Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rule‐dependent shifting of sensorimotor representation in the primate prefrontal cortex

When we react to the outer world, perceived sensory information is frequently memorized over a temporal interval then transformed into a motor command based on a behavioural rule. In this type of memory‐based sensorimotor transformation, working memory is considered to play an important role. It has been suggested that the lateral prefrontal cortex is involved in the process of the working memory. However, the neuronal mechanism for guiding a motor command from the working memory has not been established. To examine how visuospatial working memory is linked with a forthcoming saccade direction, we used an antisaccade paradigm for monkeys in which a behavioural rule was presented in the middle of a delay period. In this task, the subjects were required to maintain cue location and to select a response based on a behavioural rule. We found that a subset of mnemonic neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex changed their representation from cue to saccade direction. Furthermore, the discriminability for saccade direction of these neurons tended to appear soon after the behavioural rule presentation, indicating their significant dependency on the behavioural rule. These results suggest that a subset of mnemonic neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex change their activity depending on a behavioural rule to guide a prospective motor command.
Psychology and Propaganda

THE term "propaganda" has come to mean the employment of nonlogical, or affective, appeals in the public dissemination and modification of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs. Propaganda is to be contrasted with those types of communication that make use of factually accurate and logically adequate explanation. It is related to "persuasion," which connotes, in addition, a more intimate contact with people and a more thorough marshaling of evidence.
Spatial-Temporal Solar Power Forecasting for Smart Grids

The solar power penetration in distribution grids is growing fast during the last years, particularly at the low-voltage (LV) level, which introduces new challenges when operating distribution grids. Across the world, distribution system operators (DSO) are developing the smart grid concept, and one key tool for this new paradigm is solar power forecasting. This paper presents a new spatial-temporal forecasting method based on the vector autoregression framework, which combines observations of solar generation collected by smart meters and distribution transformer controllers. The scope is 6-h-ahead forecasts at the residential solar photovoltaic and medium-voltage (MV)/LV substation levels. This framework has been tested in the smart grid pilot of Évora, Portugal, and using data from 44 microgeneration units and 10 MV/LV substations. A benchmark comparison was made with the autoregressive forecasting model (AR-univariate model) leading to an improvement on average between 8% and 10%.
Computing semantic similarity from bilingual dictionaries

In this paper, we address the task of calculating monoand bilingual semantic similarity. We introduce a method that, in order to arrive at a measure of semantic relatedness, exploits the information implicitly contained in bilingual dictionaries. Through experiments we show that our method performs well, with a performance comparable to approaches based on hierarchical knowledge bases and corpus statistics. The advantage of our approach is that it solely relies on easily available bilingual dictionaries and that it is capable of computing monoand bilingual semantic relatedness at the same time.
Muscle protein and glycogen responses to recovery from hypogravity and unloading by tail-cast suspension.

Previous studies in this laboratory using the tail-bast hindlimb suspension model have shown that there are specific changes in protein and carbohydrate metabolism in the soleus muscle due to unloading. For example, 6 days of unloading caused a 27 percent decrease in mass and a 60 percent increse in glycogen content in the soleus muscle, while the extensor digitorum longus muscle was unaffected. Also, fresh tissue tyrosine and its in vitro release from the muscle are increased in the unloaded soleus, indicating that this condition causes a more negative protein balance. With these results in mind, studies to investigate the effect of hypogravity on protein and carbohydrate metabolism in a number of rat hindlimb muscles were carried out.
Effect of Foliar Spray of Zinc Oxide on Some Antioxidant Enzymes Activity of Sunflower under Salt Stress

This study investigated the effects of foliar application of normal and nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the growth, proline content, and some antioxidant enzyme activities of sunflower cultivars at different salinity levels. Treatments included five cultivars (Helianthus annuus L. cvs. Alstar, Olsion, Yourflor, Hysun36, and Hysun33), two salinity levels (0 and 100 mM NaCl), and three foliar applications (none-sprayed, ZnO normal and nanoparticles at a rate of 2 g/L). Olsion showed the highest proline content and superoxide dismutase activity (SOD) among the studied cultivars under saline condition. Foliar spray of ZnO improved SOD activity and shoot dry weight of sunflower. Nanoparticles of ZnO had positive effect on biomass production of sunflower plants compared to the normal form. According to the result, Olsion and Hysun33 cultivars were suitable for saline conditions, whereas Hysun36 was appropriate for normal condition.
Simulator Sickness Questionnaire: tradução e adaptação transcultural

Background: The study of cybersickness, uncomfortable symptoms related to interaction in vir­tual environments, is important for these environments’ improvement that help to preserve the welfare of users and reduce the abandonment of virtual exposures. Using an appropriate instrument to identify and measure the symptoms of cybersickness in a standardized way can contribute to this purpose. Objective: The objective of the current study is to present the stages of translation and adaptation into Portuguese of the instrument "Simulator Sickness Questionnaire", which measures cybersickness’ symptoms. Methods: Three translations and back translations were conducted by independent evaluators, the semantic equivalence and versions’ evaluation were made, producing a synthesized version. Comments from participants on the preliminary version of the questionnaire were examined. Results: The preliminary Brazilian version of the questionnaire was developed. It was found that most participants understood the symptoms’ descriptions given in the translated questionnaire. Conclusion: The use of three different versions of translation and back translation, the discussion of the synthetic version and the interaction with the target population have provided viability for the process of semantic equivalence of the Brazilian final version.
Opinions of Music Teacher Educators and Preservice Music Students on the National Association of Schools of Music Standards for Teacher Education

Jere L. Forsythe is associate professor of music education at The Ohio State University in Columbus. He can be reached at forsythe.1@osu.edu. Daryl W. Kinney is assistant professor of music education at the same institution. He can be reached at Kinney.61@osu.edu. Elizabeth L. Braun is director of the Athens Community Music School at Ohio University in Athens. She can be reached at braune@ohio.edu.
Performance of SAGECal calibration

In this paper, we investigate the accuracy of SAGECal calibration using real models of the sky for the North Celestial Pole (NCP) and 3C196 windows, and compare the results between these two sky models in order to determine a suitable sky window for Epoch of Reionization (EoR) signal detection. The 3C196 window has a bright source at the phase center and many weak sources around it. The NCP window does not have such a bright source, but have only weak sources. The accuracy for estimation of foreground effect for the case of 3C196 is better than that of NCP due to its high signal to noise ratio. On the other hand, residuals after removal of foreground in the real space for 3C196 are higher due to its brightness. According to these results, we conclude that NCP sky window can provide more accurate removal of foregrounds, and 3C196 sky window can provide more accurate estimation of sky noise effect which includes ionospheric and beam effects.
Feasibility and Contributions of Functional Behavioral Assessment in Schools

Two types of analysis were used to examine the feasibility and utility of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) in a general education middle school. The authors used a descriptive analysis to assess whether a group-based behavior-support program was differentially effective based on the perceived consequences maintaining student problem behavior. Twenty-four middle school students were monitored over an academic year as they received a traditional check-in, check-out (progress report) intervention. At the end of the school year, an FBA interview was completed to assess the perceived function of each student's problem behavior. Although the absence of experimental controls precluded making any inferences, the results were consistent with the hypothesis that behavioral function was associated with student improvement under the program. These results led to a second analysis using a multiple-baseline-across-students design to determine if there was a functional relationship between function-based behavior support and (a) decreases in problem behavior and (b) increases in academic engagement. FBAs were used to develop and implement behavior support plans for three students who were not improving under the group-based intervention. The results supported the presence of functional relationships. Implications for the professional role of school psychologists and other behavior specialists, the value of FBA in schools, and the need for future research are discussed.
Cariogenicity of soluble starch in oral in vitro biofilm and experimental rat caries studies: a comparison

Aims: Common belief suggests that starch is less cariogenic than sugar; however, the related literature is quite controversial. We aimed to compare cariogenic and microbiological effects of soluble starch in both a standard animal model and an oral biofilm system, and to assess the possible substitution of the animal model.
High Efficiency and ESD of GaN-Based LEDs With Patterned Ion-Damaged Current Blocking Layer

This letter examined the use of a patterned ion-damaged current blocking layer (patterned-IDCBL). A 50-Å-InGaN layer grown as the top epitaxial layer was transformed into an insulator fabricated by oxygen plasma treatment, in which the dot patterns are regularly arranged over the active areas of the light-emitting diode (LED) and inserted beneath the p-electrode. The results showed that the light output power increased by 16.8% at 60 mA compared with the conventional LEDs, and that the electrostatic discharge resistance is effectively improved by the patterned-IDCBL.
Multiscale Tikhonov-Total Variation Image Restoration Using Spatially Varying Edge Coherence Exponent

Edge preserving regularization using partial differential equation (PDE)-based methods although extensively studied and widely used for image restoration, still have limitations in adapting to local structures. We propose a spatially adaptive multiscale variable exponent-based anisotropic variational PDE method that overcomes current shortcomings, such as over smoothing and staircasing artifacts, while still retaining and enhancing edge structures across scale. Our innovative model automatically balances between Tikhonov and total variation (TV) regularization effects using scene content information by incorporating a spatially varying edge coherence exponent map constructed using the eigenvalues of the filtered structure tensor. The multiscale exponent model we develop leads to a novel restoration method that preserves edges better and provides selective denoising without generating artifacts for both additive and multiplicative noise models. Mathematical analysis of our proposed method in variable exponent space establishes the existence of a minimizer and its properties. The discretization method we use satisfies the maximum-minimum principle which guarantees that artificial edge regions are not created. Extensive experimental results using synthetic, and natural images indicate that the proposed multiscale Tikhonov-TV (MTTV) and dynamical MTTV methods perform better than many contemporary denoising algorithms in terms of several metrics, including signal-to-noise ratio improvement and structure preservation. Promising extensions to handle multiplicative noise models and multichannel imagery are also discussed.
Performance efficient FPGA implementation of parallel 2-D MRI image filtering algorithms using Xilinx system generator

Currently, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) goes beyond the low-level line-by-line hardware description language programming in implementing parallel multidimensional image filtering algorithms. High-level abstract hardware-oriented parallel programming method can structurally bridge this gap. This paper proposes a first step toward such a method to efficiently implement Parallel 2-D MRI image filtering algorithms using the Xilinx system generator. The implementation method consists of five simple steps that provide fast FPGA prototyping for high performance computation to obtain excellent quality of results. The results are obtained for nine 2-D image filtering algorithms. Behaviourally, two Virtex-6 FPGA boards, namely, xc6vlX240Tl-1lff1759 and xc6vlX130Tl-1lff1156 are targeted to achieve; lower power consumption of (1.57 W) and down to (0.97 W) respectively at maximum sampling frequency of up to (230 MHZ). Then, one of the nine MRI image filtering algorithms, has empirically improved to generate an enhanced MRI image filtering with moderate lower power consumption at higher maximum frequency.
Implementing efficient joint beliefs on multi-robot teams

In this report, I investigate the problem of coordinating multiple robots in a cooperative team activity. Many different approaches have been suggested for team coordination, ranging from swarm techniques to symbolic methods. I will propose a class of coordination protocols called broadcast-an-aggregate mechanisms and will describe a specific instantiation of this approach on a multi-robot control architecture called HIVEMind (Highly Interconnected Very Efficient Mind) which operates in the following way: (1) Each robot periodically broadcasts all its team-relevant data to its teammates. (2) Team members base control decisions on shared situational awareness formed by aggregating all broadcast data from the team. HIVEMind allows near-instantaneous sharing of data between all team members. This lets the team respond in real-time to contingencies sensed by individual robots. Furthermore, HIVEMind robots can use role-passing inference to support limited real-time symbolic reasoning over synchronized knowledgebases. This allows the use of more structured representations than conventional behavior-based systems, which in turn allows the team to be tasked and monitored in natural ways. All this is accomplished while using surprisingly little bandwidth. I will show that given the assumptions: (1) Relevant aspects of the environment change relatively quickly. (2) All team members must be informed of these changes in bounded time. (3) All team members must be able to detect if they are failing to receiving data in a timely manner from their teammates. The HIVEMind data sharing method is optimal in the sense that any communication scheme would have to transmit at least as many packets as it would. I also will describe an implementation of HIVEMind used to coordinate a team of robots in variety of tasks involving systematic search of physical space.
Further algorithmic aspects of the local lemma

Copyright © 1998 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from Publications Dept., ACM, Inc., fax +1 (212) 869-0481, or permissions@acm.org. © ACM, 1998. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the 1998 30th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (1998). http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/276698.276866
The Social-Institutional Bases of Happiness: An International Comparison

We examine the determinants of happiness from a comparative perspective. We use data from the 2002 International Social Survey Programme with roughly 40,000 individuals nested within 30 countries. We apply a multi-level modeling approach to formulate the specific interactions between the macro and micro. We focus on public social expenditures and taxes as proxy measures of state intervention at the macro-level, and happiness as the specific measure of welfare outcome at the micro-level. Our study suggests that happiness in the welfare states closely reflects the redistribution of wealth and resources in these countries. We find clear evidence that happiness is transferred from the low-risk to high-risk individuals in the welfare regimes. For example, we find that married persons are significantly happier, but single persons are significantly less happy in the welfare states. This finding suggests that pro-family ideology of the welfare states protects families from social risk and improves their well-being at the cost of single persons. Further, we find that the happiness gap between the high versus the low-income earners is considerably smaller in the welfare states, suggesting that happiness is transferred from the privileged to the less privileged.
A measurement of the shape of the solar disk: The solar quadrupole moment, the solar octopole moment, and the advance of perihelion of the planet Mercury.

The Solar Disk Sextant experiment has measured the solar angular diameter for a variety of solar latitudes. Combined with solar surface angular rotation data, the solar quadrupole moment {ital J}{sub 2} and the solar octopole moment {ital J}{sub 4} have been derived first by assuming constant internal angular rotation on cylinders and then by assuming constant internal angular rotation on cones. We have derived values of 1.8{times}10{sup {minus}7} for {ital J}{sub 2} and 9.8{times}10{sup {minus}7} for {ital J}{sub 4}. We conclude with a discussion of errors and address the prediction of general relativity for the rate of advance of perihelion of the planet Mercury. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society. }
Estimating Inorganic Arsenic Exposure from U.S. Rice and Total Water Intakes

Background: Among nonoccupationally exposed U.S. residents, drinking water and diet are considered primary exposure pathways for inorganic arsenic (iAs). In drinking water, iAs is the primary form of arsenic (As), while dietary As speciation techniques are used to differentiate iAs from less toxic arsenicals in food matrices. Objectives: Our goal was to estimate the distribution of iAs exposure rates from drinking water intakes and rice consumption in the U.S. population and ethnic- and age-based subpopulations. Methods: The distribution of iAs in drinking water was estimated by population, weighting the iAs concentrations for each drinking water utility in the Second Six-Year Review data set. To estimate the distribution of iAs concentrations in rice ingested by U.S. consumers, 54 grain-specific, production-weighted composites of rice obtained from U.S. mills were extracted and speciated using both a quantitative dilute nitric acid extraction and speciation (DNAS) and an in vitro gastrointestinal assay to provide an upper bound and bioaccessible estimates, respectively. Daily drinking water intake and rice consumption rate distributions were developed using data from the What We Eat in America (WWEIA) study. Results: Using these data sets, the Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation (SHEDS) model estimated mean iAs exposures from drinking water and rice were 4. 2μg/day and 1. 4μg/day, respectively, for the entire U.S. population. The Tribal, Asian, and Pacific population exhibited the highest mean daily exposure of iAs from cooked rice (2.8μg/day); the mean exposure rate for children between ages 1 and 2 years in this population is 0. 104μg/kg body weight (BW)/day. Conclusions: An average consumer drinking 1.5 L of water daily that contains between 2 and 3 ng iAs/mL is exposed to approximately the same amount of iAs as a mean Tribal, Asian, and Pacific consumer is exposed to from rice. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP418
Patterns of Care for Low Back Pain in a Working Population

Study Design. A prospective longitudinal study with 1-year follow-up. Summary of Background Data. Little is known about the consequences of having back pain and the patterns underlying the decisions to use medical care. Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe care utilization for low back pain (LBP) and to investigate which factors determine use of care for LBP. Methods. We used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data on individual, health-related, and work-related factors and the type of medical care sought among 529 employees of nursing homes and homes for the elderly in the Netherlands. Logistic regression models were used to present associations between aforementioned factors and care utilization for LBP. Results. A large proportion of the working population was afflicted with LBP, and only one third sought care. Individuals who use care had more intense pain, chronic pain, and functional limitations. Patients’ characteristics varied among the different type of health care providers. Well-known work-related risk factors for the occurrence of LBP did not determine use of care for workers with LBP. Conclusions. Care utilization due to LBP was associated with severity and nature of back pain. Patients’ characteristics vary among the different type of health care providers, but work-relatedness of LBP seems similar across all providers.
Automatic Detection of Vascular Bifurcations and Crossovers from Color Retinal Fundus Images

Identifying the vascular bifurcations and crossovers in the retinal image is helpful for predicting many cardiovascular diseases and can be used as biometric features and for image registration. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to detect vascular bifurcations and crossovers based on the vessel geometrical features. We segment the blood vessels from the color retinal RGB image, and apply the morphological thinning operation to find the vessel centerline. Applying a filter on this centreline image we detect the potential bifurcation and crossover points. The geometrical and topological properties of the blood vessels passing through these points are utilized to identify these points as the vessel bifurcations and crossovers. We evaluate our method against manually measured bifurcation and crossover points by an expert, and achieved the detection accuracy of 95.82%.