Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Membrane resistance and shunting inhibition: where biophysics meets state‐dependent human neurophysiology

Activation of neurons not only changes their membrane potential and firing rate but as a secondary action reduces membrane resistance. This loss of resistance, or increase of conductance, may be of central importance in non‐invasive magnetic or electric stimulation of the human brain since electrical fields cause larger changes in transmembrane voltage in resting neurons with low membrane conductances than in active neurons with high conductance. This may explain why both the immediate effects and after‐effects of brain stimulation are smaller or even reversed during voluntary activity compared with rest. Membrane conductance is also increased during shunting inhibition, which accompanies the classic GABAA IPSP. This short‐circuits nearby EPSPs and is suggested here to contribute to the magnitude and time course of short‐interval intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation.
Two DOF temperature control using RBFNN for stretch PET blow molding machines

This paper presents a novel two degrees-of-freedom (DOF) digital controller using radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) for a stretch polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) blow molding machine, in order to achieve satisfactory temperature control of the PET bottle performs passing through both heating ovens. The proposed two-DOF controller is composed of a feedforward controller used to improve the transient performance and track quickly temperature setpoints, and an RBFNN self-tuning digital proportional-integral- derivative (PID) controller employed to eliminate remaining temperature errors and achieve disturbances rejection. Such a controller not only retains the practical expertise of the control practitioners working for PET blow molding machines, but also keeps automatic tuning ability of the PID controller parameters. Finally, the computer simulation and experimental result reveal disturbance rejection and good setpoint tracking performance of the proposed control method. The results clearly indicate effectiveness and merit of the proposed method.
Mixed-SAM Surfaces Monitoring CTX-Protein Part I: Using Atomic Force Microscope Measurements

Fast and efficient detection of Cobra cardiotoxin (CTX) protein molecules on biochip surfaces is an example of application in biotechnology. One potential application of mixed self assembled monolayers (SAMs) as chip surfaces yield different binding affinities of the CTX proteins, a series of studies on the interaction force between CTX proteins and the mixed SAMs surfaces formed from mixtures of two thiols with the same/different chain lengths and/or with the same/different terminal groups will be investigated. In these dual papers, the mixed SAMs of n-alkinethiol SAMs of different chain lengths are chosen as the first examples of this series due to the simple functions of the mixed SAMs surface structure. Thus, the adhesion force measurements of CTX protein molecules on mixed SAMs of n-alkinethiol SAMs of different chain lengths: 1-decanethiol (C9) and 1-hexanethiol (C5) with different mixing ratios are developed and conducted using atomic force microscope (AFM). There are two major tasks in Part I of the dual papers: the development of the AFM measurements providing reliable information, and selection of the surface with highest binding affinity among this mixed SAMs group. Results indicate that the adhesion forces for CTX protein molecules on mixed SAMs with mixing ratio (χC9) of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1, are 1.26, 1.8, 1.38, and 1.25 folds respectively, compared with the adhesion force of CTX protein molecules on the C5 surface only. Therefore, the SAM surfaces of χC9 = 0.5 is the best choice as a biomaterial sensor of this group of mixed SAMs because the strongest binding force and highest efficiency. Effects of the loading force of the AFM operation, the radius of curvature of the AFM tip, and the AFM tip endurance as well as control experiments were examined to ensure the quantitative determination of adhesion force for AFM measurement. The physical mechanism of protein adsorption on SAM surfaces will be studied and analyzed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and will be reported in Part II of the dual papers to compensate the limited information on the interaction taking place at atomic level that experiments cannot provide.
The effect of local vs remote experimental pain on motor learning and sensorimotor integration using a complex typing task

Abstract Recent work demonstrated that capsaicin-induced acute pain improved motor learning performance; however, baseline accuracy was very high, making it impossible to discern the impact of acute pain on motor learning and retention. In addition, the effects of the spatial location of capsaicin application were not explored. Two experiments were conducted to determine the interactive effects of acute pain vs control (experiment 1) and local vs remote acute pain (experiment 2) on motor learning and sensorimotor processing. For both experiments, somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) amplitudes and motor learning acquisition and retention (accuracy and response time) data were collected at baseline, after application, and after motor learning. Experiment 1: N11 (P < 0.05), N13 (P < 0.05), and N30 (P < 0.05) SEP peak amplitudes increased after motor learning in both groups, whereas the N20 SEP peak increased in the control group (P < 0.05). At baseline, the intervention group outperformed the control group in accuracy (P < 0.001). Response time improved after motor learning (P < 0.001) and at retention (P < 0.001). Experiment 2: The P25 SEP peak decreased in the local group after application of capsaicin cream (P < 0.01), whereas the N30 SEP peaks increased after motor learning in both groups (P < 0.05). Accuracy improved in the local group at retention (P < 0.005), and response time improved after motor learning (P < 0.005) and at retention (P < 0.001). This study suggests that acute pain may increase focal attention to the body part used in motor learning, contributing to our understanding of how the location of pain impacts somatosensory processing and the associated motor learning.
Computer vision system for tracking players in sports games

The development of a computer vision system for tracking players in indoor team games is presented. Several image processing and tracking methods are described, along with camera calibration and lens distortion correction. The output of the system consists of spatio-temporal trajectories of the players, which can be further processed and analyzed by sport experts. In some critical situations the automatic tracking process must be manually interrupted. To correct miss-trackings, human supervision is required. Some experimental results are presented as well.
Cognitive Decline and Reorganization of Functional Connectivity in Healthy Aging: The Pivotal Role of the Salience Network in the Prediction of Age and Cognitive Performances

Normal aging is related to a decline in specific cognitive processes, in particular in executive functions and memory. In recent years a growing number of studies have focused on changes in brain functional connectivity related to cognitive aging. A common finding is the decreased connectivity within multiple resting state networks, including the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network. In this study, we measured resting state activity using fMRI and explored whether cognitive decline is related to altered functional connectivity. To this end we used a machine learning approach to classify young and old participants from functional connectivity data. The originality of the approach consists in the prediction of the performance and age of the subjects based on functional connectivity by using a machine learning approach. Our findings showed that the connectivity profile between specific networks predicts both the age of the subjects and their cognitive abilities. In particular, we report that the connectivity profiles between the salience and visual networks, and the salience and the anterior part of the DMN, were the features that best predicted the age. Moreover, independently of the age of the subject, connectivity between the salience network and various specific networks (i.e., visual, frontal) predicted episodic memory skills either based on a standard assessment or on an autobiographical memory task, and short-term memory binding. Finally, the connectivity between the salience and the frontal networks predicted inhibition and updating performance, but this link was no longer significant after removing the effect of age. Our findings confirm the crucial role of episodic memory and executive functions in cognitive aging and suggest a pivotal role of the salience network in neural reorganization in aging.
A Simplified Finite-Control-Set Model-Predictive Control for Power Converters

Finite-control-set model-predictive control (FCS-MPC) requires a large amount of calculation, which is an obstacle for its application. However, compared with the classical linear control algorithm, FCS-MPC requires a shorter control loop cycle time to reach the same control performance. To resolve this contradiction, this paper presents an effective method to simplify the conventional FCS-MPC. With equivalent transformation and specialized sector distribution method, the computation load of FCS-MPC is greatly reduced while the control performance is not affected. The proposed method can be used in various circuit topologies and cases with multiple constraints. Experiments on two-level converter and three-level NPC converter verify the good performance and application value of the proposed method.
Shoulder pain and heavy manual labor.

The problem of the increasingly common shoulder pain syndromes in industry was investigated by biomechanic and epidemiologic methods. Rotator cuff tendinitis constitutes a major problem in people with arduous occupations, i.e., shipyard welders (prevalence ratio, 18.3%), and steel plateworkers (16.2%). Static work seems to induce symptoms at an earlier age. The clinical diagnosis was supraspinatus tendinitis. The biomechanic studies confirmed the view that the shoulder muscles are heavily loaded when the arm is elevated. Excessive hand tool mass increases the strain markedly in some muscles, particularly the supraspinatus and the infraspinatus. The hypovascularity of the supraspinatus tendon is then likely to be accentuated by high intramuscular pressure that reduces the blood flow through the muscle. The strain on the supraspinatus muscle in overhead work is an important factor contributing to prolonged shoulder disability. An analysis of the distribution of loads imposed on the shoulder in practical working situations can be based on observations of working postures and external forces.
Market Reactions to Investments in Information Technology: Insight from Warsaw Stock Exchange

Building on the Roztocki and Weistroffer (2009c) explanatory model, this study examines stock market reactions to announcements of information technology investments in Poland, an emerging market and transition economy. Based on 68 announcements by companies traded at the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the period 2002 to 2009, our study confirms some previously published results, but also shows that specific characteristics of announcements play a more important role than has been commonly assumed. Our results indicate that investors in Poland react more positively if systems are acquired from global rather than local vendors. Announcements about completed projects are more positively received than announcements about planned or in-progress projects. Furthermore, announcements in Polish, targeted at existing shareholders, are more likely to be received positively than similar announcements released in English, targeting global investors.
A Forward Error Correcting System for Wireless E 1 ATM Links

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a technology designed for wired media where the BER is of the order 1 in 10 8 or better. When ATM is used over wireless links where the order of errors is 1 in 1000, the performance degrades. In order to maintain the performance it is required to utilize a Forward Error Correcting (FEC) scheme. This paper describes an FEC system called " Link Performance Enhancer (LPE) " consisting of RS encoder/Decoder along with block synchronization scheme. The BER is improved from 1 in 10 3 to 1 in 10 8. At its input LPE has been designed to accept the E1 data as per G.703 & G.704 standards while at the output the interface to the radio is as per G.703. Reed Solomon (RS) Forward Error Correction scheme of (n, k) of (255, 235) coupled with a novel block synchronization scheme for successful decoding, ensures performance improvement from 1/10 3 to 1/10 8 with a probability of false alarm of 1 in 10 days, probability of detection 0.9999. and minimal overhead.
Effectiveness of query expansion in searching the Holy Quran

Modern Arabic text is written without diacritical marks (short vowels), which causes considerable ambiguity at the word level in the absence of context. Exceptional from this is the Holy Quran, which is endorsed with short vowels and other marks to preserve the pronunciation and hence, the correctness of sensing its words. Searching for a word in vowelized text requires typing and matching all its diacritical marks, which is cumbersome and preventing learners from searching and understanding the text. The other way around, is to ignore these marks and fall in the problem of ambiguity. In this paper, we provide a novel diacritic-less searching approach to retrieve from the Quran relevant verses that match a user’s query through automatic query expansion techniques. The proposed approach utilizes a relational database search engine that is scalable, portable across RDBMS platforms, and provides fast and sophisticated retrieval. The results are presented and the applied approach reveals future directions for search engines.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Regulation of Human Endometrial Function: Mechanisms Relevant to Uterine Bleeding

This review focuses on the complex events that occur in the endometrium after progesterone is withdrawn (or blocked) and menstrual bleeding ensues. A detailed understanding of these local mechanisms will enhance our knowledge of disturbed endometrial/uterine function – including problems with excessively heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis and breakthrough bleeding with progestin only contraception. The development of novel strategies to manage these clinically significant problems depends on such new understanding as does the development of new contraceptives which avoid the endometrial side effect of breakthrough bleeding.
Social Preferences in the Lab: A Comparison of Students and a Representative Population

We report from a lab experiment conducted with a sample of participants that is nationally representative for the adult population in Norway and two student samples (economics students and non-economics students). The participants make choices both in a dictator game (a non-strategic environment) and in a generalized trust game (a strategic environment). We find that the representative sample differs fundamentally from the student samples, both in the relative importance assigned to different moral motives (efficiency, equity, and reciprocity) and in the level of selfish behavior. It is also interesting to note that the gender effects observed in the student samples do not correspond to the gender effects observed in representative sample. Finally, whereas economics students behave less pro-socially than non-economics students, the two student groups are similar in the relative importance they assign to different moral motives.
Racial and ethnic differences in the use of cardiovascular procedures: findings from the California Cooperative Cardiovascular Project.

OBJECTIVES This study used data from the California Cooperative Cardiovascular Project to examine the use of invasive and noninvasive cardiovascular procedures among Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. METHODS The use of catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and several noninvasive tests among all patients 65 years or older with a confirmed acute myocardial infarction in nonfederal hospitals from 1994 to 1995 was studied. RESULTS African Americans (n = 527) were less likely than Whites (n = 9489) to have received catheterization (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.50, 0.76), PTCA (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.49, 0.85), or CABG surgery (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.64); somewhat more likely to have received a stress test or an echocardiogram; and equally likely to have received a multiple-gated acquisition scan. Hispanics (n = 689) also were less likely than Whites to have received catheterization (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.68, 0.98) or PTCA (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.45, 0.75). CONCLUSIONS African Americans were less likely than Whites to undergo costly invasive cardiovascular procedures. In addition, Hispanics were less likely than Whites to have received catheterization and PTCA.
Innovative learning solutions in new communities: opportunities and challenges to teachers' conceptions of workspace

This article explores the possibilities and opportunities created by large-scale property developers for new ways of learning and working in master-planned communities. The discussion is based on the findings from research of one developer's innovative solutions to learning in newly developed communities and specifically draws on data from one case study from Australia. The research shows the vision and support provided by the developer for the emerging community and the issues that arise when teachers, pupils and parents are invited to be part of a new conception of schooling. The challenge of two schools sharing teaching and staffroom space impacts on teachers' understandings of their role in the organisation and the nature of the work they expect to carry out. The case study presented here looks at the interconnecting relationships and the impact of the new arrangements for the use of space on teachers' conceptions of their work.
A DCT-Based Watermarking Technique for Image Authentication

This paper presents a novel DCT-based watermarking method for image authentication. In this method a watermark in the form of a visually meaningful binary pattern is embedded for the purpose of tamper detection. The method embeds one watermark bit in each DCT block by shifting a randomly selected coefficient to have a mapped value, in a coefficient-binary-mapping function, that is identical to the watermark bit. The method was tested under different attacks and was found to provide good detection performance while maintaining the quality of the watermarked image.
The Flat-Ribbon Configuration of the Periplasmic Flagella of Borrelia burgdorferi and Its Relationship to Motility and Morphology

ABSTRACT Electron cryotomography was used to analyze the structure of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. This methodology offers a new means for studying the native architecture of bacteria by eliminating the chemical fixing, dehydration, and staining steps of conventional electron microscopy. Using electron cryotomography, we noted that membrane blebs formed at the ends of the cells. These blebs may be precursors to vesicles that are released from cells grown in vivo and in vitro. We found that the periplasmic space of B. burgdorferi was quite narrow (16.0 nm) compared to those of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, in the vicinity of the periplasmic flagella, this space was considerably wider (42.3 nm). In contrast to previous results, the periplasmic flagella did not form a bundle but rather formed a tight-fitting ribbon that wraps around the protoplasmic cell cylinder in a right-handed sense. We show how the ribbon configuration of the assembled periplasmic flagella is more advantageous than a bundle for both swimming and forming the flat-wave morphology. Previous results indicate that B. burgdorferi motility is dependent on the rotation of the periplasmic flagella in generating backward-moving waves along the length of the cell. This swimming requires that the rotation of the flagella exerts force on the cell cylinder. Accordingly, a ribbon is more beneficial than a bundle, as this configuration allows each periplasmic flagellum to have direct contact with the cell cylinder in order to exert that force, and it minimizes interference between the rotating filaments.
Scalable certification framework for behavioral synthesis front-end

Behavioral synthesis entails application of a sequence of transformations to compile a high-level description of a hardware design (e.g., in C/C++/SystemC) into a register-transfer level (RTL) implementation. In this paper, we present a scalable equivalence checking framework to validate the correctness of compiler transformations employed by behavioral synthesis front-end. Our approach makes use of dual-rail symbolic simulation of the input and output of a transformation, together with identification and inductive verification of their loop structures. We have evaluated our framework on transformations applied by an open source behavioral synthesis tool to designs from the CHStone benchmark. Our tool can automatically validate more than 75 percent of the total of 1008 compiler transformations applied, taking an average time of 1.5 seconds per transformation.
Exploring the Alignment Space – Lexical and Gestural Alignment with Real and Virtual Humans

Communication is characterized by speakers' dynamic adaptations and coordination of both linguistic and nonverbal behaviors. Understanding this phenomenon of alignment and its underlying mechanisms and processes in both human-human and human-computer interaction is of particular importance when building artificial interlocutors. In this paper we contribute to the exploration of the still fragmentary alignment space with two controlled experiments on lexical and gestural alignment. Our results show, on the one hand, that human interlocutors align their lexical choice and gesture handedness in similar ways when interacting with real versus virtual humans. On the other hand we found, however, also subtle differences. We discuss our findings in terms of a dynamic interplay of multiple components (automatic and strategic) and mechanisms (communicative and social) of alignment.
Dyadic coping responses and partners’ perceptions for couple satisfaction

Applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 114 couples’ data, we examined the link between partners’ change in reported dyadic coping responses from 6 months before marriage to 12 months after marriage and change in the perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses, the role of these associations for partners’ change in relationship satisfaction, and the role of gender in these relations. Results highlighted both accuracy and projection effects in partners’ perceptions. Moreover, one’s perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses mediated the effect of both one’s own and the others’ reported dyadic coping behaviors on one’s satisfaction. Findings are discussed in light of the implications for the study of dyadic coping and partner support as well as for intervention.
What is the best segment duration for music mood analysis ?

Music mood present the inherent emotional state of music on certain duration of music segment. However, the mood may vary in the music pieces. Thus it is important to investigate the duration of music segments which can best present the stable mood states in music. Four versions of music datasets with duration of clips from 4 seconds to 32 seconds are tested in this paper, and a cross test between these four version are also experimented. Better classification rates are obtained with the music segments of 8 seconds and 16 seconds. The segments with duration of 32 seconds are proved as might be not stable concerning the music mood states.