Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading aloud pseudo-characters by individuals with acquired dyslexia: Evidence for lexically mediated processes in reading Chinese

This study examined a hypothesis discussed in Bi, Han, Weekes, and Shu (2007) of a non-lexical system consisting of correspondence rules between character subcomponents and phonology in reading Chinese. It contrasts with the lexical view stating that reading aloud must be lexically mediated as assumed in all current models of character naming. To contrast these accounts, we asked two Cantonese brain-injured anomic individuals with largely preserved reading abilities to read aloud non-existing phonetic compounds containing a free-standing or a non-free-standing phonetic radical. The lexical view predicts that both subjects should be able to provide plausible responses to pseudo-characters, whereas such a prediction is not made by the non-lexical account. We found that both participants could produce legitimate responses to pseudo-characters, similar to the normal individuals. Furthermore, their responses to complex pseudo-characters were strongly influenced by the presence of free-standing phonetic radicals, lending further support to the lexical view.
Combining deep learning with anatomical analysis for segmentation of the portal vein for liver SBRT planning

Automated segmentation of the portal vein (PV) for liver radiotherapy planning is a challenging task due to potentially low vasculature contrast, complex PV anatomy and image artifacts originated from fiducial markers and vasculature stents. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for automated segmentation of the PV from computed tomography (CT) images. We apply convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to learn the consistent appearance patterns of the PV using a training set of CT images with reference annotations and then enhance the PV in previously unseen CT images. Markov random fields (MRFs) were further used to smooth the results of the enhancement of the CNN enhancement and remove isolated mis-segmented regions. Finally, CNN-MRF-based enhancement was augmented with PV centerline detection that relied on PV anatomical properties such as tubularity and branch composition. The framework was validated on a clinical database with 72 CT images of patients scheduled for liver stereotactic body radiation therapy. The obtained accuracy of the segmentation was DSC= 0.83 and η= 1.08 mm in terms of the median Dice coefficient and mean symmetric surface distance, respectively, when segmentation is encompassed into the PV region of interest. The obtained results indicate that CNNs and anatomical analysis can be used for the accurate segmentation of the PV and potentially integrated into liver radiation therapy planning.
Spontaneous Transient Outward Currents Arise from Microdomains Where BK Channels Are Exposed to a Mean Ca2+ Concentration on the Order of 10 μM during a Ca2+ Spark

Ca2+ sparks are small, localized cytosolic Ca2+ transients due to Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum through ryanodine receptors. In smooth muscle, Ca2+ sparks activate large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (BK channels) in the spark microdomain, thus generating spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs). The purpose of the present study is to determine experimentally the level of Ca2+ to which the BK channels are exposed during a spark. Using tight seal, whole-cell recording, we have analyzed the voltage-dependence of the STOC conductance (g(STOC)), and compared it to the voltage-dependence of BK channel activation in excised patches in the presence of different [Ca2+]s. The Ca2+ sparks did not change in amplitude over the range of potentials of interest. In contrast, the magnitude of g(STOC) remained roughly constant from 20 to −40 mV and then declined steeply at more negative potentials. From this and the voltage dependence of BK channel activation, we conclude that the BK channels underlying STOCs are exposed to a mean [Ca2+] on the order of 10 μM during a Ca2+ spark. The membrane area over which a concentration ≥10 μM is reached has an estimated radius of 150–300 nm, corresponding to an area which is a fraction of one square micron. Moreover, given the constraints imposed by the estimated channel density and the Ca2+ current during a spark, the BK channels do not appear to be uniformly distributed over the membrane but instead are found at higher density at the spark site.
The Things You Do: Internal Models of Others’ Expected Behaviour Guide Action Observation

Predictions allow humans to manage uncertainties within social interactions. Here, we investigate how explicit and implicit person models–how different people behave in different situations–shape these predictions. In a novel action identification task, participants judged whether actors interacted with or withdrew from objects. In two experiments, we manipulated, unbeknownst to participants, the two actors action likelihoods across situations, such that one actor typically interacted with one object and withdrew from the other, while the other actor showed the opposite behaviour. In Experiment 2, participants additionally received explicit information about the two individuals that either matched or mismatched their actual behaviours. The data revealed direct but dissociable effects of both kinds of person information on action identification. Implicit action likelihoods affected response times, speeding up the identification of typical relative to atypical actions, irrespective of the explicit knowledge about the individual’s behaviour. Explicit person knowledge, in contrast, affected error rates, causing participants to respond according to expectations instead of observed behaviour, even when they were aware that the explicit information might not be valid. Together, the data show that internal models of others’ behaviour are routinely re-activated during action observation. They provide first evidence of a person-specific social anticipation system, which predicts forthcoming actions from both explicit information and an individuals’ prior behaviour in a situation. These data link action observation to recent models of predictive coding in the non-social domain where similar dissociations between implicit effects on stimulus identification and explicit behavioural wagers have been reported.
The Histone Chaperone Spn1 Preserves Subnucleosomal Structures at Promoters and Nucleosome Positioning in Open Reading Frames

Spn1 is a multifunctional histone chaperone essential for life in eukaryotes. While previous work has elucidated regions of the protein important for its many interactions, it is unknown how these domains contribute to the maintenance of chromatin structure. Here, we employ digestion by micrococcal nuclease followed by single-stranded library preparation and sequencing (MNase-SSP) to characterize chromatin structure in yeast expressing wild-type or mutants of Spn1. We mapped nucleosome and subnucleosomal protections genome-wide, and surprisingly, we observed a genome-wide loss of subnucleosomal protection over nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs) in the Spn1-K192N-containing strain, indicating critical functions of Spn1 in maintaining normal chromatin architecture in promoter regions. Additionally, alterations in nucleosome and hexasome positioning were observed in markedly different mutant Spn1 strains, demonstrating that multiple functions of Spn1 are required to maintain proper chromatin structure in open reading frames, particularly at higher expressed and longer genes. Taken together, our results reveal a previously unknown role of Spn1 in the maintenance of NDR architecture and deepen our understanding of Spn1-dependent chromatin maintenance over transcribed regions.
Effects of mobile phone radiation on heart rate variability of healthy young subjects

Background and Aim: The potential health risk of the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields which are emitted by mobile phones (MPs) is of considerable public interest. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of the call with a MP on heart rate variability (HRV) in healthy young male and female subjects. Methods: Heart rate variability was measured in 100 young healthy subjects of either sex from 5 min continuous recording of heart rate using windows-based HRV analysis system during three conditions: (1) When MP is switched off (Period I) (2) when MP is switched on (Period II) (3) during call on MP for 5 min (Period III). Results: In female subjects, we found that the time domain parameters like root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals, standard deviation of differences between adjacent NN intervals, NN50, pNN50 were significantly reduced during Period II and Period III as compared to Period I. Furthermore, the frequency domain parameters such as low frequency (LF) and LF/high frequency (HF) were significantly increased during Period II and Period III as compared to Period I. Whereas HF was significantly reduced during Period II and Period III as compared to Period I in female subjects. In the male, only NN50 count was significantly reduced during Period II and Period III as compared to Period I. Conclusion: Increase in the sympathetic tone concomitant with the decrease in the parasympathetic tone was observed during the MP usage in female subjects. However, only the parasympathetic tone may be reduced in male subjects while using MPs.
Game-Theoretic Approaches to Energy Trading: A Survey

The global move towards producing and consuming energy in a clean, efficient and economical way, along with the need for meeting rising consumer demand has led to significant advancements in the design of the smart grid infrastructure. However, the potential of the smart grid remains limited without the integration of renewable energy sources. Energy trading is one way forward. This refers to the transfer of energy from an entity producing surplus energy to one with a deficit, within a certain timeframe. In this paper, we present a detailed review of the literature surrounding the application of game theoretic (GT) methods to scenarios in energy trading. Two levels (layers) of trading are identified and the latest achievements within them are summarised. An extensive description of a complete GT-based energy trading framework is presented, including a taxonomy of GT and an introduction to the smart grid architecture with a focus on renewable energy generation and energy storage. Finally, we present a critical evaluation of the current shortcomings and identify areas for future research.
Norm-1 Regularized Consensus-Based ADMM for Imaging With a Compressive Antenna

This letter presents a novel norm-1-regularized, consensus-based imaging algorithm, based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). This algorithm is capable of imaging metallic targets by using a limited amount of data. The distributed capabilities of the algorithm enable a fast imaging convergence. Recently, a compressive reflector antenna (CRA) has been proposed as a way to provide high sensing capacity with a minimum cost and complexity in the hardware architecture. The ADMM algorithm applied to the imaging capabilities of the CRA outperforms current state-of-the-art iterative reconstruction algorithms, such as Nesterov-based methods, in terms of computational cost, enabling the use of the CRA in quasi-real-time, compressive sensing imaging applications.
Alleviation of graft-versus-host disease after conditioning with cobalt-protoporphyrin, an inducer of heme oxygenase-1.

BACKGROUND Recently, we demonstrated that elevated expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1 or Hsp-32) resulted in the modulation of several immune effector functions. Here we evaluated whether induction of HO-1 after administration of cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPP) can prevent the development of acute graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). METHODS Acute GVHD was initiated by injection of unfractionated spleen cells from C57BL/6 into B6D2/F1 mice. RESULTS Administration of CoPP resulted in increased survival: 85% of CoPP-treated animals survived for >100 days compared with only 29% of saline-treated control animals (P<0.05). In contrast, administration of ZnPP, a well-known inhibitor of HO, accelerated GVHD development. The protective effect of CoPP therapy seemed to be caused by immunomodulation of donor cells, because treatment of cell donors prevented development of acute GVHD in 80% of recipients compared with 0% in control animals. Spontaneous lymphocyte proliferation could be measured with splenocytes harvested from animals developing GVHD but not with splenocytes from recipients of CoPP-treated donor cells. CoPP-treatment had no effect on interleukin-2 or interleukin-4 synthesis but inhibited interferon-gamma production. Mice with active GVHD demonstrated a defective lympho-proliferative response to alloantigens or concanavalin A. However, spleen cells isolated from survivors (on day 100) responded normally. Flow cytometric analysis of splenic T cell populations revealed a severe reduction in recipient type (H-2b,d) cells in mice with active GVHD, whereas in protected mice the number of cells remained normal. CONCLUSION The results from this study confirmed our previous observation that up-regulation of HO-1 activity is associated with down-regulation of several immune effector functions. This resulted in protection from acute GVHD in a parent into F1 mouse model.
Optimal Control Based Stiffness Identification of an Ankle-Foot Orthosis Using a Predictive Walking Model

Predicting the movements, ground reaction forces and neuromuscular activity during gait can be a valuable asset to the clinical rehabilitation community, both to understand pathology, as well as to plan effective intervention. In this work we use an optimal control method to generate predictive simulations of pathological gait in the sagittal plane. We construct a patient-specific model corresponding to a 7-year old child with gait abnormalities and identify the optimal spring characteristics of an ankle-foot orthosis that minimizes muscle effort. Our simulations include the computation of foot-ground reaction forces, as well as the neuromuscular dynamics using computationally efficient muscle torque generators and excitation-activation equations. The optimal control problem (OCP) is solved with a direct multiple shooting method. The solution of this problem is physically consistent synthetic neural excitation commands, muscle activations and whole body motion. Our simulations produced similar changes to the gait characteristics as those recorded on the patient. The orthosis-equipped model was able to walk faster with more extended knees. Notably, our approach can be easily tuned to simulate weakened muscles, produces physiologically realistic ground reaction forces and smooth muscle activations and torques, and can be implemented on a standard workstation to produce results within a few hours. These results are an important contribution toward bridging the gap between research methods in computational neuromechanics and day-to-day clinical rehabilitation.
Simultaneous estimation of T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient in human articular cartilage in vivo with a modified three‐dimensional double echo steady state (DESS) sequence at 3 T

T2 mapping and diffusion‐weighted imaging complement morphological imaging for assessing cartilage disease and injury. The double echo steady state sequence has been used for morphological imaging and generates two echoes with markedly different T2 and diffusion weighting. Modifying the spoiler gradient area and flip angle of the double echo steady state sequence allows greater control of the diffusion weighting of both echoes. Data from two acquisitions with different spoiler gradient areas and flip angles are used to simultaneously estimate the T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient of each voxel. This method is verified in phantoms and validated in vivo in the knee; estimates from different regions of interest in the phantoms and cartilage are compared to those obtained using standard spin‐echo methods. The Pearson correlations were 0.984 for T2 (∼2% relative difference between spin‐echo and double echo steady state estimates) and 0.997 for apparent diffusion coefficient (˜1% relative difference between spin‐echo and double echo steady state estimates) for the phantom study and 0.989 for T2 and 0.987 for apparent diffusion coefficient in regions of interest in the human knee in vivo. High accuracy for simultaneous three‐dimensional T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient measurements are demonstrated, while also providing morphologic three‐dimensional images without blurring or distortion in reasonable scan times. Magn Reson Med, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Towards A Framework for the Evaluation of Machine Compositions

We outline a framework within which machine compositions may be evaluated objectively. In particular, the framework allows statements about those compositions to be refuted on the basis of empirical experimentation. We consider this to be fundamental if we wish to evaluate the degree to which our programs achieve their compositional aims. Furthermore, a review of the literature reveals that this is a largely ignored aspect of research into algorithmic composition. Our framework involves four components: specifying the compositional aims; inducing a critic from a set of example musical phrases; composing music that satisfies the critic; and evaluating specific claims about the compositions in experiments using human subjects. We describe a system which exemplifies these four stages and which demonstrates the practicality of the framework. Finally, the application of the framework to the evaluation of musical creativity is discussed and directions for future research are suggested.
Direct Ink Writing of Graphene Oxide Reinforced 13-93B1 Bioactive Glass Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Graphene-reinforced bioactive glass scaffolds have gained significant attention in the field of bone tissue engineering due to their unique combination of mechanical strength, bioactivity, and electrical conductivity. Additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, provide a versatile platform for fabricating these scaffolds with precise control over their architecture and composition. Consequently, in this work, we have fabricated graphene oxide (GO)-reinforced 13-93B1 bioactive glass scaffold using the direct ink writing technique. A Pluronic F-127- based ink was prepared for scaffold fabrication, and its rheological properties were assessed for shear thinning behaviour, structural support, and recovery. Further, the fabricated scaffolds were characterized using micro-computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Additionally, computational fluid dynamics simulations with Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium and blood were performed to evaluate the perfusion kinetics of the scaffolds. The inclusion of GO enhanced the compressive strength of the fabricated scaffolds by ∼225%. The morphological characterization based on micro-computed tomography showed that additively manufactured scaffolds have appropriate porosity, pore size, pore throat size, and interconnectivity. The live-dead assay results showed no cytotoxicity towards C2C12 mouse myoblast cells. Also, cell adhesion and cell viability results show better cell growth on the nanocomposite scaffolds. Overall, the fabricated scaffold is found suitable for bone tissue engineering applications.
Pregnancy complications and maternal cardiovascular risk: opportunities for intervention and screening?

Plentiful evidence now links low birth weight due to intrauterine growth restriction and increased risk of vascular disease in later adult life. This is considered to be partly the result of programming through fetal nutrition. 1 In contrast, much less attention has been focused on the relation between adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as pre›eclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm delivery, and intrauterine growth restriction, and the mother’s subsequent health, and interesting data are now increasingly linking the maternal vascular, metabolic, and inflammatory complications of pregnancy with an increased risk of vascular disease in later life (table). This article summarises the emerg› ing evidence to support this fascinating concept, notes important areas for further research, and discusses potential practical implications.
Instructional variables involved in problems associated with diglossia in Arabic speaking schools in Israel. PIRLS 2006 findings

PIRLS 2006 findings establish that reading literacy attainments of 4th graders in Arabic-speaking countries are poor. This low attainment is also reflected in the findings of PIRLS 2006 in Israel when comparing Arabic-speaking 4th graders' reading literacy mean score with that of their Hebrew-speaking peers (428 vs. 528). Findings of a previous study (Zuzovsky, 2008) supported an explanation that the existence of diglossia typical of the Arabic language (two linguistic codes - written and spoken) is the main cause of the low results of Arabic-speaking students in Israel and recommended educational interventions aimed to directly treat the problems of diglossia. Following these recommendations the present study aims to identify specific instructional activities that are significant in the effort to overcome the problems associated with Arabic diglossia. Of fourteen reading literacy activities positively associated with reading attainment, six exhibited significant interaction effects with the ethnic group variable indicating their relatively higher contribution to the achievement of students in Arabic-speaking schools. The most effective variables for Arabic-speaking students appear to be those indicating early home literacy activities that foster phonemic awareness and letter sound recognition. Among the school literacy activities, repeated listening to the sounds of written Arabic and being actively engaged in reading text and gradually in more challenging tasks, are promising school practices.
The Dynamics of the Indicators of Social Adaptation of Orphaned Children with Limited Health Abilities

Relevance of the problem being researched in this article is due to the need creating optimal conditions for successful social development and social adaptation of children regardless of the level of their psychophysical development. The article is devoted to the analysis of dynamics of indicators of social disadaptation, as well as development of the elements of social competence of orphaned children with limited health abilities in the process of implementation a coherent program which includes a model of guest form of placement orphaned children in families and a wide range of learning, educational and correctional-developing programs, the main purpose of which is preparation the students to individual life. The diagnostic results of the students of Oktyabrskaya special boarding school on the first stage reflect quite unfavourable situation marked by various manifestations of disadaptation with dominance of symptoms determining distrust in people, the rejection and anxiety towards adults, inclination to depression and annoyance as well as lack of social normativity. The final results show quite both expressed positive changes that characterize the growth of social competence and the level of social adaptation of students DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015. v6n3s7p155