Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
fMRI Evidence of ‘Mirror’ Responses to Geometric Shapes

Mirror neurons may be a genetic adaptation for social interaction [1]. Alternatively, the associative hypothesis [2], [3] proposes that the development of mirror neurons is driven by sensorimotor learning, and that, given suitable experience, mirror neurons will respond to any stimulus. This hypothesis was tested using fMRI adaptation to index populations of cells with mirror properties. After sensorimotor training, where geometric shapes were paired with hand actions, BOLD response was measured while human participants experienced runs of events in which shape observation alternated with action execution or observation. Adaptation from shapes to action execution, and critically, observation, occurred in ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Adaptation from shapes to execution indicates that neuronal populations responding to the shapes had motor properties, while adaptation to observation demonstrates that these populations had mirror properties. These results indicate that sensorimotor training induced populations of cells with mirror properties in PMv and IPL to respond to the observation of arbitrary shapes. They suggest that the mirror system has not been shaped by evolution to respond in a mirror fashion to biological actions; instead, its development is mediated by stimulus-general processes of learning within a system adapted for visuomotor control.
A structural and content-based approach for a precise and robust detection of malicious PDF files

During the past years, malicious PDF files have become a serious threat for the security of modern computer systems. They are characterized by a complex structure and their variety is considerably high. Several solutions have been academically developed to mitigate such attacks. However, they leveraged on information that were extracted from either only the structure or the content of the PDF file. This creates problems when trying to detect non-Javascript or targeted attacks. In this paper, we present a novel machine learning system for the automatic detection of malicious PDF documents. It extracts information from both the structure and the content of the PDF file, and it features an advanced parsing mechanism. In this way, it is possible to detect a wide variety of attacks, including non-Javascript and parsing-based ones. Moreover, with a careful choice of the learning algorithm, our approach provides a significantly higher accuracy compared to other static analysis techniques, especially in the presence of adversarial malware manipulation.
Strategies for Diagnosis and Treatment of Suspected Leptospirosis: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Background Symptoms and signs of leptospirosis are non-specific. Several diagnostic tests for leptospirosis are available and in some instances are being used prior to treatment of leptospirosis-suspected patients. There is therefore a need to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the different treatment strategies in order to avoid misuse of scarce resources and ensure best possible health outcomes for patients. Methods The study population was adult patients, presented with uncomplicated acute febrile illness, without an obvious focus of infection or malaria or typical dengue infection. We compared the cost and effectiveness of 5 management strategies: 1) no patients tested or given antibiotic treatment; 2) all patients given empirical doxycycline treatment; patients given doxycycline when a patient is tested positive for leptospirosis using: 3) lateral flow; 4) MCAT; 5) latex test. The framework used is a cost-benefit analysis, accounting for all direct medical costs in diagnosing and treating patients suspected of leptospirosis. Outcomes are measured in length of fever after treatment which is then converted to productivity losses to capture the full economic costs. Findings Empirical doxycycline treatment was the most efficient strategy, being both the least costly alternative and the one that resulted in the shortest duration of fever. The limited sensitivity of all three diagnostic tests implied that their use to guide treatment was not cost-effective. The most influential parameter driving these results was the cost of treating patients with complications for patients who did not receive adequate treatment as a result of incorrect diagnosis or a strategy of no-antibiotic-treatment. Conclusions Clinicians should continue treating suspected cases of leptospirosis on an empirical basis. This conclusion holds true as long as policy makers are not prioritizing the reduction of use of antibiotics, in which case the use of the latex test would be the most efficient strategy.
Locomotor capacity and social dominance in male 4 , 243-250 lizards

Physiological capacities may constrain behavioural options and hence have important ecological consequences. We tested the hypothesis that social dominance is related to capacities for locomotor performance in territorial male lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis Baird & Girard). We first measured the maximal sprint speed and stamina of individual lizards in the laboratory. Pairs of size-matched males were then placed into a novel laboratory arena and allowed to compete for access to a basking site under a heat lamp. The lizard that physically controlled the basking site was judged the 'winner' of a dominance interaction (winner vs loser status was confirmed by quantitative scoring of behaviour). Winners of these dyadic encounters had significantly higher sprint speeds in 14 of 20 cases, with winners averaging 16.5% faster than losers. Stamina, however, did not differ between winners and losers.
Long-range wireless sensor networks with transmit-only nodes and software-defined receivers

Wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring and agricultural applications often face long-range requirements at low bit-rates together with large numbers of nodes. This paper presents the design and test of a novel wireless sensor network that combines a large radio range with very low power consumption and cost. Our asymmetric sensor network uses ultralow-cost 40 MHz transmitters and a sensitive software dened radio receiver with multichannel capability. Experimental radio range measurements in two dierent outdoor environments demonstrate a single-hop range of up to 1.8 km. A theoretical model for radio propagation at 40 MHz in outdoor environments is proposed and validated with the experimental measurements. The reliability and delity of network communication over longer time periods is evaluated with a deployment for distributed temperature measurements. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the transmit-only low-frequency system design approach for future environmental sensor networks. Although there have been several papers proposing the theoretical benets
The Hepatitis Viral Status in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: a Study of 3843 Patients From Taiwan Liver Cancer Network

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading cancer death in Taiwan. Chronic viral hepatitis infections have long been considered as the most important risk factors for HCC in Taiwan. The previously published reports were either carried out by individual investigators with small patient numbers or by large endemic studies with limited viral marker data. Through collaboration with 5 medical centers across Taiwan, Taiwan liver cancer network (TLCN) was established in 2005. All participating centers followed a standard protocol to recruit liver cancer patients along with their biosamples and clinical data. In addition, detailed viral marker analysis for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) were also performed. This study included 3843 HCC patients with available blood samples in TLCN (recruited from November 2005 to April 2011). There were 2153 (56.02%) patients associated with HBV (HBV group); 969 (25.21%) with HCV (HCV group); 310 (8.07%) with both HBV and HCV (HBV+HCV group); and 411 (10.69%) were negative for both HBV and HCV (non-B non-C group). Two hundred two of the 2463 HBV patients (8.20%) were HBsAg(-), but HBV DNA (+). The age, gender, cirrhosis, viral titers, and viral genotypes were all significantly different between the above 4 groups of patients. The median age of the HBV group was the youngest, and the cirrhotic rate was lowest in the non-B non-C group (only 25%). This is the largest detailed viral hepatitis marker study for HCC patients in the English literatures. Our study provided novel data on the interaction of HBV and HCV in the HCC patients and also confirmed that the HCC database of TLCN is highly representative for Taiwan and an important resource for HCC research.
Engendering Gender Equity: Using Literature to Teach and Learn Democracy

The question of how “teachers and students [can] connect their learning to the broader society” drives Jeraldine R. Kraver’s search for ways to use critical pedagogy in secondary school and university classrooms. Focusing on the topic of gender equity, she shows how teachers can use literature to create critical classrooms. In addition, she offers sample assignments and discussion prompts related to classic and contemporary literature.
Structural integrity of the limbic–prefrontal connection: Neuropathological correlates of anxiety in Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic condition characterized by a hypersocial personality and desire to form close relationships, juxtaposed with significant anxieties of nonsocial events. The neural underpinnings of anxiety in individuals with WS are currently unknown. Aberrations in the anatomical and microstructural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus (UF) have been recently implicated in social and generalized anxiety disorders. Based on these findings, we tested the hypothesis that the reported anxieties in individuals with WS share similar neuropathological correlates. Toward this end, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) methods were employed to examine the microstructural integrity (fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, longitudinal diffusivity) of the UF in 18 WS and 15 typically developing adults (TD). Anxiety and sociability questionnaires were administered to determine associations with DTI indices of UF across groups. Results revealed comparable white matter integrity of the UF across groups, yet elevated subjective experience of anxiety in those with WS. Additionally, sociability and UF microstructural properties were dissociated across both groups. Whereas no relationships were found between DTI indices and anxiety in TD participants, strong negative associations were observed between these constructs in individuals with WS. Findings indicated that increased anxiety manifested by individuals with WS was associated with DTI measures of the UF and may signal structural or possibly physiological aberration involving this tract within the prefrontal-temporal network.
Executive functions in early adulthood : data for the controlled animal fluency test

Assessment tools that accurately assess executive functions in early adulthood are important for clinical practice, particularly given factors that can affect the executive functions, such as brain injury and mental illness, are relatively common during this developmental period. The aim of the current study was to investigate a more recently refined measure of executive function, the Controlled Animal Fluency Test (CAFT) in a non-clinical sample of young adults. Relationships between performance on the CAFT and other executive measures and cognitive measures were examined along with the relationship of CAFT measures to demographic factors. Further normative data for the CAFT for young adults were also obtained. Sixty individuals (27 male & 33 female) aged 19 to 40 years (M = 31.2 years, SD = 6.03) participated. They were screened for brain injury, serious illness, neurodevelopmental disorder, and psychotropic medication according to a structured interview protocol. Participants were tested with the CAFT, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), the Trail Making Test (TMT), and the Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Results showed significant correlations between the three conditions of the CAFT and FSIQ; CAFT Size and part B of the Trail Making Test; CAFT Alphabet and the COWAT; and all three conditions of the CAFT and the demographic variables of SES and number of years of education. The current findings highlight the interconnectedness of executive functions and other cognitive constructs such as FSIQ and reinforce the importance of accounting for demographic variables when developing normative data sets. Most importantly, however, the results of the current study provide evidence that the CAFT is a clinically useful measure of executive function with the early adulthood population.
Joint-aware manipulation of deformable models

Complex mesh models of man-made objects often consist of multiple components connected by various types of joints. We propose a joint-aware deformation framework that supports the direct manipulation of an arbitrary mix of rigid and deformable components. First we apply slippable motion analysis to automatically detect multiple types of joint constraints that are implicit in model geometry. For single-component geometry or models with disconnected components, we support user-defined virtual joints. Then we integrate manipulation handle constraints, multiple components, joint constraints, joint limits, and deformation energies into a single volumetric-cell-based space deformation problem. An iterative, parallelized Gauss-Newton solver is used to solve the resulting nonlinear optimization. Interactive deformable manipulation is demonstrated on a variety of geometric models while automatically respecting their multi-component nature and the natural behavior of their joints.
Using Process Mining to Analyze and Improve Process Flexibility

Contemporary information systems struggle with the requirement to provide flexibility and process support while still enforcing some degree of control. Workflow management systems are typically considered as too restrictive while groupware applications (e.g., e-mail) tend to offer hardly any process support or control at all. Therefore, we consider adaptive process management systems that allow for runtime changes at both process type and process instance level (e.g., a system like ADEPT). Assuming that these process changes are recorded explicitly, we discuss how this information can be used as input for process mining. So far, process mining has only be applied to operational processes, i.e., knowledge is extracted from event logs (process discovery), or event logs are compared with some a-priori model (conformance checking). In this paper, we propose to apply process mining to change logs, i.e., we not only analyze the operational processes but also the adaptations made at the process type or process instance level. Using such analysis, we envisage to be able to better support flexibility by understanding when and why process changes become necessary.
Delayed password disclosure

We present a new authentication protocol called Delayed Password Disclosure. Based on the traditional username and password paradigm, the protocol's goal is aimed at reducing the effectiveness of phishing/spoofing attacks that are becoming increasingly problematic for Internet users. This is done by providing the user with dynamic feedback while password entry occurs. While this is a process that would normally be frowned upon by the cryptographic community, we argue that it may result in more effective security than that offered by currently proposed "cryptographically acceptable" alternatives. While the protocol cannot prevent partial disclosure of one's password to the phisher, it does provide a user with the tools necessary to recognize an ongoing phishing attack, and prevent the disclosure of his/her entire password, providing graceful security degradation.
Decreased KCNE2 Expression Participates in the Development of Cardiac Hypertrophy by Regulation of Calcineurin–NFAT (Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells) and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways

Background— KCNE2 is a promiscuous auxiliary subunit of voltage-gated cation channels. A recent work demonstrated that KCNE2 regulates L-type Ca2+ channels. Given the important roles of altered Ca2+ signaling in structural and functional remodeling in diseased hearts, this study investigated whether KCNE2 participates in the development of pathological hypertrophy. Methods and Results— We found that cardiac KCNE2 expression was significantly decreased in phenylephrine-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes and in transverse aortic constriction–induced cardiac hypertrophy in mice, as well as in dilated cardiomyopathy in human. Knockdown of KCNE2 in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes reproduced hypertrophy by increasing the expression of ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide) and &bgr;-MHC (&bgr;-myosin heavy chain), and cell surface area, whereas overexpression of KCNE2 attenuated phenylephrine-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Knockdown of KCNE2 increased intracellular Ca2+ transient, calcineurin activity, and nuclear NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) protein levels, and pretreatment with inhibitor of L-type Ca2+ channel (nifedipine) or calcineurin (FK506) attenuated the activation of calcineurin–NFAT pathway and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Meanwhile, the phosphorylation levels of p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase were increased, and inhibiting the 3 cascades of mitogen-activated protein kinase reduced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by KCNE2 knockdown. Overexpression of KCNE2 in heart by ultrasound-microbubble–mediated gene transfer suppressed the development of hypertrophy and activation of calcineurin–NFAT and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways in transverse aortic constriction mice. Conclusions— This study demonstrates that cardiac KCNE2 expression is decreased and contributes to the development of hypertrophy via activation of calcineurin–NFAT and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Targeting KCNE2 is a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of hypertrophy.
Genetic Modifiers of dFMR1 Encode RNA Granule Components in Drosophila

Mechanisms of neuronal mRNA localization and translation are of considerable biological interest. Spatially regulated mRNA translation contributes to cell-fate decisions and axon guidance during development, as well as to long-term synaptic plasticity in adulthood. The Fragile-X Mental Retardation protein (FMRP/dFMR1) is one of the best-studied neuronal translational control molecules and here we describe the identification and early characterization of proteins likely to function in the dFMR1 pathway. Induction of the dFMR1 in sevenless-expressing cells of the Drosophila eye causes a disorganized (rough) eye through a mechanism that requires residues necessary for dFMR1/FMRP's translational repressor function. Several mutations in dco, orb2, pAbp, rm62, and smD3 genes dominantly suppress the sev-dfmr1 rough-eye phenotype, suggesting that they are required for dFMR1-mediated processes. The encoded proteins localize to dFMR1-containing neuronal mRNPs in neurites of cultured neurons, and/or have an effect on dendritic branching predicted for bona fide neuronal translational repressors. Genetic mosaic analyses indicate that dco, orb2, rm62, smD3, and dfmr1 are dispensable for translational repression of hid, a microRNA target gene, known to be repressed in wing discs by the bantam miRNA. Thus, the encoded proteins may function as miRNA- and/or mRNA-specific translational regulators in vivo.
Lactate Dehydrogenase B Is Required for the Growth of KRAS-Dependent Lung Adenocarcinomas

Purpose: This study is aimed to identify genes within the KRAS genomic amplicon that are both coupregulated and essential for cell proliferation when KRAS is amplified in lung cancer. Experimental Design: We used an integrated genomic approach to identify genes that are coamplified with KRAS in lung adenocarcinomas and subsequently preformed an RNA interference (RNAi) screen to uncover functionally relevant genes. The role of lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) was subsequently investigated both in vitro and in vivo by siRNA and short hairpin RNA (shRNA)–mediated knockdown in a panel of lung adenocarcinoma cells lines. LDHB expression was also investigated in patient tumors using microarray and immunohistochemistry analyses. Results: RNAi-mediated depletion of LDHB abrogated cell proliferation both in vitro and in xenografted tumors in vivo. We find that LDHB expression correlates to both KRAS genomic copy number gain and KRAS mutation in lung cancer cell lines and adenocarcinomas. This correlation between LDHB expression and KRAS status is specific for lung cancers and not other tumor types that harbor KRAS mutations. Consistent with a role for LDHB in glycolysis and tumor metabolism, KRAS-mutant lung tumors exhibit elevated expression of a glycolysis gene signature and are more dependent on glycolysis for proliferation compared with KRAS wild-type lung tumors. Finally, high LDHB expression was a significant predictor of shorter survival in patients with lung adenocarcinomas. Conclusion: This study identifies LDHB as a regulator of cell proliferation in a subset of lung adenocarcinoma and may provide a novel therapeutic approach for treating lung cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 19(4); 773–84. ©2012 AACR.
Centralized Energy-Efficient Multiuser Multiantenna Relaying in Next-Generation Radio Access Networks

This paper addresses the design of a multiuser relaying subnetwork within a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) from an energy-efficient perspective. In the relaying subnetwork, multiple source–destination pairs communicate with the assistance of multiple remote radio heads (RRHs) connected to the baseband unit pool. Exploiting the flexible centralized processing structure of C-RAN, where RRHs can be adaptively activated/deactivated, we formulate the problem as a quality-of-service (QoS) based network energy minimization problem via joint RRH selection and relaying matrix optimization. Since the resultant optimization problem is nonconvex and mathematically challenging, we propose an iterative solution based on the concept of the re-weighted $l_1$ norm, along with a block-coordinate descent type algorithm. The active RRHs are then determined in a single attempt by thresholding a group sparsity pattern associated with the set of all RRH relaying matrices. To circumvent a potentially undesirable condition, where the selected subset of RRHs fails to simultaneously satisfy all the destination users’ QoS levels, we conceive a UE admission control mechanism for overcoming the associated infeasibility problem. Our simulation results demonstrate the explicit benefits of the proposed design approach, which results in a significantly lower energy consumption of the relaying subnetwork than conventional cooperative relaying.
Applying one approach to geometric modelling

The current state of computer technology allows formulate of new problems and develop effective solutions for them. This requires developing of complex computer models and ways of their formation.Thus, when designing and building a visual model of thermal processes at welding turbine blades of aircraft engines, must be extremely accurate model the welding bath, the welding seam and region adjacent to them. Getting the exact solution of this problem requires simultaneous solution the whole complex of heat physical and geometrical problems which demand significant computing resources. This paper’s main result is presenting a generalized effective parallel-and-recursive algorithm with the optimal bound of time complexity O(logN) which solves in unified manner the variety of interrelated geometrical problems for the construction of visual models of complex phenomena and processes. This algorithm belongs to the class of the solvability NC2.