Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A detection theoretic explanation of blindsight suggests a link between conscious perception and metacognition

Blindsight refers to the rare ability of V1-damaged patients to perform visual tasks such as forced-choice discrimination, even though these patients claim not to consciously see the relevant stimuli. This striking phenomenon can be described in the formal terms of signal detection theory. (i) Blindsight patients use an unusually conservative criterion to detect targets. (ii) In discrimination tasks, their confidence ratings are low and (iii) such confidence ratings poorly predict task accuracy on a trial-by-trial basis. (iv) Their detection capacity (d′) is lower than expected based on their performance in forced-choice tasks. We propose a unifying explanation that accounts for these features: that blindsight is due to a failure to represent and update the statistical information regarding the internal visual neural response, i.e. a failure in metacognition. We provide computational simulation data to demonstrate that this model can qualitatively account for the detection theoretic features of blindsight. Because such metacognitive mechanisms are likely to depend on the prefrontal cortex, this suggests that although blindsight is typically due to damage to the primary visual cortex, distal influence to the prefrontal cortex by such damage may be critical. Recent brain imaging evidence supports this view.
In vitro interaction of colloidal nanoparticles with mammalian cells: What have we learned thus far?

Summary The interfacing of colloidal nanoparticles with mammalian cells is now well into its second decade. In this review our goal is to highlight the more generally accepted concepts that we have gleaned from nearly twenty years of research. While details of these complex interactions strongly depend, amongst others, upon the specific properties of the nanoparticles used, the cell type, and their environmental conditions, a number of fundamental principles exist, which are outlined in this review.
Implicitly and Explicitly Assessed Relationship Satisfaction

This study investigates the relationship between implicitly assessed (i.e., unexpressed, sometimes unconscious, “gut-level”) attitudes and explicitly assessed attitudes in romantic couples. 135 newlywed couples were examined in a laboratory session. A series of Hierarchical Linear Models were run to assess whether implicitly assessed attitudes predict the use of demand-withdraw behaviors in conflict discussion tasks. Results indicate that, for demand behaviors, there is a 3-way interaction between implicitly assessed attitudes, participant sex, and partner behavior during the discussion task. Implicitly assessed attitudes did not predict withdraw behaviors. Theoretical implications for both implicitly assessed attitudes research and romantic relationships research are discussed.
Control of leucocyte differentiation from embryonic stem cells upon vasculogenesis and confrontation with tumour tissue

Embryonic stem (ES) cells spontaneously differentiate capillary‐like structures as well as leucocytes such as monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer (NK) cells and cytototoxic T lymphocytes. The interplay between vasculogenesis and leucocyte differentiation as well as the population of tumour tissues with ES cell‐derived leucocytes and endothelial cells is, however, not sufficiently specified. In the present study, gene expression of the cell surface markers CD68 and CD14 (expressed on monocytes and macrophages), Mac‐1 (CD11b) (expressed on granulocytes, monocytes and NK cells) and CD16 (expressed on neutrophils) was investigated in murine CGR8 ES cells in relation to the endothelial cell markers CD31 and vascular endothelial (VE)‐cadherin. Expression of leucocyte markers increased from day 7–8 of cell culture on. Furthermore, addition of macrophage colony‐stimulating factor to the cell culture medium resulted in a threefold increase in the number of CD68+ monocytes/macrophages. Treatment of embryoid bodies with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) up‐regulated CD14 thus suggesting functionality of the CD14 LPS receptor. Differentiation of vascular structures positive for CD31 and VE‐cadherin preceded leucocyte differentiation by 2 days (i.e. from day 5–6 on) suggesting that vasculogenesis may be a determinant of leucocyte differentiation. Consequently the Flk‐1 antagonist SU5416 which inhibits vasculogenesis of ES cells significantly blunted leucocyte differentiation. Confrontation culture of embryoid bodies with multicellular breast tumour spheroids initiated significant increase of leucocyte cell numbers and invasion of leucocytes into the tumour tissue. In summary our data demonstrate that during ES cell differentiation vasculogenesis precedes leucocyte differentiation, and point towards the direction that leucocyte cell invasion into tumour tissue may initiate the pro‐inflammatory microenvironment necessary for tumour vascularization.
Exploring the overproduction of amino acids using the bilevel optimization framework OptKnock

In this study, we modify and extend the bilevel optimization framework OptKnock for identifying gene knockout strategies in the Escherichia coli metabolic network, leading to the overproduction of representative amino acids and key precursors for all five families. These strategies span not only the central metabolic network genes but also the amino acid biosynthetic and degradation pathways. In addition to gene deletions, the transport rates of carbon dioxide, ammonia, and oxygen, as well as the secretion pathways for key metabolites, are introduced as optimization variables in the framework. Computational results demonstrate the importance of manipulating energy‐producing/consuming pathways, controlling the uptake of nitrogen and oxygen, and blocking the secretion pathways of key competing metabolites. The identified pathway modifications include not only straightforward elimination of competing reactions but also a number of nonintuitive knockouts quite distant from the amino acid‐producing pathways. Specifically, OptKnock suggests three reactions (i.e., pyruvate kinase, phosphotransacetylase, and ATPase) for deletion, in addition to the straightforward elimination of 2‐ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, to generate a glutamate‐overproducing mutant. Similarly, phosphofructokinase and ATPase are identified as promising knockout targets to complement the removal of pyruvate formate lyase and pyruvate dehydrogenase for enhancing the yield of alanine. Although OptKnock in its present form does not consider regulatory constraints, it does provide useful suggestions largely in agreement with existing practices and, more importantly, introduces a framework for incorporating additional modeling refinements as they become available. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Towards a Validated Model of the Influence of Emotion on Human Performance

Abstract : In this article, we provide an overview of our recent progress in developing and validating human behavior models that incorporate the influence of emotion on cognition. This work has been developed over the last four years within a context of Mission Rehearsal Exercise (MRE) project, a research prototype designed to support immersive leadership training. MRE puts trainees into unscripted human-oriented simulations, where they can improvise solutions with virtual humans. These software entities look and act like people and can engage in conversation and collaborative tasks, but unlike robots, they exist in simulated environments. The technology underlying virtual humans is a natural, albeit more ambitious extension of the approaches used to model human decision-makers in military simulations. Virtual humans must act and reach in their simulated environment, drawing on the disciplines of automated reasoning and planning. To hold a conversation, they must exploit the full gamut of natural language research, from speech recognition and natural language understanding to natural language generation and speech synthesis. Providing human bodies that can be controlled in real time delves into computer graphics and animation. And because a virtual human looks like a human, people expect it to behave like one as well and will be disturbed by, or misinterpret, discrepancies from human norms. Thus, virtual human research must draw heavily on psychology and communication theory to appropriately convey nonverbal behavior, emotion, and personality.
An Approach to Text Corpus Construction which Cuts Annotation Costs and Maintains Reusability of Annotated Data

We consider the impact Active Learning (AL) has on effective and efficient text corpus annotation, and report on reduction rates for annotation efforts ranging up until 72%. We also address the issue whether a corpus annotated by means of AL ‐ using a particular classifier and a particular feature set ‐ can be re-used to train classifiers different from the ones employed by AL, supplying alternative feature sets as well. We, finally, report on our experience with the AL paradigm under real-world conditions, i.e., the annotation of large-scale document corpora for the life sciences.
A region on human chromosome 4 (q35.1→qter) induces senescence in cell hybrids and is involved in cervical carcinogenesis

Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 are known to play a major role in cervical carcinogenesis. Additional genetic alterations are required for the development and progression of cervical cancer. Previously, we showed that the introduction of an entire human chromosome 4 into HPV‐immortalized cells by microcell‐mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT) can induce senescence in cell hybrids. In the present study, we established eight new murine donor cell lines harboring different fragments of the human chromosome 4. These were tested for their ability to induce senescence by MMCT into HPV16‐immortalized keratinocytes (HPK II) and cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa). By exclusion, we could identify a region for a putative senescence gene or genes at 4q35.1→qter. Further evidence that this locus may be involved in cervical carcinogenesis was obtained by studying sections of high‐grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN2/3) and cervical cancers from 87 women using a combination of interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I‐FISH) and microsatellite PCR. I‐FISH indicated copy number loss at 4q34→qter. Microsatellite analysis showed that loss of one or more alleles at chromosome 4 was more frequent in the cervical carcinomas than in the CINs. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) affected four areas, D4S412 (4p16.3), D4S2394 (4q28.2), D4S3041 (4q32.3), and D4S408 (4q35.1), and was highest at D4S408. LOH at terminal 4q has been reported previously for cervical carcinomas and other human malignancies. This is the first report associating allelic loss at 4q34→qter with high‐grade intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical carcinoma, and the first experimental evidence that this locus or these loci can induce senescence in cervical carcinoma cells and HPV16‐immortalized cells. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Definition of Metabolic Syndrome: Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/American Heart Association Conference on Scientific Issues Related to Definition

The National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III report (ATP III)1 identified the metabolic syndrome as a multiplex risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) that is deserving of more clinical attention. The cardiovascular community has responded with heightened awareness and interest. ATP III criteria for metabolic syndrome differ somewhat from those of other organizations. Consequently, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in collaboration with the American Heart Association, convened a conference to examine scientific issues related to definition of the metabolic syndrome. The scientific evidence related to definition was reviewed and considered from several perspectives: (1) major clinical outcomes, (2) metabolic components, (3) pathogenesis, (4) clinical criteria for diagnosis, (5) risk for clinical outcomes, and (6) therapeutic interventions. ATP III viewed CVD as the primary clinical outcome of metabolic syndrome. Most individuals who develop CVD have multiple risk factors. In 1988, Reaven2 noted that several risk factors (eg, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia) commonly cluster together. This clustering he called Syndrome X , and he recognized it as a multiplex risk factor for CVD. Reaven and subsequently others postulated that insulin resistance underlies Syndrome X (hence the commonly used term insulin resistance syndrome ). Other researchers use the term metabolic syndrome for this clustering of metabolic risk factors. ATP III used this alternative term. It avoids the implication that insulin resistance is the primary or only cause of associated risk factors. Although ATP III identified CVD as the primary clinical outcome of the metabolic syndrome, most people with this syndrome have insulin resistance, which confers increased risk for type 2 diabetes. When diabetes becomes clinically apparent, CVD risk rises sharply. Beyond CVD and type 2 diabetes, individuals with metabolic syndrome seemingly are susceptible to other conditions, notably polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver, cholesterol gallstones, asthma, sleep disturbances, and some …
A CD317/tetherin–RICH2 complex plays a critical role in the organization of the subapical actin cytoskeleton in polarized epithelial cells

CD317/tetherin is a lipid raft–associated integral membrane protein with a novel topology. It has a short N-terminal cytosolic domain, a conventional transmembrane domain, and a C-terminal glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor. We now show that CD317 is expressed at the apical surface of polarized epithelial cells, where it interacts indirectly with the underlying actin cytoskeleton. CD317 is linked to the apical actin network via the proteins RICH2, EBP50, and ezrin. Knocking down expression of either CD317 or RICH2 gives rise to the same phenotype: a loss of the apical actin network with concomitant loss of apical microvilli, an increase in actin bundles at the basal surface, and a reduction in cell height without any loss of tight junctions, transepithelial resistance, or the polarized targeting of apical and basolateral membrane proteins. Thus, CD317 provides a physical link between lipid rafts and the apical actin network in polarized epithelial cells and is crucial for the maintenance of microvilli in such cells.
Reasoning about Belief Uncertainty in DL Lite N bool

Dealing with uncertainty is a very important issue in description logics (DLs). In this paper, we present PrDL‐ Litebool N a new probabilistic extension of DL‐ Litebool N , known as a very expressive DL‐Lite, by supporting the belief degree interval in a single axiom or a set of axioms connected with conjunction (by ∧) or disjunction (by ∨) operators. The PrDL‐ Litebool N semantics is based on DL‐ Litebool N features which are a new alternative semantics for DL‐ Litebool N having a finite structure and its number is always finite unlike classical models. PrDL‐ Litebool N also supports terminological and assertional probabilistic knowledge and the main reasoning tasks: satisfiability, deciding the probabilistic axiom entailment and computing tight interval for entailment are achieved by solving linear constraints system. A prototype is implemented using OWL API for knowledge base creation, Pellet for reasoning and LpSolve for solving the linear programs.
An Aerial Glimpse of Workplace Deviance in Indian Service Industry

Employee deviance is now a grave issue for organizations across the globe. Organizations are losing a crown of their wealth and goodwill due to their failure in containment of deviance prevalent in their premises and this unethical behavior seems to be increasing exponentially day by day. Indian culture and values inculcates its citizen with morality and ethics yet surprisingly Indian service industry is not entirely immune from such unethical behavior. Every organization irrespective of its size, structure, location and operations is contaminated with unethical practices to some extent. This study attempts to identify the various kinds of deviant behavior pervasive in Indian service cluster and whether the demographic variables have any role in indulgence in such behaviors. For the purpose of same a literature review on current and earlier researches on same and similar areas was conducted followed by the designing of a self-report questionnaire, its distribution, collection and its empirical analysis. Data from 156 service sector employees was gathered and tests like Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The paper rests with note on existing deviant behavior and some very basic remedial steps to contain it.
Code density optimization for embedded DSP processors using data compression techniques

We address the problem of code size minimization in VLSI systems with embedded DSP processors. Reducing code size reduces the production cost of embedded systems. We use data compression methods to develop code size minimization strategies. We present a framework for code size minimization where the compressed data consists of a dictionary and a skeleton. The dictionary can be computed using popular text compression algorithms. We describe two methods to execute the compressed code that have varying performance characteristics and varying degrees of freedom in compressing the code. Experimental results obtained with a TMS320C25 code generator are presented.
Spaltenbasierte Datenbanken - Ein Konzept zur Handhabung großer Datenmengen

Bei Anwendungen in der Land-, Forst und Ernahrungswirtschaft, z.B. Ruckverfolgungsdaten von Lebensmitteln und Produkten oder bei Prozessund Zustandsdaten von Landmaschinen, ist in den letzten Jahren ein rasanter Anstieg des Datenwachstums zu beobachten. Die Speicherung und Verarbeitung dieser Daten findet typischerweise in Data Warehouses statt. Um auch bei wachsendem Datenvolumen eine effiziente Verarbeitung gewahrleisten zu konnen, bietet die spaltenorientierte Speicherung in Kombination mit Kompression eine interessante Option, die in diesem Beitrag skizziert wird.
Parent Education for Dialogic Reading: Online and Face-to-Face Delivery Methods

ABSTRACT This study explored the impact of a parent education program and the contextual factors that influenced the experiences of families in the program. Seventeen parents completed a 9-week, face-to-face program and 15 parents completed a similar online program. This study was designed as a multiple case study and utilized multimethods for data collection and analysis. An inductive approach was utilized for data analysis. Each parent-child dyad completed pre- and postintervention video recordings of shared storybook reading. The videos were analyzed using the Adult Child Interactive Reading Inventory and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. Parents receiving either delivery method increased their use of dialogue while sharing storybooks. There were no significant differences between the online and face-to-face adult and children’s use of dialogue. The contextual factors that influenced the online participants were online access and design and delivery of content. The contextual factors that influenced the face-to-face participants were engagement, time, and group dynamics.
Early Serum Procalcitonin Level after Primary Total Hip Replacement

Background. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a useful surrogate marker for the differentiation of postoperative infection and unspecific inflammatory reaction after surgery. It is known that postoperative course of the PCT serum level varies with type of surgery. No data exists about the postoperative course of serum PCT levels after primary total hip replacement (THR). Purpose. To characterize early postoperative serum PCT levels in uneventful primary THR compared to postoperative levels of different frequently used inflammatory blood parameters. Method. We prospectively investigated 31 patients. Blood samples were taken preoperatively and for 5 days postoperatively. PCT levels were compared with C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and blood leucocyte counts (WBC). Results. In uneventful THR PCT levels showed a uniform low-level course with a peak at the second postoperative day. At the fifth day values returned to almost preoperative levels. On contrary, CRP levels remained high during the entire observational period. Only IL-6 levels showed a peak at postoperative day one with a quick and uniform return to preoperative levels. Conclusion. Similar to observations in cardiothoracic, intestinal, and neural surgeries, postoperative course of PCT after primary THR showed a uniform low-level course with a peak at the second postoperative day but below expected levels in systemic infections.
In Silico Design and Experimental Validation of siRNAs Targeting Conserved Regions of Multiple Hepatitis C Virus Genotypes

RNA interference (RNAi) is a post-transcriptional gene silencing mechanism that mediates the sequence-specific degradation of targeted RNA and thus provides a tremendous opportunity for development of oligonucleotide-based drugs. Here, we report on the design and validation of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting highly conserved regions of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome. To aim for therapeutic applications by optimizing the RNAi efficacy and reducing potential side effects, we considered different factors such as target RNA variations, thermodynamics and accessibility of the siRNA and target RNA, and off-target effects. This aim was achieved using an in silico design and selection protocol complemented by an automated MysiRNA-Designer pipeline. The protocol included the design and filtration of siRNAs targeting highly conserved and accessible regions within the HCV internal ribosome entry site, and adjacent core sequences of the viral genome with high-ranking efficacy scores. Off-target analysis excluded siRNAs with potential binding to human mRNAs. Under this strict selection process, two siRNAs (HCV353 and HCV258) were selected based on their predicted high specificity and potency. These siRNAs were tested for antiviral efficacy in HCV genotype 1 and 2 replicon cell lines. Both in silico-designed siRNAs efficiently inhibited HCV RNA replication, even at low concentrations and for short exposure times (24h); they also exceeded the antiviral potencies of reference siRNAs targeting HCV. Furthermore, HCV353 and HCV258 siRNAs also inhibited replication of patient-derived HCV genotype 4 isolates in infected Huh-7 cells. Prolonged treatment of HCV replicon cells with HCV353 did not result in the appearance of escape mutant viruses. Taken together, these results reveal the accuracy and strength of our integrated siRNA design and selection protocols. These protocols could be used to design highly potent and specific RNAi-based therapeutic oligonucleotide interventions.