Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of movements with attention or distraction to the motor task during robot-assisted passive movements of the upper limb

Robot-assisted rehabilitation therapies usually focus on physical aspects rather than on cognitive factors. However, cognitive aspects such as attention, motivation, and engagement play a critical role in motor learning and thus influence the long-term success of rehabilitation programs. This paper studies motor-related EEG activity during the execution of robot-assisted passive movements of the upper limb, while participants either: i) focused attention exclusively on the task; or ii) simultaneously performed another task. Six healthy subjects participated in the study and results showed lower desynchronization during passive movements with another task simultaneously being carried out (compared to passive movements with exclusive attention on the task). In addition, it was proved the feasibility to distinguish between the two conditions.
A Directional Theory of Issue Voting

From Stokes's (1963) early critique on, it has been clear to empirical researchers that the traditional spatial theory of elections is seriously flawed. Yet fully a quarter century later, that theory remains the dominant paradigm for understanding mass-elite linkage in politics. We present an alternative spatial theory of elections that we argue has greater empirical verisimilitude. Based on the ideas of symbolic politics, the directional theory assumes that most people have a diffuse preference for a certain direction of policy-making and that people vary in the intensity with which they hold those preferences. We test the two competing theories at the individual level with National Election Study data and find the directional theory more strongly supported than the traditional spatial theory. We then develop the implications of the directional theory for candidate behavior and assess the predictions in light of evidence from the U.S. Congress.
Cultural Leaders in Effective Schools: The Builders And Brokers of Excellence

Cultural leadership is an alternative perspective of school site leadership that attends to the assessment, build ing, and brokerage of the underlying values and norms which lead to school effectiveness. Principals who are able to successfully assume cul tural leadership will be closely attuned to the fundamental content and processes upon which school success depends.
Improved low bit-rate audio compression using reduced rank ICA instead of psychoacoustic modeling

Traditional audio coding is based on a perceptual compression paradigm that exploits psychoacoustic information to efficiently encode audio signals. Recently, extensive research has been conducted in order to understand how the brain encodes natural signals. These results suggest that the encoding process is very efficient in terms of redundancy reduction of the signal information. It could be that the psychoacoustic effects (such as the masking effect) are only a special case of a more general redundancy reduction mechanism that exists in the auditory pathway. Motivated by this work we propose a new audio coding scheme that is based on improved sound representation found by independent component analysis. Using a local linear, low rank, nonorthogonal transform, we remove additional redundancies in the signal. At low bitrates this coding scheme gives results superior to a legacy perceptual encoding scheme for different kinds of audio signals.
Russian Residents' Attitudes Toward the Law-Enforcement Agencies: A Review of Recent Research

To function, every social system requires institutions that maintain law and order in society. The society’s sociopolitical and ideological circumstances determine what these law-enforcement institutions do. For decades, Soviet law-enforcement agencies operated as one element of a repressive system of social control that ensured the stability and legitimacy of the regime. From decade to decade, however, the state influenced these agencies in different ways, which has had a negative impact on how the agencies function even today.
Narcissism and Emotional Contagion

In this research, we investigated the association between narcissism and one central aspect of empathy, susceptibility to emotional contagion (the transfer of emotional states from one person to another). In a laboratory study (N = 101), we detected a negative link between narcissism and emotional contagion in response to experimentally induced positive affect. In an online study (N = 195), narcissism was negatively linked to experimentally induced emotional contagion regardless of valence. These findings indicate that individuals with high narcissism levels are apparently less prone to emotional contagion than individuals lower in narcissism. Hence, narcissists are less likely to “catch the emotions” of others. Furthermore, by comparing experimental assessments of susceptibility to emotional contagion with subjective self-reports, we were able to study self-insight. Across both samples, self-insight was generally low, and individual differences in self-insight were unrelated to narcissism.
History Textbooks and Historical Scholarship in Germany

Ever since the introduction of compulsory school attendance for all children, school textbooks have enjoyed considerable significance as instruments of socialization, particularly in the eyes of the state. Although we still know little about the ways in which the contents of textbooks are processed and learned, as a medium they undoubtedly influence many people during a phase of the life-cycle which often helps to shape their ideas for the rest of their lives. ‘Textbook knowledge’ is something that is seen to be the result of social discourse and thus a reflection of the Zeitgeist – and for that reason it is bound to be of interest to historians. Textbooks in subjects such as history or civics, which are likely to inspire concepts of identity and provide general social orientation, are of particular political significance, as debates throughout the world have shown. Thus the social and cultural knowledge found in textbooks not only reflects scholarly requirements and contemporary didactic codes: it is always of political relevance too, as this essay will show. In this article we examine how current social challenges that have changed and continue to change academic approaches to history have also influenced the concepts and contents of history textbooks in Germany. The article derives from an ongoing project of research into the relationship between history tuition in schools and new tendencies in historical scholarship: the latter include regional, transnational and global approaches; an interest in the mutual perceptions of Europeans and non-Europeans and of majority and minority groups; interest in ‘entangled histories’ or histoires croisées; and a gradually growing sensitivity to post-colonial interpretations. The rest of this article will examine some of the ways in which these new approaches have entered – or failed to enter – school history textbooks in the German education system.
A Validation Study of Early Adolescents’ Pubertal Self-Assessments

This study aimed to determine whether self-assessed puberty is sufficiently reliable and valid to substitute for physician examination when feasibility of physician examination is low (e.g., behavioral research). Adolescents (convenience sample N = 178 endocrinology patients and N = 125 from educational trial; mean age 12.7 and 11.3 years, respectively) participated. Self-assessments were validated against physician Tanner ratings and by associations with bone density, gender, and age. Highest exact agreement between physicians and adolescents was 54% for females’ and 55% for males’ ratings of pubic hair. More than 85% agreement within one stage was obtained for most measures. Significant associations were found for age and bone between adolescents in earlier and later stages of development and for developmental stage between genders for each age group. Results suggest predictive and discriminate validity of self-assessments. Self-assessments may be useful when estimates of pubertal development are sufficient and for studies barred from physician examination.
Medical image protection using secret sharing scheme

With the establishment of medical information system, lots of medical images are stored in computer and transmitted among hospitals by network. Once the medical images are stolen or abused, the rights of the patients will suffer violation. The paper proposes a secret sharing scheme to protect the security of the medical images. No one can obtain any information from one of the shared images unless the authorized people. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme not only protect the security of the medical images, but also recover the medical images without distortion.
Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

[1] The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is a hyperspectral imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. CRISM consists of three subassemblies, a gimbaled Optical Sensor Unit (OSU), a Data Processing Unit (DPU), and the Gimbal Motor Electronics (GME). CRISM's objectives are (1) to map the entire surface using a subset of bands to characterize crustal mineralogy, (2) to map the mineralogy of key areas at high spectral and spatial resolution, and (3) to measure spatial and seasonal variations in the atmosphere. These objectives are addressed using three major types of observations. In multispectral mapping mode, with the OSU pointed at planet nadir, data are collected at a subset of 72 wavelengths covering key mineralogic absorptions and binned to pixel footprints of 100 or 200 m/pixel. Nearly the entire planet can be mapped in this fashion. In targeted mode the OSU is scanned to remove most along-track motion, and a region of interest is mapped at full spatial and spectral resolution (15–19 m/pixel, 362–3920 nm at 6.55 nm/channel). Ten additional abbreviated, spatially binned images are taken before and after the main image, providing an emission phase function (EPF) of the site for atmospheric study and correction of surface spectra for atmospheric effects. In atmospheric mode, only the EPF is acquired. Global grids of the resulting lower data volume observations are taken repeatedly throughout the Martian year to measure seasonal variations in atmospheric properties. Raw, calibrated, and map-projected data are delivered to the community with a spectral library to aid in interpretation.
Retrieving images using saliency detection and graph matching

The need for fast retrieving images has recently increased tremendously in many application areas (biomedicine, military, commerce, education, etc.). In this work, we exploit the saliency detection to select a group of salient regions and utilize an undirected graph to model the dependency among these salient regions, so that the similarity of images can be measured by calculating the similarity of the corresponding graphs. Identification of salient pixels can decrease interferences from irrelevant information, and make the image representation more effective. The introduction of the graph model can better characterize the spatial constraints among salient regions. The comparison experiments are carried out on the three representative datasets publicly available (Holidays, UKB, and Oxford 5k), and the experimental results show that the integration of the proposed method and the SIFT-like local descriptors can better improve the existing state-of-the-art retrieval accuracy.
The Effects of Spontaneous Random Activity on Information Transmission in an Auditory Brain Stem Neuron Model

This paper presents the effects of spontaneous random activity on information transmission in an auditory brain stem neuron model. In computer simulations, the supra-threshold synaptic current stimuli ascending from auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) were modeled by a filtered inhomogeneous Poisson process modulated by sinusoidal functions at a frequency of 220–3520 Hz with regard to the human speech spectrum. The stochastic sodium and stochastic high- and low-threshold potassium channels were incorporated into a single compartment model of the soma in spherical bushy neurons, so as to realize threshold fluctuations or a variation of spike firing times. The results show that the information rates estimated from the entropy of inter-spike intervals of spike trains tend toward a convex function of the spontaneous rates when the intensity of sinusoidal functions decreases. Furthermore, the results show that a convex function of the spontaneous rates tends to disappear as the frequency of the sinusoidal function increases, such that the phase-locked response can be unobserved. It is concluded that this sort of stochastic resonance (SR) phenomenon, which depends on the spontaneous rates with supra-threshold stimuli, can better enhance information transmission in a smaller intensity of sinusoidal functions within the human speech spectrum, like the situation in which the regular SR can enhance weak signals.
Evaluating Differences in College Students' Career Decision Making on the Basis of Disability Status

College students with and without disabilities (N = 121) completed measures of career decision-making self-efficacy (N. E. Betz, K. Klein, & K. M. Taylor, 1996) and career decision-making attributional style (D. A. Luzzo & A. Jenkins-Smith, 1998). Students with disabilities reported significantly lower levels of career decision-making self-efficacy and exhibited more of a pessimistic attributional style for career decision making than did their peers without disabilities. Results are discussed in the context of developing effective career counseling interventions for college students with disabilities.
Wearable vision based handled objects classification in human robot interaction

Human robot interaction highly desire natural and human-Oriented way in order to enable human and robots better work together, so robot vision should understand human or self activities in egocentric point of view. In this paper, we present a method for visual classification of objects in human hand captured from a wearable vision. The method tackles some challenges of object classification in egocentric perspective; Knowledge of the user's hand location and shape context assists the objects classifier based on previously learned in a labeled set of context. We present experiment on a dataset sellected within a cluttered environment, implementation validates its validity.
ZipA Is Required for Targeting of DMinC/DicB, but Not DMinC/MinD, Complexes to Septal Ring Assemblies in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT The MinC division inhibitor is required for accurate placement of the septal ring at the middle of the Escherichia coli cell. The N-terminal domain of MinC (ZMinC) interferes with FtsZ assembly, while the C-terminal domain (DMinC) mediates both dimerization and complex formation with either MinD or DicB. Binding to either of these activators greatly enhances the division-inhibitory activity of MinC in the cell. The MinD ATPase plays a crucial role in the rapid pole-to-pole oscillation of MinC that is proposed to force FtsZ ring formation to midcell. DicB is encoded by one of the cryptic prophages on the E. coli chromosome (Qin) and is normally not synthesized. Binding of MinD or DicB to DMinC produces complexes that have high affinities for one or more septal ring-associated targets. Here we show that the FtsZ-binding protein ZipA is required for both recruitment of the DMinC/DicB complex to FtsZ rings and the DicB-inducible division block normally seen in MinC+ cells. In contrast, none of the known FtsZ-associated factors, including ZipA, FtsA, and ZapA, appear to be specifically required for targeting of the DMinC/MinD complex to rings, implying that the two MinC/activator complexes must recognize distinct features of FtsZ assemblies. MinD-dependent targeting of MinC may occur in two steps of increasing topological specificity: (i) recruitment of MinC from the cytoplasm to the membrane, and (ii) specific targeting of the MinC/MinD complex to nascent septal ring assemblies on the membrane. Using membrane-tethered derivatives of MinC, we obtained evidence that both of these steps contribute to the efficiency of MinC/MinD-mediated division inhibition.
Preparation and characterization of polyesters with controlled molecular weight method

p-Toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA) as an efficient catalysts has been used for the preparation of various polyesters via controlled molecular weight method using of adipic acid ,mono /di/triethylene glycol, 2-ethyl-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3diol and 1,4 Butanediol as starting materials. The resulting polyesters were prepared in high yields and were characterized by the using of FT-IR, 1 H-NMR and 13 C –NMR spectroscopy. The effect of the catalysts on the rate of the reaction has been investigated.
Literature Mining using Bayesian Networks

In biomedical domains, free text electronic literature is an important resource for knowledge discovery and acquisition, particularly to provide a priori components for evaluating or learning domain models. Aiming at the automated extraction of this prior knowledge we discuss the types of uncertainties in a domain with respect to causal mechanisms, formulate assumptions about their report in scientific papers and derive generative probabilistic models for the occurrences of biomedical concepts in papers. These results allow the discovery and extraction of latent causal dependency relations from the domain literature using minimal linguistic support. Contrary to the currently prevailing methods, which assume that relations are sufficiently formulated for linguistic methods, our approach assumes only the report of causally associated entities without their tentative status or relations, and can discover new relations and prune redundancies by providing a domain-wide model. Therefore the proposed Bayesian network based text mining is an important complement to the linguistic approaches.
Isolated retrograde amnesia: Evidence for preservation of implicit memory. An event-related potential investigation

Abstract Patient KE has a dense retrograde amnesia for her entire life up to the age of 42 years, when she suffered an infectious brain lesion involving the hippocampus bilaterally and the right frontal lobe including deep white matter areas. Results of Autobiographic Memory Interview (AMI) suggested intact semantic memory with deficient autobiographic memory. Further testing with forced-choice trueffalse judgements indicated the presence of implicit memory for both personal and media-based information from the amnesic interval, and event-related potentials showed differential reaction to sentence probes reflecting the truth value of the test sentences. Retrieval failure or inattention may be considered as explanatory mechanisms.
Visual Agnosia for Line Drawings and Silhouettes without Apparent Impairment of Real-Object Recognition: A Case Report

We report on a patient with visual agnosia for line drawings and silhouette pictures following cerebral infarction in the region of the right posterior cerebral artery. The patient retained the ability to recognize real objects and their photographs, and could precisely copy line drawings of objects that she could not name. This case report highlights the importance of clinicians and researchers paying special attention to avoid overlooking agnosia in such cases. The factors that lead to problems in the identification of stimuli other than real objects in agnosic cases are discussed.
McCollough effect: A neural network model based on source separation

McCollough effects (MEs) are a group of visual contingent aftereffects that involve colour and contour. These effects have been the subject of a large body of literature concerning their properties and theoretical accounts, but the mechanisms underlying the ME have never been fully clarified. We make the assumption that a general adaptive neural process tending to maintain independent dimensions in visual perception could account for the ME. The proposed neural network model generating the ME, though of minimal complexity, can reproduce various detailed experimental results (such as the tilt effect contingent to colour) and above all it accounts for the distinctive long temporal persistence of this aftereffect.
Tumor Necrosis Factor-α is Associated with Positive Lymph Node Status in Patients with Recurrence of Colorectal Cancer – Indications for Anti-TNF-α Agents in Cancer Treatment

Introduction: The progressive growth of malignancies is accompanied by a decline in the immune response through mechanisms which are poorly understood. Apoptosis and induction of inflammation by tumor released cytokines as tumor escape mechanisms have been proposed to play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis. Methods: Expression of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) was analyzed in colorectal cancer specimen and the cancer cell line HT-29 by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. TNF-α expression on protein and mRNA level were correlated with clinical characteristics and impact on survival. TNFR-1 was co-labelled with TNF-α and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells in immunofluorescence double staining experiments. Results: 94% (n=98/104) of the patients with CRC expressed TNF-α. High TNF-α expression was significantly associated with positive lymph node stage and recurrence of the tumor. Multivariate analysis revealed high TNF-α expression as an independent prognostic factor. Immunohistochemistry was correlated with RT-PCR results (τ=0.794). Immunofluorescence double staining experiments revealed increased TNFR-1 expression by CD8+ cells. Conclusion: TNF-α expression by tumor cells may be an efficient immunological escape mechanism by inflammation-enhanced metastases and probably by induction of apoptosis in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ immune cells resulting in a down regulation of the tumoral immune response. Our data support the role of tumor-derived TNF-α expression as an important promoter of tumoral immune escape mechanisms and malignant progression, and suggest that analysis on either protein (immunohistochemistry) or RNA level (RT-PCR) can be used effectively in this respect. Targeting TNF-α may be a promising option, especially in cases with high TNF-α expression and positive lymph node metastases.
Interaction Between Familial Transmission and a Constitutively Active Immune System Shapes Gut Microbiota in Drosophila melanogaster

Resident gut bacteria are constantly influencing the immune system, yet the role of the immune system in shaping microbiota composition during an organism’s life span has remained unclear. Experiments in mice have been inconclusive due to differences in husbandry schemes that led to conflicting results. We used Drosophila as a genetically tractable system with a simpler gut bacterial population structure streamlined genetic backgrounds and established cross schemes to address this issue. We found that, depending on their genetic background, young flies had microbiota of different diversities that converged with age to the same Acetobacteraceae-dominated pattern in healthy flies. This pattern was accelerated in immune-compromised flies with higher bacterial load and gut cell death. Nevertheless, immune-compromised flies resembled their genetic background, indicating that familial transmission was the main force regulating gut microbiota. In contrast, flies with a constitutively active immune system had microbiota readily distinguishable from their genetic background with the introduction and establishment of previously undetectable bacterial families. This indicated the influence of immunity over familial transmission. Moreover, hyperactive immunity and increased enterocyte death resulted in the highest bacterial load observed starting from early adulthood. Cohousing experiments showed that the microenvironment also played an important role in the structure of the microbiota where flies with constitutive immunity defined the gut microbiota of their cohabitants. Our data show that, in Drosophila, constitutively active immunity shapes the structure and density of gut microbiota.