Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using eye gaze and speech to simulate a pointing device

The performance of eye gaze and speech when used as a pointing device was tested using the ISO multi-directional tapping task. Eye gaze and speech were used for target selection as is, as well as with the use of a gravitational well and in conjunction with magnification. These selection methods were then compared to the mouse. The mouse was far superior in terms of performance when selecting targets, although the use of a gravitational well did increase the performance of eye gaze and speech. However, magnification did not improve the use of gaze and speech as a pointing device.
Morphology and Infraciliature of Three Species of Metaurostylopsis (Ciliophora, Stichotrichia): M. songi n. sp., M. salina n. sp., and M. marina (Kahl 1932) from Sediments, Saline Ponds, and Coastal Waters

Abstract. Two new urostylid ciliates, Metaurostylopsis songi n. sp. and Metaurostylopsis salina n. sp. and Metaurostylopsis marina ( Kahl 1932 ) are investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation. These species were isolated in Korea from intertidal sediments, saline ponds, and coastal waters. Metaurostylopsis songi is in vivo about 120 μm × 25 μm, has a slenderly ellipsoidal body, colorless cortical granules in rows on ventral and dorsal body sides, about 54 macronuclear nodules, 28–47 adoral membranelles, five frontal, two or three frontoterminal and six or seven transverse cirri, and 9–12 midventral cirral pairs followed posteriorly by 1–3 single cirri. In vivo M. salina is about 60 μm × 25 μm, has a pyriform body, colorless cortical granules irregularly arranged, about 45 macronuclear nodules, 18–23 adoral membranelles, three frontal, three to five frontoterminal and two to five transverse cirri, and four or five midventral cirral pairs followed posteriorly by five to seven single cirri. Both species have three marginal cirral rows on each body side and 3 long dorsal kineties. The Korean specimens of M. marina match the Chinese population in all main features. Metaurostylopsis songi differs from M. marina by the more slender body, the number of frontal cirri (invariably five vs. four), and the arrangement of cortical granules (in rows on dorsal and ventral cortex vs. only along dorsal kineties and anterior body margin). Metaurostylopsis salina differs from its congeners by the distinctly smaller size, the pyriform body shape, the scattered cortical granules (vs. in rows), and number of frontal cirri. It differs from M. marina also by the number of midventral cirral pairs (four or five vs. seven to 11).
An Analysis of the Connections Between Layers of Deep Neural Networks

We present an analysis of different techniques for selecting the connection be- tween layers of deep neural networks. Traditional deep neural networks use ran- dom connection tables between layers to keep the number of connections small and tune to different image features. This kind of connection performs adequately in supervised deep networks because their values are refined during the training. On the other hand, in unsupervised learning, one cannot rely on back-propagation techniques to learn the connections between layers. In this work, we tested four different techniques for connecting the first layer of the network to the second layer on the CIFAR and SVHN datasets and showed that the accuracy can be im- proved up to 3% depending on the technique used. We also showed that learning the connections based on the co-occurrences of the features does not confer an advantage over a random connection table in small networks. This work is helpful to improve the efficiency of connections between the layers of unsupervised deep neural networks.
Panmicrobial Oligonucleotide Array for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases

To facilitate rapid, unbiased, differential diagnosis of infectious diseases, we designed GreeneChipPm, a panmicrobial microarray comprising 29,455 sixty-mer oligonucleotide probes for vertebrate viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Methods for nucleic acid preparation, random primed PCR amplification, and labeling were optimized to allow the sensitivity required for application with nucleic acid extracted from clinical materials and cultured isolates. Analysis of nasopharyngeal aspirates, blood, urine, and tissue from persons with various infectious diseases confirmed the presence of viruses and bacteria identified by other methods, and implicated Plasmodium falciparum in an unexplained fatal case of hemorrhagic feverlike disease during the Marburg hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Angola in 2004–2005.
Protein Flexibility in Drug Discovery: From Theory to Computation

Nowadays it is widely accepted that the mechanisms of biomolecular recognition are strongly coupled to the intrinsic dynamic of proteins. In past years, this evidence has prompted the development of theoretical models of recognition able to describe ligand binding assisted by protein conformational changes. On a different perspective, the need to take into account protein flexibility in structure‐based drug discovery has stimulated the development of several and extremely diversified computational methods. Herein, on the basis of a parallel between the major recognition models and the simulation strategies used to account for protein flexibility in ligand binding, we sort out and describe the most innovative and promising implementations for structure‐based drug discovery.
Comparative examinations of self-reports and perceived absenteeism norms: Wading through Lake Wobegon.

The properties of self-reports and perceived norms of absenteeism were examined and compared in 7 progressive studies. Regardless of attendance context, time interval, type of estimate, or administration condition, individuals reported (on average) having roughly half the absenteeism of the perceived norm among their peers; 85% to 95% of respondents reported being above average in their attendance record. This «Lake Wobegon effect» was traced to a small negative bias (underreporting) in self-reports and a large positive bias (overreporting) in perceived norms. Self-presentation and availability processes were proposed as explanations for these biases. In a study in which direct observations of past and future absenteeism were collected, self-reports correlated.69 (p <.01) with the direct observations. Perceived norms explained unique variation (ΔR 2 =.10, p <.01) in future absenteeism
Work Play Study 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The software industry is very dynamic and new ideas arise all the time from virtually any part of the world. It is not guaranteed that these ideas will be adopted, mainly because, among other obstacles, the solution may imply in having people change their way of thinking. Different from people, computers receive well defined commands and execute them precisely. We should take into account that human beings are independent and unpredictable. Despite of this unpredictability, we can find some behavioral patterns to help us deal with several situations, allowing us to achieve our objectives. In this paper, after a small introduction to the Patterns for Introducing New Ideas proposed by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising, we propose four new patterns that can be added to the original catalog. In one of these new patterns, we show the great importance of combining artistic activities with day-to-day activities of people who work with software development and how Arts can help us to introduce new ideas. The study of some practices such as theater, painting, poetry, music, and meditation allowed us to find some connective elements between the purely mathematical side of the human mind and its creative, artistic one. Software development must be approached as a “human activity”, rather than a solely technical or logical one. [Copyright notice will appear here once ’preprint’ option is removed. ]
Link between the renin–angiotensin system and insulin resistance: Implications for cardiovascular disease

The incidence of metabolic syndrome is rapidly increasing in the United States and worldwide. The metabolic syndrome is a complex metabolic and vascular disorder that is associated with inappropriate activation of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) in the cardiovascular (CV) system and increased CV morbidity and mortality. Insulin activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway promotes nitric oxide (NO) production in the endothelium and glucose uptake in insulin-sensitive tissues. Angiotensin (Ang) II inhibits insulin-mediated PI3K pathway activation, thereby impairing endothelial NO production and Glut-4 translocation in insulin-sensitive tissues, which results in vascular and systemic insulin resistance, respectively. On the other hand, Ang II enhances insulin-mediated activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, which leads to vasoconstriction and pathologic vascular cellular growth. Therefore, the interaction of Ang II with insulin signaling is fully operative not only in insulin-sensitive tissues but also in CV tissues, thereby linking insulin resistance and CV disease. This notion is further supported by an increasing number of experimental and clinical studies indicating that pharmacological blockade of RAAS improves insulin sensitivity and endothelial function, as well as reduces the incidence of new-onset diabetes in high-risk patients with CV disease. This article reviews experimental and clinical data elucidating the physiological and pathophysiological role of the interaction between insulin and RAAS in the development of insulin resistance as well as CV disease.
Induced pluripotent stem cells derived from rabbits exhibit some characteristics of naïve pluripotency

Summary Not much is known about the molecular and functional features of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in rabbits. To address this, we derived and characterized 2 types of rabbit PSCs from the same breed of New Zealand White rabbits: 4 lines of embryonic stem cells (rbESCs), and 3 lines of induced PSCs (rbiPSCs) that were obtained by reprogramming adult skin fibroblasts. All cell lines required fibroblast growth factor 2 for their growth and proliferation. All rbESC lines showed molecular and functional properties typically associated with primed pluripotency. The cell cycle of rbESCs had a prolonged G1 phase and a DNA damage checkpoint before entry into the S phase, which are the 2 features typically associated with the somatic cell cycle. In contrast, the rbiPSC lines exhibited some characteristics of naïve pluripotency, including resistance to single-cell dissociation by trypsin, robust activity of the distal enhancer of the mouse Oct4 gene, and expression of naïve pluripotency-specific genes, as defined in rodents. According to gene expression profiles, rbiPSCs were closer to the rabbit inner cell mass (ICM) than rbESCs. Furthermore, rbiPSCs were capable of colonizing the ICM after aggregation with morulas. Therefore, we propose that rbiPSCs self-renew in an intermediate state between naïve and primed pluripotency, which represents a key step toward the generation of bona fide naïve PSC lines in rabbits.
Linearly constrained MEG beamformers for MVAR modeling of cortical interactions

Among the many methods for modeling cortical interactions using EEG and MEG data, multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) functional connectivity measures have the advantage of providing parametric directional and frequency specific information. While MVAR models have been successfully applied to depth electrode data, they are more difficult to use with external EEG and MEG data since they are not robust to the cross-talk between cortical regions that may arise because of the limited spatial resolution of EEG/MEG inverse procedures. Here we describe a modified beamforming approach for processing EEG/MEG data, designed to eliminate cross-talk between cortical regions. The output of the beamformer is then used to estimate the coefficients of an MVAR model of cortical interactions. We illustrate this method using simulated dynamic MEG data
Specific Neurotrophic Factors Support the Survival of Cortical Projection Neurons at Distinct Stages of Development

Repair of specific neuronal circuitry in the neocortex may be possible via neural precursor transplantation or manipulation of endogenous precursors in situ. These approaches will almost certainly require a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that control survival and differentiation of specific neuronal lineages. Such analysis has been hampered by the overwhelming diversity of neuronal types intermixed in neocortex and the inability to isolate individual lineages. To elucidate stage-specific controls over the survival of individual lineages of cortical neurons, we purified immature callosal projection neurons (CPN) at distinct stages of development from embryonic and postnatal mouse cortex by retrograde fluorescence labeling, followed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Purified CPN survive well in culture, acquire stage-specific projection neuron morphologies, and express appropriate neurotransmitters and growth factor receptors. Purified CPN are dependent on exogenous trophic support for survival in a stage-specific manner. Survival of postnatal day 2 (P2) to P3 and P6–P7 CPN is promoted by overlapping but distinct sets of neurotrophic factors, whereas embryonic day 19 CPN show less specificity of dependence on peptide factors. These studies demonstrate for the first time the stage-specific control by peptide growth factors over the survival of a specific cortical neuronal lineage. Such information may be critical for the future goal of directed differentiation of transplanted or endogenous precursors toward cellular repair of complex cortical circuitry.
Kathy O'Hara's constructive proof of the unimodality of the Gaussian polynomials

The best way to learn a topic is by teaching it. Similarly, the best way to understand a new proof is by writing an expository paper about it. This was the original motivation of the present paper. Once written, I thought that it would be nice if all the readers of this Monthly had the opportunity to savor this elegant proof. All the central ideas and constructions are O’Hara’s, but I have made a few minor improvements and shortcuts that I believe to make the argument clearer. I would like to thank Kathy O’Hara for stimulating conversations and correspondence.
A Note on the Evaluation of Mutation Prioritization Algorithms

Recent developments in the field of gene sequencing technology greatly accelerated discovery of mutations that cause various genetic disorders. At the same time, a typical sequencing experiment generates a large number of candidate mutations, hence detecting single or few causative variants is still a formidable problem. Many computational methods have been proposed to assist this process, from which a large portion employ statistical learning in some form. Consequently, each newly designed algorithm is routinely compared to other competing systems in hope to demonstrate advantageous performance. In this work we review and discuss several issues related to the current practice of evaluation of mutation prioritization algorithms and suggest possible directions for improvements.
Genetics of Ascites Resistance and Tolerance in Chicken: A Random Regression Approach

Resistance and tolerance are two complementary mechanisms to reduce the detrimental effects of parasites, pathogens, and production diseases on host performance. Using body weight and ascites data on domesticated chicken Gallus gallus domesticus, we demonstrate the use of random regression animal model and covariance functions to estimate genetic parameters for ascites resistance and tolerance and illustrate the way individual variation in resistance and tolerance induce both genotype re-ranking and changes in variation of host performance along increasing ascites severity. Tolerance to ascites displayed significant genetic variance, with the estimated breeding values of tolerance slope ranging from strongly negative (very sensitive genotype) to weakly negative (less sensitive). Resistance to ascites had heritability of 0.34. Both traits are hence expected to respond to selection. The two complementary defense strategies, tolerance and resistance, were genetically independent. Ascites induced changes to the correlations between ascites resistance and body weight, with the genetic correlations being weak when birds were ascites-free but moderately negative when both healthy and affected birds were present. This likely results because ascites reduces growth, and thus high ascites incidence is genetically related to low adult body weight. Although ascites induced elevated phenotypic and genetic variances in body weight of affected birds, heritability displayed negligible changes across healthy and affected birds. Ascites induced moderate genotype re-ranking in body weight, with the genetic correlation of healthy birds with mildly affected birds being unity but with severely affected birds 0.45. This study demonstrates a novel approach for exploring genetics of defense traits and their impact on genotype-by-environment interactions.
Processing of Self versus Non-Self in Alzheimer’s Disease

Despite considerable evidence for abnormalities of self-awareness in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the cognitive mechanisms of altered self-processing in AD have not been fully defined. Here we addressed this issue in a detailed analysis of self/non-self-processing in three patients with AD. We designed a novel neuropsychological battery comprising tests of tactile body schema coding, attribution of tactile events to self versus external agents, and memory for self- versus non-self-generated vocal information, administered in conjunction with a daily life measure of self/non-self-processing (the Interpersonal Reactivity Index). Three male AD patients (aged 54–68 years; one with a pathogenic mutation in the Presenilin 1 gene, one with a pathogenic mutation in the Amyloid Precursor Protein gene, and one with a CSF protein profile supporting underlying AD pathology) were studied in relation to a group of eight healthy older male individuals (aged 58–74 years). Compared to healthy controls, all patients had relatively intact tactile body schema processing. In contrast, all patients showed impaired memory for words previously presented using the patient’s own voice whereas memory for words presented in other voices was less consistently affected. Two patients showed increased levels of emotional contagion and reduced perspective taking on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Our findings suggest that AD may be associated with deficient self/non-self differentiation over time despite a relatively intact body image: this profile of altered self-processing contrasts with the deficit of tactile body schema previously described in frontotemporal dementia associated with C9orf72 mutations. We present these findings as a preliminary rationale to direct future systematic study in larger patient cohorts.
Initial segment Kv2.2 channels mediate a slow delayed rectifier and maintain high frequency action potential firing in medial nucleus of the trapezoid body neurons

The medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) is specialized for high frequency firing by expression of Kv3 channels, which minimize action potential (AP) duration, and Kv1 channels, which suppress multiple AP firing, during each calyceal giant EPSC. However, the outward K+ current in MNTB neurons is dominated by another unidentified delayed rectifier. It has slow kinetics and a peak conductance of ∼37 nS; it is half‐activated at −9.2 ± 2.1 mV and half‐inactivated at −35.9 ± 1.5 mV. It is blocked by several non‐specific potassium channel antagonists including quinine (100 μm) and high concentrations of extracellular tetraethylammonium (TEA; IC50= 11.8 mm), but no specific antagonists were found. These characteristics are similar to recombinant Kv2‐mediated currents. Quantitative RT‐PCR showed that Kv2.2 mRNA was much more prevalent than Kv2.1 in the MNTB. A Kv2.2 antibody showed specific staining and Western blots confirmed that it recognized a protein ∼110 kDa which was absent in brainstem tissue from a Kv2.2 knockout mouse. Confocal imaging showed that Kv2.2 was highly expressed in axon initial segments of MNTB neurons. In the absence of a specific antagonist, Hodgkin–Huxley modelling of voltage‐gated conductances showed that Kv2.2 has a minor role during single APs (due to its slow activation) but assists recovery of voltage‐gated sodium channels (Nav) from inactivation by hyperpolarizing interspike potentials during repetitive AP firing. Current‐clamp recordings during high frequency firing and characterization of Nav inactivation confirmed this hypothesis. We conclude that Kv2.2‐containing channels have a distinctive initial segment location and crucial function in maintaining AP amplitude by regulating the interspike potential during high frequency firing.
A unified framework for finite-memory detection

In this paper, we present a general approach to finite-memory detection. From a semi-tutorial perspective, a number of previous results are rederived and new insights are gained within a unified framework. A probabilistic derivation of the well-known Viterbi algorithm, forward-backward, and sum-product algorithms, shows that a basic metric emerges naturally under very general causality and finite-memory conditions. This result implies that detection solutions based on one algorithm can be systematically extended to other algorithms. For stochastic channels described by a suitable parametric model, a conditional Markov property is shown to imply this finite-memory condition. This conditional Markov property, although seldom met exactly in practice, is shown to represent a reasonable and useful approximation in all considered cases. We consider, as examples, linear predictive and noncoherent detection schemes. While good performance for increasing complexity can often be achieved with a finite-memory detection strategy, key issues in the design of detection algorithms are the computational efficiency and the performance for limited complexity.
E‐learning: engagement, enhancement and execution

Explores the practical and theoretical issues involved in the evaluation, quality assurance and engagement of operating an e‐learning programme as a distance learning service on an international basis for people in employment. Focuses on the experiences of delivery of e‐learning of a case at the University of Wales, Lampeter that has been adapted from a project into mainstream provision. Suggests that the current emphasis of the prefix “e” in learning application needs to shift from electronic to the more supportive descriptions of engagement, enhancement and execution of the student learning programme. Reviews the current quality assurance recommendations in the context of e‐learning. Concludes with the evidence emerging from the particular case of e‐learning provision at Lampeter and the key findings of the programme.