Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proust and involuntary retrieval

Proust was undoubtedly a pioneer in exploring cognitive processes engaged in memory. The analysis of the episode of the madeleine, as well as the study of Proust’s statements on the goals of his work, clearly reveal the visionary side of this author. Long before several concepts entered into mainstream scientific thought, Proust proposed, among other things, that recall was a reconstruction, that a sensory cue could provoke a memory recall, and that we should distinguish between voluntary and involuntary memory. Through numerous episodes of “involuntary reminiscence” scattered throughout his work, Proust illustrates a particular form of autobiographic memory recall: a recall that does not involve consciousness and whose starting point is an emotion provoked by a specific cue. This recall, which leads, according to Proust, to a more intense revival of the memory than voluntary recall, has only reached prominence in cognitive science more than 80 years later. Additionaly, Proust underlined the determinant role that emotion may have in this particular form of recall. On the other hand, studies on animals have shown that the presentation of a retrieval cue could induce emotional reactions followed by a facilitation of the memory retrieval associated with the cue. The existence of these data, which support Proust’s proposals, should encourage the neuroscience community to further explore, in humans and animals, this form of cue elicited emotion that initiated involuntary recall of autobiographical memory.
Contamination and health risk assessment of trace elements in soil at play centers of urban low-income settings

Abstract Young children are considered critical receptors of potentially toxic trace elements (PTEs) by non-dietary ingestion of contaminated soil. The study assessed the potential enrichment of soil and the health risk of PTEs to 471 children less than seven years via non-dietary soil ingestion at six Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDCs) in urban low-income settings. The total concentrations of PTEs were determined by ICP-AES after wet acid digestion. The extent of soil contamination with PTEs and their source apportionment were assessed by the enrichment factor (EF). The US-EPA risk assessment model was used to determine the risk of PTE exposure by children. Multivariate statistical analyses and the EF suggested anthropogenic origin of PTEs in playgrounds and indoors, especially Cd and Pb from atmospheric deposition. Indoor floor dust at ECDCs was enriched (significant to extreme) with PTEs of anthropogenic origin imported from the outside environment. Children at the six ECDCs were not at significant non-carcinogenic risk of PTEs in soil and dust through non-dietary ingestion. The study setting is typical of urban child play centers in low-income countries which needs regular risk assessment and the enforcement of legislation in order to reduce the exposure of children to PTEs.
From Modalities to Styles: Rethinking the Domain Gap in Heterogeneous Face Recognition

—Heterogeneous Face Recognition (HFR) focuses on matching faces from different domains, for instance, thermal to visible images, making Face Recognition (FR) systems more versatile for challenging scenarios. However, the domain gap between these domains and the limited large-scale datasets in the target HFR modalities make it challenging to develop robust HFR models from scratch. In our work, we view different modalities as distinct styles and propose a method to modulate feature maps of the target modality to address the domain gap. We present a new Conditional Adaptive Instance Modulation (CAIM) module that seamlessly fits into existing FR networks, turning them into HFR-ready systems. The CAIM block modulates intermediate feature maps, efficiently adapting to the style of the source modality and bridging the domain gap. Our method enables end-to-end training using a small set of paired samples. We extensively evaluate the proposed approach on various challenging HFR benchmarks, showing that it outperforms state-of-the-art methods. The source code and protocols for reproducing the findings will be made publicly available.
Estructura del mesencéfalo y diencéfalo en aves y reptiles: aportaciones a una síntesis en la búsqueda de homología

EL OBJETIVO DE ESTE TRABAJO HA CONSISTIDO EN LA UNIFICACION DE LOS PROCEDIMIENTOS DE HOMOLOGIA EMBRIOLOGICA TOPOGRAFICA Y HODOLOGICA EN EL MESENCEFALO Y DIENCEFALO DE AVES Y REPTILES EN BASE AL PATRON NEUROMERICO. PARA ELLO SE OBTUVO UNA COLECCION DE CEREBROSDE DIVERSOS REPTILES ADULTOS: LAGARTOS SALAMANQUESA TORTUGAS SERPIENTES DE AGUA ETC. Y DE AVE EL POLLO ASI COMO UNA SERIE COMPLETA DE EMBRIONES DE LAGARTO Y DE POLLO. UTILIZAMOS ADEMAS DE LAS TECNICAS DE RUTINA EN EL LABORATORIO TECNICAS PARA DETECTAR LA ACTIVIDAD DE LA ACETIL COLINESTERASA ESPECIFICA Y OTRAS EXPERIMENTALES DE TRANSPORTE ANTEROGRADO DE PEROXIDASA DE RABANO. DESPUES DE UN EXHAUSTIVO ESTUDIO EMBRIOLOGICO Y TOPOGRAFICO CONTRASTADO CON UNA REVISION DE LOS TRABAJOS HODOLOGICOS EXPERIMENTALES ENCONTRADOS EN LA LITERATURA SE HA PODIDO DEMOSTRAR LA VIABILIDAD DEL OBJETIVO PROPUESTO.
The stratigraphy and structure of the Faroese continental margin

Abstract This paper presents a summary of the stratigraphy and structure of the Faroese region. As the Faroese area is mostly covered by volcanic material, the nature of the pre-volcanic geology remains largely unproven. Seismic refraction data provide some indications of the distribution of crystalline basement, which probably comprises Archaean rocks, with the overlying cover composed predominantly of Upper Mesozoic (Cretaceous? ) and Cenozoic strata. The Cenozoic succession is dominated by the syn-break-up Faroe Islands Basalt Group, which crops out on the Faroe Islands (where it is up to 6.6 km thick) and shelf areas; post-break-up sediments are preserved in the adjacent deep-water basins, including the Faroe–Shetland Basin. Seismic interpretation of the post-volcanic strata shows that almost every sub-basin in the Faroe–Shetland Basin has been affected by structural inversion, particularly during the Miocene. These effects are also observed on the Faroe Platform, the Munkagrunnur Ridge and the Fugloy Ridge, where interpretation of low-gravity anomalies suggests a large-scale fold pattern. The structure of the Iceland–Faroe Ridge, which borders the NW part of the Faroe area, remains ambiguous. The generally thick crust, together with the absence of well-defined seawards-dipping reflectors, may indicate that much of it is underlain by continental material.
Neodymium isotopes and evolution of early terrestrial crust

Geological records of the earliest history of the Earth are rare; rocks older than 3700 Ma comprise only a few percent of continental surfaces. Evidence is mounting, however, that vestiges of primordial planetary differentiation continued to influence the compositions of the oldest rocks during the Hadean and into the Archean. Here, we report new whole-rock Sm-Nd data for the ancient Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt (NSB) in Québec (Canada) and confirm the Nd deficits reported by O’Neil et al. (2008). We show that the assigned (O’Neil et al., 2008) and recently revised (Kinoshita et al., 2012) Nd age of 4362 Ma claimed for NSB amphibolites is at odds with the younger Sm-Nd record. This discrepancy can be reconciled by partial Nd isotope equilibration of rocks with Hadean model ages of up to 4500 Ma during magmatic and metamorphic perturbations associated with the emplacement of the NSB at ca. 3750 Ma (Cates & Mojzsis, 2009). Our model further predicts a whole-rock Sm-Nd age of 3800 Ma for other NSB lithologies in agreement with U-Pb zircon chronology (Cates & Mojzsis, 2007). Hence, Sm-Nd systematics for the Eoarchean NSB rocks represent inheritance of a Hadean signature that was stored either in pre-existing crust or in early-enriched mantle sources. The decoupled Sm-Nd systematics of the NSB is similar but complementary to the Hadean mantle isochron preserved in Eoarchean rocks from West Greenland (Bennett et al., 2007; Rizo et al., 2011).
Caspase-3 Levels Alter With Non-surgical Periodontal Therapy in Patients With Periodontitis

Background This study aims to evaluate the levels of caspase-3 in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of chronic periodontitis patients before and after phase I treatment and compare it with those of healthy controls. Methodology The study involved 40 participants who were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 30 chronic periodontitis patients, and group 2 consisted of 10 healthy controls. GCF was collected at baseline for both groups and at three months for group 1. Periodontal parameters and caspase-3 levels were analyzed before and after non-surgical therapy. Results Caspase-3 levels were higher in patients with chronic periodontitis compared with healthy controls. However, comparing baseline and postoperative levels, there was a statistically significant reduction in periodontal parameters and caspase-3 levels, with 0.80 ± 0.03 at baseline and 0.44 ± 0.02 at three months after non-surgical periodontal therapy. Conclusions Caspase-3, being the key molecule in apoptosis, was found to be at lower concentrations in healthy gingiva and was increased in the presence of periodontal disease. However, with non-surgical periodontal therapy, caspase-3 levels decreased, proving that non-surgical periodontal therapy affects host immune mechanisms and reduces apoptosis, thereby preventing disease progression.
Research Insights and Challenges on Eco-Innovation Dynamics

Increasingly the term environmental technology is superseded by the broader concept of eco-innovation in recognition of the shifting attention to changes in product characteristics, product chains and processes. Issues of resource efficiency, the closing of material loops and alternative systems of consumption and provision are discussed under the new label of eco-innovation. Eco-innovation is also the stated aim of national and EU policy. It is part of the sustainable development strategy and the economic growth strategy of the European Commission because of the policy assumption of offering a “double win”. In 2008, the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) of the European Commission launched a programme dedicated to eco-innovation with the aim of supporting innovative products, services and technologies that can make better use of our natural resources and reduce Europe’s ecological footprint. Whereas environmental technology and environmental services come from the environmental goods and services sector, eco-innovation is produced in all sectors. Ecoinnovations are innovations whose environmental impact on a life cycle basis is lower than those of relevant alternatives and many innovations qualify as such. The innovation may be an adaptation of an existing product or technology process, a product or process new to the world, something organizational, distributional or presentational, and a mix of old and new elements. Like normal (non-eco) innovations, eco-innovations may be technological, organizational, intangible or systemic, and, like any innovation, they require knowledge, attention, capabilities, resources and coordination for their development and adoption. Since the 1990s, an extensive theoretical and empirical literature has been developed on the effects of environmental policy instruments upon innovation and competitiveness, as well as on the different types of environmental innovations and eco-technologies developed by firms. Initially this question has been tackled in the field of environmental economics with a focus on the debate on economic vs. regulatory instruments. Within this literature the
Impact of Open Education Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments

To students and families already struggling to afford college tuition and fees, spending an additional $1,240 per year on books and supplies can be a breaking point. This cost constitutes as much as 39% of tuition and fees at a community college and 14% of tuition and fees at a fouryear public institution (data obtained from the 2019-20 College Board survey for full-time undergraduate students). Moreover, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for digital textbooks is surging and the problem is compounded by the fact that without on-campus resources, including library reserve textbook collections, students are facing more barriers to access course content. Existing research also points to a negative impact on student grades, retention rates, and graduation time when there is lack of access to primary course materials. Open textbooks and open educational resources (OER) present a viable alternative to costly publisher content. Defined, open educational resources are teaching and learning materials freely available for everyone to use and are typically openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors. At New York City College of Technology – CUNY, the college’s library began an OER initiative in fall 2014 to introduce faculty to OER as an alternative to traditional textbooks, and since then faculty have adopted OER across 26 of 28 academic departments and 116 courses – alleviating great financial strain and increasing access to course materials. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between the use of OER in engineering programs and student academic performance and retention rates. Analysis of early data demonstrates that for course sections where OER was used, retention rates increased significantly, and withdrawal rates lowered significantly.
Full-traveltime inversion

ABSTRACTMany previously published wave-equation-based methods, which attempt to automatically invert traveltime or kinematic information in seismic data or migrated gathers for smooth velocities, suffer a common and severe problem — the inversions are involuntarily and unconsciously hijacked by amplitude information. To overcome this problem, we have developed a new wave-equation-based traveltime inversion methodology, referred to as full-traveltime (i.e., fully dependent on traveltime) inversion (FTI), to automatically estimate a kinematically accurate velocity model from seismic data. The key idea of FTI is to make the inversion fully dependent on traveltime information, and thus prevent amplitude interference during inversion. Under the assumption that velocity perturbations cause only traveltime changes, we have derived the FTI method in the data and image domains, which are applicable to transmitted arrivals and reflected waves, respectively. FTI does not require an accurate initial velocity model or.
GDF15 Contributes to the Regulation of the Mechanosensitive Responses of PdL Fibroblasts through the Modulation of IL-37

During orthodontic tooth movement (OTM), areas of compressive and tensile forces are generated in the periodontal ligament (PdL), a mechanoreactive connective tissue between the teeth and alveolar bone. Mechanically stimulated PdL fibroblasts (PdLFs), the main cell type of PdL, express significantly increased levels of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15). In compressed PdL areas, GDF15 plays a fundamental role in modulating relevant OTM processes, including inflammation and osteoclast activation. However, the specific function of this factor in tensile areas has not yet been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of GDF15 in the mechanoresponse of human PdLFs (hPdLFs) that were exposed to biaxial tensile forces in vitro. Using siRNA-mediated knockdown experiments, we demonstrated that GDF15 had no impact on the anti-inflammatory force response of elongated hPdLFs. Although the anti-inflammatory markers IL1RN and IL10, as well as the activation of immune cells remained unaffected, we demonstrated an inhibitory role of GDF15 for the IL-37 expression. By analyzing osteogenic markers, including ALPL and RUNX2, along with an assessment of alkaline phosphatase activation, we further showed that the regulation of IL-37 by GDF15 modulates the osteogenic differentiation potential of hPdLFs. Despite bone resorption in tensile areas being rather limited, GDF15 was also found to positively modulate osteoclast activation in those areas, potentially by adjusting the IL-37 levels. In light of our new findings, we hypothesize that GDF15 modulates force-induced processes in tissue and bone remodeling through its various intra- and extracellular signaling pathways as well as interaction partners. Potentially acting as a master regulator, the modulation of GDF15 levels may hold relevance for clinical implications.
Development and characterization of capsaicin creams formulated with Grewia mucilage-HPMC base

Purpose: Conventional topical capsaicin creams are often unavailable and unaffordable to the larger patient populations in developing countries. There is a need to formulate cost-effective alternatives using locally available polymers as cream base. This study aimed to formulate oil-in-water Grewia mollis mucilage-hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (GMM-HPMC) based capsaicin creams from locally available capsicum fruits and evaluate their quality attributes. Methods: Capsaicin was quantified from acetone extracts of Capsicum fruits (C. frutescens, C. pubescens and C. chinense) using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Extract of C. chinense which had higher capsaicin content was used to formulate six different cream types with varied concentrations of GMM and/or HPMC as polymeric base. The creams were assessed for their organoleptic properties, pH, specific gravity, conductivity, viscosity, spreadability, oil globule size, microbial load and stability profiles using standard methods and protocols. Results: The FTIR spectroscopic analysis confirmed the presence of capsaicin in all the Capsicum fruit extracts; HPLC quantification of each of the fruit extracts indicated the presence of both capsaicin; C. chinense: (36153 ppm) > C. frutescens: (7860 ppm) > C. pubescens: (4549 ppm) and dihydrocapsaicin; C. chinense (11044 ppm) > C. frutescens (6920 ppm) > C. pubescens (2828 ppm) as constituents. Formulated o/w creams were light to deep brick red in colour, with pH (6.11-6.44); specific gravity (1.00-1.03); electrical conductivity (292-1958 µS/cm); viscosity (2810-9190 mPas); spreadability (4.0-5.5 cm) and globule size (13 ± 8 µm to 91 ± 20 µm). The creams had satisfactory microbial load profiles and remained stable at 25 ± 2 °C but had varying degrees of stability at 40 ± 2 °C storage temperatures. The optimized formulations of the creams (FB, FE and FF) contained GMM as the mono polymeric, GMM10:HPMC10 and GMM15:HPMC10 as their co-polymeric base systems, respectively. Conclusion: This study has shown the suitability of Grewia mollis mucilage singly used or in combination with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as co-polymeric cream base. Formulated creams had desirable physicochemical properties and they may find better patient acceptance when compared with imported brands as a result of their potential low cost. Keywords: Capsicum fruits, capsaicin, Grewia mollis mucilage-HPMC, creams
Yield and Yield Components of Faba Bean ( Vicia faba L.) as Influenced by Supplemental Irrigation under Semi-arid Region of Tunisia

A field experiment was conducted at the research station of Higher Agriculture School of Kef located in a semi-arid region of Tunisia to study the effect of supplemental irrigation on yield and yield components of four Tunisian faba bean genotypes (Bachaar, Badii, Chahbi and locale). Two supplemental irrigations were applied at the flowering and pod formation stages. Results showed a significant effect of supplemental irrigation on biological yield (BY/P), seed number per plant (SN/P), 100-seed weight (100 SW), grain yield (GY/m2), harvest index (HI) and number of days to maturity (NDM). Grain yields under supplemental irrigation varied from 83.9 to 208.7 g/m2, and they varied from 18.6 to 65.8 g/m2 under drought conditions. Average 100-seeds weight increment due to supplemental irrigation condition was 52.8%. Results showed also that under rain fed condition, Bachar genotypes required minimum number of days to maturity (134.3 days). Drought susceptibility index (DSI) values for grain yield ranged from 0.8 to 1.13. Chahbi was relatively drought resistant (DSI values <1). This genotype proved high yielding and drought tolerant and can be incorporated in stress breeding programme for the development of drought tolerant faba bean varieties.
Friends and foes: Neural correlates of prosocial decisions with peers in adolescence

Adolescence is a critical period for social orientation to peers and for developing social skills in interactions with peers. In the current study we examined the neural correlates of prosocial decisions for friends and disliked peers, and their links with participants’ friendship quality and empathy as indices of social competence. Participants’ friends and disliked peers were identified using sociometric nominations. Mid-adolescents ( M age =14.6; N =50) distributed coins between themselves and another player in a set of allocation games where they could make prosocial or selfish decisions for their friends and disliked peers, as well as for neutral and unfamiliar peers. Participants made the most prosocial decisions for friends and the least prosocial decisions for disliked peers. Prosocial decisions for friends yielded activity in the putamen and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) when compared to prosocial decisions for disliked peers, and in the superior parietal lobule (SPL) and precentral gyrus when compared to prosocial decisions for unfamiliar peers. Selfish decisions for friends and decisions for disliked peers did not result in heightened neural activity. Exploratory analyses of the associations between these neural activation patterns and measures of social competence revealed that putamen activity related negatively to negative friendship quality and that empathic personal distress related positively to SPL and precentral gyrus activity. Together, the findings illustrated that the SPL, precentral gyrus, pMTG, and putamen may be involved in promoting the continuation of friendships, and that social competence may modulate these neural mechanisms.
Investigation of the Proteasome 26S Subunit, ATPase Family Genes as Potential Prognostic Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background Several studies suggest that Proteasome 26S Subunit, ATPase (PSMC) family genes are of great importance in tumor progression and spreading, but the study for systematic evaluation of the function of PSMC genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently lacking. Methods The functions of PSMC genes in HCC were analyzed using multiple online databases, including the TCGA database, GEO database, HPA database, cBioPortal database, DAVID, and KEGG pathway. Experiments were later conducted to verify PSMC expression. Results High levels of PSMC gene expression were detected in HCC tissues and PSMCs exhibited potentially powerful abilities in diagnosing HCC patients. All PSMC proteins are expressed to varying degrees in HCC tissues and high expression of the PSMC genes lead to poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Moreover, DNA methylation involves the regulation of the expression of PSMC2 and PSMC5 in HCC, and the levels of methylation of PSMC2 or PSMC5 correlate positively with patient overall survival in HCC patients. The copy number alteration and mutation of PSMC genes were observed and related to the expression of PSMCs in HCC. Functional enrichment analysis showed that many highly co-expressed genes of PSMCs had a potential role in tumor progression and metastasis, which merited further in-depth study. Functional network analysis also suggests that the primary biological function of PSMC genes is the regulation of protein homeostasis and energy metabolism in HCC. Moreover, the expression levels of PSMCs are related to immune cell infiltrates and immunomodulatory factors in HCC. Conclusion Our study indicates that PSMC genes are the potential target for precision immunotherapy and novel prognostic biomarkers for HCC.