Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disorders of agency and self in the schizophrenic spectrum

Schizophrenia is a complex condition which manifests in a broad variety of symptoms, including alterations in the subjective experience of one as a self within the world, which are termed self disorders. Experiences similar to these clinical schizophrenia symptoms can also be found in non-clinical populations, such as in individuals high in schizotypy, which is a psychometric measure of a dimension of uncommon experiences and behaviours. There are also known to be symptoms related to disorders of agency in the schizophrenia spectrum, such as delusions of control, in which the feeling of control over one's actions is disrupted. The aim of this thesis was to examine the relationship between disorders of self and disorders of agency in the schizophrenic spectrum. The thesis consists of three papers spanning from a theoretical background to two behavioural studies. The first paper is a theoretical examination of the experimental paradigms which are used for measuring agency. It also discusses how apparently contradictory empirical findings regarding disorders of agency in schizophrenia can be understood. It lays the theoretical background for the experimental papers. The second paper refers to a behavioural study of 50 participants using a novel semistructured interview, based upon a phenomenological conception of self disorder. It addresses whether self disorder symptoms typically found in schizophrenia are also found in a nonclinical high-schizotypy population and whether these symptoms can be measured reliably with this technique. The measurement of self disorders in this format was found to have good inter-rater reliability, and these symptoms were indeed found more among high-schizotypy than low-schizotypy people. The third paper used eye tracking to examine whether the deficits in volitional saccades found in schizophrenia would also be found in 26 non-clinical high-schizotypy subjects. Comparing volitional to visually-guided saccade allows experimental manipulation of the degree of agency over the eye movement that a subject experiences. There were no significant differences in latencies between groups of highand low-schizotypy people in any condition. However, a strong negative correlation between visually guided saccade latency and self disorder score was found. This is the first time that a link from self disorder symptoms to performance in eye movement tasks has been made. There are both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for a link between disorders of self and of agency in the schizophrenic spectrum. Implications of this for both research and clinical settings will be considered. This thesis represents a novel interdisciplinary approach to the study of schizophrenia spectrum conditions by incorporating concepts of self disorder from phenomenology into experimental paradigms.
Intact motility as a Salmonella typhi invasion-related factor

Invasiveness of Salmonella typhi was investigated. At first, we introduced Tn5 into the chromosome of a wild-type S. typhi strain, GIFU 10007, and screened the independent Tn5 insertion mutants for noninvasive (Inv-) strains. During the first half of this work, we obtained 4 Inv- strains from 1,338 independent Tn5 mutants. The four were either nonflagellate (Fla-), nonmotile (Mot-), or nonchemotactic (Che-). We then isolated more Fla-, Mot-, or Che- mutants and examined the invasiveness of these mutants. Sixty-three spontaneous or Tn5 insertion motility mutants, i.e., Fla-, Mot-, or Che-, were independently isolated from the wild-type strain GIFU 10007; all of them were noninvasive. Motile revertants isolated from some of these mutants showed the same invasiveness as the parent strain. P22-mediated transductional crosses were carried out between some of the motility mutants (as the recipients) and the Fla- reference strains of S. typhimurium with known deletion sites on the genome (as the donors). The mutational sites of the S. typhi mutants were assigned almost evenly to the three flagellar gene regions (regions I, II, and III) of S. typhimurium. The invasiveness of the motile recombinants obtained from the transduction assays was examined. The restoration of intact motility resulted in the restoration of invasiveness. Thus, we conclude that intact motility is an invasion-related factor of S. typhi. The relationship of Vi antigen to the invasiveness of S. typhi was also studied. Vi-negative mutants with intact motility remained invasive, whereas all 63 Inv- spontaneous or Tn5 mutants were Vi positive. Therefore, Vi antigen was not related to the invasiveness of S. typhi.
Extending the Entity-grid Coherence Model to Semantically Related Entities

This paper reports on work in progress on extending the entity-based approach on measuring coherence (Barzilay & Lapata, 2005; Lapata & Barzilay, 2005) from coreference to semantic relatedness. We use a corpus of manually annotated German newspaper text (TuBa-D/Z) and aim at improving the performance by grouping related entities with the WikiRelate! API (Strube & Ponzetto, 2006).
Measuring the dynamic Effects of Fiscal Policy shocks in Pakistan

This preliminary study characterizes the dynamic effects of shocks in government spending and taxes on macroeconomic variables in Pakistan. It employs a five variable structural Vector Auto regression model covering the time period 1973:1-2008:4 for the variables GDP, inflation, the interest rate ,net taxes and government expenditure. The identification of fiscal policy shocks is achieved through two approaches; the recursive approach proposed by Fatas and Mihov (2001), and the structural VAR approach proposed by Blanchard and Perotti (2002).
The Role of Cloud of Things in Smart Cities

The recent demographic trends indicate towards a rapidly increasing population growth and a significant portion of this increased population now prefer to live mostly in cities. In connection with this, it has become the responsibility of the government to ensure a quality standard of living in the cities and also make sure that these facilities trickle down to the next generation. A program named Smart City Mission has been started for this purpose. With an extremely diverse population, that is only second to China in the world in terms of size, the Indian government has engaged in serious thinking for a better city planning and providing numerous opportunities for the citizenry. It was, therefore, planned that the Smart City Mission program will be able to provide a highly responsive infrastructure, network security, a good living environment and the like. Internet of things (IoT) application in smart cities turns out to be the most challenging in this phase. The information available in the internet has made accessible to many devices through IoT and it also aware the citizen in many aspects. But with the increasing number of devices and information, it is now becoming increasingly difficult to depend on IoT to manage things in the internet space with a similar degree of ease. As a result, cloud-based technologies have given preferences over the existing one and IoT has been replaced by the newly introduced Cloud of Things (CoT) paradigm. This paper intends to connect different smart city applications for the betterment of city life with the Cloud of Things (CoT). Our proposed smart city architecture is based on Cloud of Things, and the focus is also given to identify the existing as well as the forthcoming challenges for the concerned program of the government. By identifying the difficulties it is expected that the project will be materialized with a great success.
Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Are Involved in Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency–Induced Endothelial Cell Dysfunctions

The underlying mechanisms that lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) deficiency causes infiltration of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in multiple organs and subsequent inflammation remain incompletely understood. Endothelial cells (ECs), lining the inner layer of blood vessels, constitute barriers regulating leukocytes transmigration to the site of inflammation. Therefore, we hypothesized that ECs are dysfunctional in LAL-deficient (lal−/−) mice. We found that Ly6G+ cells transmigrated more efficiently across lal−/− ECs than wild-type (lal+/+) ECs, which were associated with increased levels of PECAM-1 and MCP-1 in lal−/− ECs. In addition, lal−/− ECs showed enhanced migration and proliferation, decreased apoptosis, but impaired tube formation and angiogenesis. lal−/− ECs also suppressed T cell proliferation in vitro. Interestingly, lal−/− Ly6G+ cells promoted in vivo angiogenesis (including a tumor model), EC tube formation, and proliferation. Finally, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway was activated in lal−/− ECs, and inhibition of mTOR reversed EC dysfunctions, including decreasing Ly6G+ cell transmigration, delaying migration, and relieving suppression of T cell proliferation, which was mediated by decreasing production of reactive oxygen species. Our results indicate that LAL regulates EC functions through interaction with MDSCs and modulation of the mTOR pathway, which may provide a mechanistic basis for targeting MDSCs or mTOR to rejuvenate EC functions in LAL deficiency–related diseases.
INCREASED PLASMA AND LIVER LIPIDS IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-INDUCED DIABETIC RATS : EFFECTS OF YAM ( DIOSCOREA CAYENENSIS ) OR DASHEEN ( COLOCASSIA ESCULENTA ) EXTRACT SUPPLEMENTS

The effects of incorporating cyanoglucoside extracts from yam or dasheen into the diet of streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats were studied for four weeks. Intestinal lipase activity, and plasma glucose and lipid levels were determined. Also, liver total lipids, activities of ATP citrate lyase, pyruvate kinase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase were assessed. Dasheen extract significantly lowered plasma levels of glucose and triglycerides (p<0.05). Yam or dasheen extract supplementation significantly decreased plasma levels of cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. Similarly, supplementation with commercial linamarin significantly reduced plasma HDL cholesterol. Yam or dasheen extract supplementation significantly increased the activity of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase. The two supplements significantly lowered liver total lipids towards normal, whereas commercial linamarin supplementation significantly increased liver total lipids above normal. These observations showed the acute intake of dasheen extract to lower the level of triglycerides, which is desirable in diabetes, however, as it also lowered plasma HDL cholesterol, it may not be considered a useful dietary supplement in diabetics.
Ultra low power RC oscillator for system wake-up using highly precise auto-calibration technique

An ultra low power RC oscillator for system wake-up is implemented using 0.18um CMOS process. The modern mobile systems need system clock which consumes low power and thus saves limited battery power in order to wake up from sleep-mode. A RC oscillator operates in the subthreshold region to reduce current consumption. The output frequency of RC oscillator is very weakly dependent on process and temperature variation using auto-calibration. This RC oscillator is featured as follows: the current consumption is 0.2 μA the supply voltage is 1.8V; the output frequency is 31.25 KHz with 1.52(Relative 3σ)% accuracy after calibration; it has only 0.4%/°C temperature coefficient; its size is 190 um } 80 um exclude bonding pad.
Ca 2 1 / Calmodulin-Dependent Facilitation and Inactivation of P / Q-Type Ca 2 1 Channels

Trains of action potentials cause Ca-dependent facilitation and inactivation of presynaptic P/Q-type Ca channels that can alter synaptic efficacy. A potential mechanism for these effects involves calmodulin, which associates in a Ca-dependent manner with the pore-forming a1A subunit. Here, we report that Ca and calmodulin dramatically enhance inactivation and facilitation of P/Q-type Ca channels containing the auxiliary b2a subunit compared with their relatively small effects on channels with b1b. Tetanic stimulation causes an initial enhancement followed by a gradual decline in P/Q-type Ca currents over time. Recovery of Ca currents from facilitation and inactivation is relatively slow (30 sec to 1 min). These effects are strongly inhibited by high intracellular BAPTA, replacement of extracellular Ca with Ba, and a calmodulin inhibitor peptide. The Ca/calmodulin-dependent facilitation and inactivation of P/Qtype Ca channels observed here are consistent with the behavior of presynaptic Ca channels in neurons, revealing how dual feedback regulation of P/Q-type channels by Ca and calmodulin could contribute to activity-dependent synaptic plasticity.
Energy Efficient Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks Through Balanced Clustering

The wide utilization of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is obstructed by the severely limited energy constraints of the individual sensor nodes. This is the reason why a large part of the research in WSNs focuses on the development of energy efficient routing protocols. In this paper, a new protocol called Equalized Cluster Head Election Routing Protocol (ECHERP), which pursues energy conservation through balanced clustering, is proposed. ECHERP models the network as a linear system and, using the Gaussian elimination algorithm, calculates the combinations of nodes that can be chosen as cluster heads in order to extend the network lifetime. The performance evaluation of ECHERP is carried out through simulation tests, which evince the effectiveness of this protocol in terms of network energy efficiency when compared against other well-known protocols.
Real-Time Monitoring of Short-Term Voltage Stability Using PMU Data

We develop a model-free approach for the short-term voltage stability monitoring of a power system. Finite time Lyapunov exponents are used as the certificate of stability. The time-series voltage data from phasor measurement units (PMU) are used to compute the Lyapunov exponent to predict voltage stability in real time. Issues related to practical implementation of the proposed method, such as phasor measurement noise, communication delay, and the finite window size for prediction, are also discussed. Furthermore, the stability certificate in the form of Lyapunov exponents is also used to determine the stability/instability contributions of the individual buses to the overall system stability and for computation of critical clearing time. Simulation results are provided for the IEEE 162-bus system to demonstrate the application of the developed method.
Two new AM Canum Venaticorum binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III

The AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) binaries are a rare group of ultrashort period, mass-transferring white dwarf binaries, some of which may be Type Ia supernova progenitors. More than a third of the total known population of AM CVn binaries have been discovered via the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Here, we discuss our search for new AM CVns in the SDSS spectroscopic data base, and present two new AM CVns discovered in SDSS-III spectroscopy, SDSS J113732.32+405458.3 and SDSS J150551.58+065948.7. The AM CVn binaries exhibit a connection between their spectral appearance and their orbital period, the spectra of these two new AM CVns suggest that they may be long-period systems. Using the radial velocity variations of the emission lines, we measure a possible orbital period of 59.6 ± 2.7 min for SDSS J113732.32+405458.3. Since our search of SDSS spectroscopy has revealed only these two new systems, it is unlikely that a large population of AM CVn binaries have been missed, and their discovery should have little effect on previous calculations of the AM CVn space density.
Combinators for program generation

We present a general method to transform a compositional specification of a specializer for a functional programming language into a set of combinators that can be used to perform the same specialization more efficiently. The main transformation steps are the transition to higher-order abstract syntax and untagging. All transformation steps are proved correct. The resulting combinators can be implemented in any functional language, typed or untyped, pure or impure. They may also be considered as forming a domain-specific language for meta-programming. We demonstrate the generality of the method by applying it to several specializers of increasing strength. We demonstrate its efficiency by comparing it with a traditional specialization system based on self-application.
Cobot architecture

We describe a new robot architecture: the collaborative robot, or cobot. Cobots are intended for direct physical interaction with a human operator. The cobot can create smooth, strong virtual surfaces and other haptic effects within a shared human/cobot workspace. The kinematic properties of cobots differ markedly from those of robots. Most significantly, cobots have only one mechanical degree of freedom, regardless of their taskspace dimensionality. The instantaneous direction of motion associated with this single degree of freedom is actively servo-controlled, or steered, within the higher dimensional taskspace. This paper explains the kinematics of cobots and the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) that are essential to them. Powered cobots are introduced, made possible by a parallel interconnection of the CVT. We discuss the relation of cobots to conventionally actuated robots and to nonholonomic robots. Several cobots in design, prototype, or industrial testbed settings illustrate the concepts discussed.
Identification of Novel, Highly Expressed Retroviral MicroRNAs in Cells Infected by Bovine Foamy Virus

ABSTRACT While numerous viral microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed by DNA viruses, especially herpesvirus family members, have been reported, there have been very few reports of miRNAs derived from RNA viruses. Here we describe three miRNAs expressed by bovine foamy virus (BFV), a member of the spumavirus subfamily of retroviruses, in both BFV-infected cultured cells and BFV-infected cattle. All three viral miRNAs are initially expressed in the form of an ∼122-nucleotide (nt) pri-miRNA, encoded within the BFV long terminal repeat U3 region, that is subsequently cleaved to generate two pre-miRNAs that are then processed to yield three distinct, biologically active miRNAs. The BFV pri-miRNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase III, and the three resultant mature miRNAs were found to contribute a remarkable ∼70% of all miRNAs expressed in BFV-infected cells. These data document the second example of a retrovirus that is able to express viral miRNAs by using embedded proviral RNA polymerase III promoters. IMPORTANCE Foamy viruses are a ubiquitous family of nonpathogenic retroviruses that have potential as gene therapy vectors in humans. Here we demonstrate that bovine foamy virus (BFV) expresses high levels of three viral microRNAs (miRNAs) in BFV-infected cells in culture and also in infected cattle. The BFV miRNAs are unusual in that they are initially transcribed by RNA polymerase III as a single, ∼122-nt pri-miRNA that is subsequently processed to release three fully functional miRNAs. The observation that BFV, a foamy virus, is able to express viral miRNAs in infected cells adds to emerging evidence that miRNA expression is a common, albeit clearly not universal, property of retroviruses and suggests that these miRNAs may exert a significant effect on viral replication in vivo.
Inhibited expression of negative emotions and interpersonal orientation in anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE This study examined inhibited expression of negative feelings and interpersonal orientation in women with anorexia nervosa. METHOD Twenty-one women meeting DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa were compared with 21 psychiatric and 21 normal control women matched on education. Two measures were used to assess inhibited expression of negative feelings and interpersonal orientation: the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory assesses the suppression and expression of anger and the Silencing the Self Scale assesses four cognitive schemas involving the repression of needs and feelings to protect interpersonal relationships. RESULTS Women with anorexia nervosa reported significantly higher scores on the four Silencing the Self schemas and on suppressed anger after controlling for age. These group differences were maintained for two of the cognitive schemas (Care and Silence) after controlling for depression, self-esteem, and global assessment of functioning. Inhibited expression of negative emotion and interpersonal orientation scores were also significantly related to cognitive and affective components of body image dissatisfaction and to trait and self-presentational dimensions of perfectionism. DISCUSSION These findings are reviewed in the context of health psychology, as well as feminist and temperament theories. Implications for treatment are addressed.
Automatic Key Posture Selection for Human Behavior Analysis

A novel human posture analysis framework that can perform automatic key posture selection and template matching for human behavior analysis is proposed. The entropy measurement, which is commonly adopted as an important feature to describe the degree of disorder in thermodynamics, is used as an underlying feature for identifying key postures. First, we use cumulative entropy change as an indicator to select an appropriate set of key postures from a human behavior video sequence and then conduct a cross entropy check to remove redundant key postures. With the key postures detected and stored as human posture templates, the degree of similarity between a query posture and a database template is evaluated using a modified Hausdorff distance measure. The experiment results show that the proposed system is highly efficient and powerful
A binary based HMAX model for object recognition

In this paper, we propose a fast binary based HMAX model (B-HMAX). In our method, we detect corner based interest points after the second layer C1 to extract fewer numbers of features with better distinctiveness, and use binary string to describe the image patches extracted around detected corners, then use hamming distance for matching between two patches in the third layer S2, which is much faster than Euclidean method. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed B-HMAX model can significantly reduce the total process time, while keeping the accuracy performance as the same with or better than standard HMAX.
Concepts in K-9 Computer Science Education

This exploratory study focuses on concepts and their assessment in K-9 computer science (CS) education. We analyzed concepts in local curriculum documents and guidelines, as well as interviewed K-9 teachers in two countries about their teaching and assessment practices. Moreover, we investigated the 'task based assessment' approach of the international Bebras contest by classifying the conceptual content and question structure of Bebras tasks spanning five years. Our results show a variety in breadth and focus in curriculum documents, with the notion of algorithm as a significant common concept. Teachers' practice appears to vary, depending on their respective backgrounds. Informal assessment practices are predominant, especially in the case of younger students. In the Bebras tasks, algorithms and data representation were found to be the main concept categories. The question structure follows specific patterns, but the relative frequencies of the patterns employed in the tasks vary over the years. Our analysis methods appear to be interesting in themselves, and the results of our study give rise to suggestions for follow-up research.