we consider the opposite translation problem, that is, the extraction of feature models from propositional formulas. We give an automatic and efficient procedure for computing a feature model from a formula. As a side effect we characterize a class of logical formulas equivalent to feature models and identify logical structures corresponding to their syntactic elements. While many different feature models can be extracted from a single formula, the computed model strives to expose graphically the maximum of the original logical structure while minimizing redundancies in the representation. The presented work furthers our understanding of the semantics of feature modeling and its relation to logics, opening avenues for new applications in reverse engineering and refactoring of feature models.
Microbially-Mediated Fluorescent Organic Matter Transformations in the Deep Ocean. Do the Chemical Precursors Matter?

The refractory nature of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) increases while it travels from surface waters to the deep ocean. This resistant fraction is in part composed of fluorescent humic-like material, which is relatively difficult to metabolize by deep water prokaryotes, and it can also be generated by microbial activity. It has been recently argued that microbial production of new fluorescent DOM (FDOM) requires the presence of humic precursors in the surrounding environment. In order to experimentally test how the chemical quality of the available organic compounds influences the production of new FDOM, three experiments were performed with bathypelagic Atlantic waters. Microbial communities were incubated in three treatments which differed in the quality of the organic compounds added: i) glucose and acetate; ii) glucose, acetate, essential amino acids and humic acids; and iii) humic acids alone. The response of the prokaryotes and the production of FDOM were simultaneously monitored. Prokaryotic abundance was highest in treatments where labile compounds were added. The rate of humic-like fluorescence production scaled to prokaryotic abundance varied depending on the quality of the additions. The precursor compounds affected the generation of new humic-like FDOM, and the cell-specific production of this material was higher in the incubations amended with humic precursors. Furthermore, we observed that the protein-like fluorescence decreased only when fresh amino acids were added. These findings contribute to the understanding of FDOM variability in deep waters and provide valuable information for studies where fluorescent compounds are used in order to track water masses and/or microbial processes.
A performance and portability study of parallel applications using a distributed computing testbed

A case study was conducted to examine the performance and portability of parallel applications, with an emphasis on data transfer among the processors in heterogeneous environments. Several parallel test programs using MPICH, a message passing interface (MPI) library, and the Linda parallel environment were developed to analyze communication performance and portability. These programs implement loosely and tightly synchronized communication models in which each processor exchanges data with two other processors. This data-exchange pattern mimics communication in certain parallel applications using striped partitioning of the computational domain. Tests were performed on an isolated, distributed computing testbed, a live development network and a symmetrical multiprocessing computer system. All network configurations used asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network technologies. The testbed used in the study was a heterogeneous network consisting of various workstations and networking equipment. This paper presents an analysis of the results and recommendations for designing and implementing course-grained, parallel, scientific applications.
The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World - A Paradigm Shift in CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy

Students of management and economics widely share the assumption that business firms focus on profits only, while it is the task of the state system to provide public goods. In particular, it is the state’s mandate to regulate the economy in such a way that business activities contribute to the common good. In this view business firms are conceived of as private actors, and governments and their state agencies are considered the only political actors. We are suggesting that, under the conditions of globalization, the strict division of labor between private business and nation state governance does not hold any more. Many business firms have started to assume social and political responsibilities that go beyond legal requirements and fill the regulatory vacuum in global governance. Therefore, there is a need for a paradigm shift in research on the role of business in society. Our review of the literature shows that there are already viable and growing schools of thought that contribute to such an alternative view. We consider the implications of the emerging paradigm of political CSR for theorizing about the firm, corporate and global governance, and democracy.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in Twins and Singletons

Abstract Twins compared with singletons and monozygous (MZ) compared with dizygous (DZ) twins are at increased risk of fetal and infant death, cerebral palsy and many congenital anomalies. The aim of this study is to investigate whether zygosity is a risk factor for the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Birth registration data and draft infant death certificates for all multiple births in England and Wales 1993 to 2003 were provided by the Office for National Statistics. As a partial proxy for zygosity, same-sex was compared with opposite-sex twins for birthweight-specific mortality and mortality attributed to SIDS. Data on singleton infants were obtained by subtraction of multiple births from routinely published population births and infant deaths. SIDS mortality among low birthweight infants was significantly less in twins than singletons. The twin-singleton relative risk was reversed in infants of normal birthweight. Among infants of normal birthweight, neonatal SIDS was significantly more common in same- compared with opposite-sex pairs. Among infants of low birthweight, postneonatal SIDS was significantly more common in same- compared with opposite-sex pairs. The difference in birthweight distribution of same- compared with opposite-sex twins for neonatal SIDS suggests that zygosity is a risk factor for SIDS. As congenital cerebral anomalies are a feature of many monozygous twin conceptions, a detailed macro- and microscopical examination of the brain in twin SIDS may indicate an otherwise unrecognised pathology.
Technology Adoption

We evaluate the impact of technology adoption subsidies on investment behavior in an individual choice experiment. In a laboratory setting professional managers are confronted with an intertemporal decision problem in which they have to decide whether or not to search for, and possibly adopt, a new technology. Technologies di⁄er in the per-period bene(cid:133)ts they yield, and their purchase price increases with the per-period bene(cid:133)ts provided. We introduce a subsidy on the more expensive technologies (that also yield the larger per-period bene(cid:133)ts), and (cid:133)nd that the subsidy scheme induces agents to search for and adopt these more expensive technologies even though the subsidy itself is too small to render these technologies pro(cid:133)table. We speculate that the result is driven by the positive connotation (a⁄ect) that the concept (cid:145)subsidy(cid:146)invokes. to investigate this hypothesis, but we did examine this hypothesis with student subjects. The students were subjected to the same experimental design as the one described (only with lower payo⁄ levels). We ran one treatment with no subsidy, one with a subsidy of 6% and one with a subsidy of 13%. The results for the (cid:133)rst two treatments are very much in line with those of the manager subjects. The presence of a subsidy signi(cid:133)cantly increased the average level of realized savings, from 11.2 to 14.3. However, increasing the level of the subsidy to 13% did not have an e⁄ect. Average realized savings (13.3) were actually (insigni(cid:133)cantly) lower than with a subsidy of 6%.