Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Anatomy of the Observation and Imagination of Unimanual and Bimanual Actions

D. Kingsley, A. Zaman, E. Franz, N. Roberts Department of Psychiatry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, MARIARC, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery (WCNN), Liverpool, United Kingdom, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Introduction Several studies have examined the functional equivalence of execution, action observation and imagination of motor actions (Grezes and Decety 2001), finding neural overlap associated with these different tasks, notably in SMA, premotor cortex and superior parietal lobe. This makes sense in terms of the known role of these neural areas for generating a motor plan appropriate to an intended goal. Recent studies have also identified an important link between properties of action observation and action execution, with the discovery of mirror neurons (MNs) (Gallese et al 1996, Rizzolatti et al 1996). MNs, located in area F5 in the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey, have shown increased firing patterns both when an animal manipulates objects and when an animal observes similar object manipulations produced by a human experimenter (Rizzolatti et al. 1998). The human homologue of F5 is believed to be Broca's area located in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (Passingham 1993). Neuroimaging studies on humans have demonstrated IFG activation during execution, observation, and imagination of unimanual hand actions (Shlaug et al 1994, Decety et al. 1994, Iacaboni 1999). However, possible differences in IFG related to unimanual versus bimanual actions have had limited description. A recent study by Nair et al (2003) used fMRI to study the neural activity of imagined and executed unimanual and bimanual finger movements. Activation in bilateral superior parietal lobules suggested an important role of these areas in coordinating bimanual sequences, but the study found no evidence of IFG activity. The present study took the next step in identifying the neural correlates of bimanual (and unimanual) action observation and imagination, using ecologically-valid goal-directed skilled hand movements as stimuli that are likely to elicit MN (IFG) activity.
Determinants of quality education in private universities from student perspectives

Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to identify the determinants that potentially influence quality education in private universities in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach – To attain this objective, 234 data were collected through face-to-face interviews on campus during February-March 2013 from Bachelor of Business Administration students. The bootstrapping procedure through AMOS was applied to analyze the data apart from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Findings – The bootstrap path coefficients suggest that seven factors are statistically significant among the eight postulated independent variables. The outcomes of the confirmatory factor analysis, such as factor loadings, eigenvalues and percentage of variance explained, as well as reliability coefficients, are observed to conform to the results of path analysis, such as item loadings and path coefficients, which consistently increased the robustness of the study. Practical implications – The overall results of the study w.
Presentation of a Single Item versus a Grid: Effects on the Vitality and Mental Health Scales of the SF-36v2 Health Survey

There is a lot of debate about whether questions should be presented on a grid or in a single item per screen. Operationally, grids take less time for respondents to complete. Use of grids should decrease response burden, although new research shows that respondents seem to prefer a single item per screen. From a measurement point of view, grids pose numerous issues: higher item non-response, higher item non-differentiation, and sometimes higher measurement error. In this experiment, we are testing the Vitality (4 items) and Mental Health (5 items) scales of the SF-36v2® Health Survey. The SF-36v2 asks 36 questions to measure functional health and well-being from the patient's point of view. It is called a generic health survey, because it can be used across age (18 and older), disease, and treatment groups, as opposed to a disease-specific health survey which focuses on a particular condition or disease. Two of the four items of the vitality scale and two out of five items of the mental health scale are reversed in scoring. A sample of 2,500 KnowledgePanel® respondents was randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions: Group 1: Standard grid; Group 2: Shaded grid; Group 3: One item per screen with horizontal response options; Group 4: One item per screen with vertical response options; Group 5: One item per screen with vertical shaded response options. Approximately 360 respondents completed the survey per condition for a completion rate of 73.4%. The survey was optimized to be seen on a screen with minimum resolution of 800 by 600 pixels. During the study we collected the browser type for each respondent. This allowed us to exclude cases in which the survey was taken either on a MSNTV or on an iPhone/PDA because they could not properly see the grid items. The final sample used for the analysis, after exclusions, was of 1,419 cases for an average group size of about 280. We hypothesized that items presented on a grid would lead to more measurement error as indicated by a higher rate of “inconsistencies” in the self-reports to grid questions and a lower rate of inconsistencies in the self-reports to the single-item questions. We speculated that presenting items on a single screen allows the respondent to bring more cognitive focus to each question and therefore be more consistent in their answers to questions. In contrast, when items are on a grid, it is easier for the respondent to get confused, especially when the meaning of some of the items is reversed. We computed an index of consistency by correlating the total sum of scores for the reversed items with the total sum of scores for the non-reversed items. If respondents are consistent in their answers the correlation between reversed and non-reversed should be higher. We calculated Cronbach's alpha scores to measure consistency in answers for each of the five experimental conditions.
BILBO-friendly hybrid BIST architecture with asymmetric polynomial reseeding

By advances in technology, integrated circuits have come to include more functionality and more complexity in a single chip. Although methods of testing have improved, but the increase in complexity of circuits, keeps testing a challenging problem. Two important challenges in testing of digital circuits are test time and accessing the circuit under test (CUT) for testing. These challenges become even more important in complex system on chip (SoC) zone. This paper presents a multistage test strategy to be implemented on a BIST architecture for reducing test time of a simple core as solution for more global application of SoC testing strategy. This strategy implements its test pattern generation and output response analyzer in a BILBO architecture. The proposed method benefits from an irregular polynomial BILBO (IP-BILBO) structure to improve its test results. Experimental results on ISCAS-89 benchmark circuits show an average of 35% improvement in test time in proportion to pervious work.
Comparison of the Effect of Vessel Size Imaging and Cerebral Blood Volume Derived from Perfusion MR Imaging on Glioma Grading

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Vascular proliferation is a major criterion for grading gliomas on the basis of histology. Relative cerebral blood volume can provide pathophysiologic information about glioma grading. Vessel size imaging, in some animals, can be used to estimate the microvascular caliber of a glioma, but its clinical use remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to compare the predictive power of relative cerebral blood volume and vessel size imaging in glioma grading, with grading based on histology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy patients with glioma participated in the study; 30 patients underwent MR perfusion imaging with a spin-echo sequence and vessel size imaging with a gradient-echo and spin-echo sequence successively at 24-hour intervals before surgery. We analyzed the vessel size imaging values and relative cerebral blood volume of differently graded gliomas. The microvessel parameters were histologically evaluated and compared with those on MR imaging. The cutoff values of vessel size imaging and relative cerebral blood volume obtained from receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to predict glioma grading in another 40 patients. RESULTS: Vessel size imaging values and relative cerebral blood volume were both increased in high-grade gliomas compared with low-grade gliomas (P < .01). Moreover, vessel size imaging values had higher specificity and sensitivity in differentiating high-grade from low-grade gliomas compared with relative cerebral blood volume. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between vessel size imaging values and microvessel diameters (r > 0.8, P < .05) and between relative cerebral blood volume and microvessel area (r = 0.6579, P < .05). Most important, the use of vessel size imaging cutoff values to predict glioma grading was more accurate (100%) than use of relative cerebral blood volume (85%) values. CONCLUSIONS: Vessel size imaging can provide more accurate information on glioma grading and may serve as an effective biomarker for the prognosis of patients with gliomas.
Perceptual Integration Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Are Associated with Reduced Interhemispheric Gamma-Band Coherence

The integration of visual details into a holistic percept is essential for object recognition. This integration has been reported as a key deficit in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The weak central coherence account posits an altered disposition to integrate features into a coherent whole in ASD. Here, we test the hypothesis that such weak perceptual coherence may be reflected in weak neural coherence across different cortical sites. We recorded magnetoencephalography from 20 adult human participants with ASD and 20 matched controls, who performed a slit-viewing paradigm, in which objects gradually passed behind a vertical or horizontal slit so that only fragments of the object were visible at any given moment. Object recognition thus required perceptual integration over time and, in case of the horizontal slit, also across visual hemifields. ASD participants were selectively impaired in the horizontal slit condition, indicating specific difficulties in long-range synchronization between the hemispheres. Specifically, the ASD group failed to show condition-related enhancement of imaginary coherence between the posterior superior temporal sulci in both hemispheres during horizontal slit-viewing in contrast to controls. Moreover, local synchronization reflected in occipitocerebellar beta-band power was selectively reduced for horizontal compared with vertical slit-viewing in ASD. Furthermore, we found disturbed connectivity between right posterior superior temporal sulcus and left cerebellum. Together, our results suggest that perceptual integration deficits co-occur with specific patterns of abnormal global and local synchronization in ASD. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The weak central coherence account proposes a tendency of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) to focus on details at the cost of an integrated coherent whole. Here, we provide evidence, at the behavioral and the neural level, that visual integration in object recognition is impaired in ASD, when details had to be integrated across both visual hemifields. We found enhanced interhemispheric gamma-band coherence in typically developed participants when communication between cortical hemispheres was required by the task. Importantly, participants with ASD failed to show this enhanced coherence between bilateral posterior superior temporal sulci. The findings suggest that visual integration is disturbed at the local and global synchronization scale, which might bear implications for object recognition in ASD.
Seeing the world of physical culture: the potential of visual methods for qualitative research in sport and exercise

Readers should also refer to the journal’s website at http://www.informaworld. com/rqrs and check volume 2, issue 2 to view the visual material in colour. Adopting visual methods can enhance our understanding of the social world. By encompassing a multitude of forms including photographs, videos, maps, diagrams, symbols and so forth, images can provide specific information about our existence. They can also act as powerful indicators regarding the multiple meanings embedded within our culture. One domain where the use of visual methods has been less well documented is that of physical culture. Physical culture is taken here to mean human physical movement occurring within recognised cultural domains such as sport, dance and, more broadly, outdoor and indoor recreational activities involving expression through physicality. Opening this special edition of Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise on ‘Visual Methods in Physical Culture’s’, I provide some broad responses to the following questions: What are visual methods? Why might they be useful? How can they be utilised? I then outline some ongoing debates within the field surrounding issues of interpretation, representation and ethics. I conclude by positioning this special edition as a resource to assist with the continued use of visual methods in physical culture.
The evaluation of conservation practice placement in the Little River Experimental Watershed using geographic information systems

The Conservation Effects Assessment Program Watershed Assessment Study is a joint effort between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service to evaluate the effectiveness of federally funded conservation programs. In response to this initiative, a 26-year history of NRCS conservation practice placement (1980 to 2006) was evaluated for the Little River Experimental Watershed (LREW) in the southeastern coastal plain of Georgia. To accomplish this task, currently available geographic databases were integrated and queried to assess levels of commonly adopted practices and to evaluate factors affecting practice placement. Databases included (1) USDA NRCS Conservation Practice Database for the LREW, (2) USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), and (3) 30 m (98 ft) digital elevation maps. Nearly 50% of all cropland fields in the LREW were delineated as having participated in conservation programs. Practices were predominantly used for water quality and erosion control. Sixty to 65% of the fields (77% of land area) implemented soil erosion and/or water quality control practices in high resource concern areas. Results showed that hydrologic group and proximity to a water body, rather than slope class, were the predominant factors in conservation practice placement. Using a subwatershed database having complete field coverage of four LREW subwatersheds (with and without USDA NRCS assistance), geographic information system databases were queried to evaluate the adoption and placement of erosion control practices that were visible in a 2005 digital orthoquad. Forty-seven percent of all fields in the subwatershed database had implemented visible erosion control–specific conservation practices. and implementation was linearly related to slope class (r2 = 0.64, p < 0.10). Fields identified as having participated in federally funded conservation programs coincided with high resource concern areas 35% of the time.
Why is diagnosis of infectious myocarditis such a challenge?

Etiologies of myocarditis include a number of infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and fungi, but most frequently the myocardial inflammatory processin myocarditis is directed against viral pathogens. Both viruses and the cellular antiviral immune response can injure myocardial tissue [1,2]. Although imaging techniques can provide noninvasive tissue characterization and localize larger inflammatory infiltrates, they are misleading if infectious agents are involved, since they neither detect nor quantify different virus types and loads or inflammatory cell numbers, nor differentiate between cell subtypes of the immune response. Consequently, the underlying infectious etiologies and inflammatory characteristics cannot be clinically identified. New pathogen-specif ic quantitative molecular diagnostic tests and histochemical staining procedures have expanded the role for endomyocardial biopsy as the only reliable method to elucidate the true nature of the disease and to specify tailored treatment conditions for subgroups of patients [3]. Biopsy-based treatment decisions demand, however, a complete molecular biological, histological and histochemical work-up of myocardial tissue. Otherwise, an incorrect therapeutic decision may be based on incomplete diagnostic information and jeopardize treated patients, as reported for immunosuppressive treatment of virus-positive patients [4,5]. Clinical phenotypes of infectious & noninfectious myocarditis Myocarditis can be diagnosed by established histopathological, histochemical, or molecular criteria, but it is challenging to identify it clinically. In acute disease, sudden onset of chest pain and exertional dyspnea, congestive heart failure despite regularly seized ventricles or with enlarged ventricular chambers which may develop rapidly within days or weeks, ventricular arrhythmias and abnormal ST-T segments and changes in the presence of elevated cardiac enzymes (CK/CKMB or TNT) are highly suspicious for an active inflammatory process of the myocardium, if other acute cardiac diseases have been excluded. Without angiography, it cannot clinically be distinguished from an acute coronary syndrome. In the subacute and chronic phase of infectious and noninfectious myocarditis or inflammatory cardiomyopathy, which by definition is a chronic myocarditis with DCM phenotype, myocardial inflammation cannot be suspected from the clinical profile, since nearly all clinical characteristics suggestive of acute myocarditis are missing. Patients present with uncharacteristic complaints such as angina, dyspnea, fatigue, reduced physical disability or arrhythmias in the presence of a preserved or impaired systolic or diastolic function, or with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther. 9(12), 1093–1095 (2011)
Title Negative Self Selection into Self-employment among

This paper attempts to shed light on the mechanism behind the lower rate of self-employment (SE) among African Americans compared with whites. Both consumer discrimination and discrimination in the credit market, combined with anti-discrimination law enforcement in the salary/wage (SW) sector, explain why African Americans, those with high earning capacity in particular, are less likely to be SE because the cost of being discriminated against is high. Borjas and Bronars (1989) tested negative self-selection into SE among African Americans using Heckman’s sample-selection correction under certain excluded variable assumptions. Using matched CPS panel data, this paper tests the same prediction without relying on any excluded variable assumptions. More specifically, current SE workers are divided into future SW and SE workers, and the distributions of the current earnings of these two groups are compared. The analysis reveals both positive and negative self-selection into SE among whites, but almost only negative self-selection among African Americans. This finding is consistent with the theoretical predictions of consumer and credit market discrimination against AfricanAmerican self-employed workers and confirms Borjas and Bronars (1989)’s
A Fair Request-Grant Matching Algorithm for Fabric Scheduling in Packet Switches

Request-Grant (RG) matching algorithms are now widely used for scheduling in high-speed packet switches. An RG algorithm is iterated for a few iteration cycles in a time-slot to achieve a higher matching size. In RG algorithms, each input sends request to all/some of the outputs at each iteration cycle. Then each output sends grant to one of its requesting inputs according to an input priority sequence. In this paper, we analyze the existing RG matching algorithms showing that they have fairness and convergence problem under a range of input load distributions. Our analysis and simulation show that our proposed algorithm called TRGA is a high throughput matching algorithm that presents an optimal fairness and convergence under all load distributions.
CVD synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes from gold nanoparticle catalysts.

We present the first demonstration of the synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes using gold nanoparticle catalysts with thermal chemical vapor deposition. Nanotubes were successfully grown using monodispersed gold nanoparticles prepared through a block copolymer templating technique. The nanotubes are characterized by atomic force microscopy and resonant Raman spectroscopy and are found to have a diameter range between 1.0 and 2.0 nm.
Human pose tracking based on both generic and specific appearance models

Effective data association is essential for tracking human motion in monocular-video sequence. Data association using colour-based appearance models that are learned automatically and specific to the human being tracked has been shown to achieve good performance, but such specific appearance models can fail in cases where different parts have similar colour and often still require a prior training before the appearance can be learned. In this paper, a novel human tracking system is proposed that automatically extracts a specific appearance model and utilises this together with the initial generic appearance detector to estimate a human's pose in a video. No prior training or temporal smoothing is required. Experiments are conducted to compare the proposed approach against existing algorithms based only on specific appearances. Tracking is performed on several publicly available data sets to demonstrate that the approach works well without any training or tuning required, and results show that data association based on both generic and specific appearance models outperforms specific-only approaches.
Game of the Parties to the Transaction Taobao

In this article the trading behavior of buyers and sellers in Taobao was analyzed from the perspective of game theory. The three trade expectations and their possible trade links and the corresponding solutions and the transaction model of Taobao Game of the parties were proposed. Moreover the measures of successful e-commerce transactions can not do without the protection of various effective was presented, which could prevent the occurrence of fraud, but also prompt the formation of Nash equilibrium game model, so that trading between the two sides was forced to choose to complete the transaction integrity of the transactions.
SENZI and ASURA: New High-Precision Sound-Space Sensing Systems based on Symmetrically Arranged Numerous Microphones

Sensing of precise sound-space information is important to realize ultra-realistic communications. This study is aimed at realizing high-precision sensors of sound-space information for transmission to distant places. The proposed systems comprehensively sense 3D sound-space information, i.e., information for all directions for any listener orientation with correct binaural cues. In this report, we introduce two systems: "SENZI (Symmetrical object with ENchased ZIllion microphones)'' and "ASURA (A Symmetrical and Universal Recording Array)''. Results of computer simulations demonstrate that our proposed system can sense 3D sound space with high precision.