Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Learning Rule for Extracting

The inputs to photoreceptors tend to change rapidly over time, whereas physical parameters (e.g. surface depth) underlying these changes vary more slowly. Accordingly, if a neuron codes for a physical parameter then its output should also change slowly, despite its rapidly uctuating inputs. We demonstrate that a model neuron which adapts to make its output vary smoothly over time can learn to extract invariances implicit in its input. This learning consists of a linear combination of Hebbian and anti-Hebbian synaptic changes, operating simultaneously upon the same connection weights but at diierent time scales. This is shown to be suucient for the unsupervised learning of simple spatio-temporal invariances. We present a learning rule, based upon temporal correlations, that allows a single model neuron to extract important information from its input concerning temporal parameters (i.e. invariances). Primary sensory areas such as striate cortex tend to use a place-coding of input features (such as edge-orientation) in which the identity of the neuron responding may be more important than its response magnitude. Such a coding demands many neurons. We show that a smaller number of neurons, adapting in accord with the learning rule we deene, could alter their synaptic connections to transmit the same amount of information. This is achieved by use of a frequency-coding in which response magnitude has high information content. Many Hebbian-learning models exploit spatial correlations in their inputs, whereas only a few exploit temporal correlations 1, 2, 3]. These temporal models update synaptic strengths between neurons according to exponentially weighted time-averages of post-synaptic (or pre-synaptic) activity over the recent past. Using these exponential traces with Hebbian synaptic modiication allows each neuron to make strong connections to others with which it is temporally correlated. Essentially, these invariance-seeking model neurons simply compute a logical OR on a subset of their inputs. For example, a neuron that learns to be selective for edge-orientation, whilst invariant to edge-position, forms uniformly strong connections to the subset of all input neurons having the appropriate orientation selectivity, regardless of spatial position, because activity within this subset is temporally correlated. These models are limited because they require an output neuron to represent each subset of input neurons. If there are input neurons responsive to n ranges of orientation, there must be n output neurons to maintain orientation discrimination; the result is a place-code for orientation in which the output-value of the responding neuron carries only a small amount …
Stratification and weighting via the propensity score in estimation of causal treatment effects: a comparative study

Estimation of treatment effects with causal interpretation from observational data is complicated because exposure to treatment may be confounded with subject characteristics. The propensity score, the probability of treatment exposure conditional on covariates, is the basis for two approaches to adjusting for confounding: methods based on stratification of observations by quantiles of estimated propensity scores and methods based on weighting observations by the inverse of estimated propensity scores. We review popular versions of these approaches and related methods offering improved precision, describe theoretical properties and highlight their implications for practice, and present extensive comparisons of performance that provide guidance for practical use. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multiobjective Differential Evolution with External Archive and Harmonic Distance-Based Diversity Measure

This paper presents an approach to incorporate Pareto dominance into the differential evolution (DE) algorithm in order to solve optimization problems with more than one objective by using the DE algorithm. Unlike the existing proposals to extend the DE to solve multiobjective optimization problems, our algorithm uses an external archive to store nondominated solutions. In order to generate trial vectors, the current population and the nondominated solutions stored in the external archive are used. We also propose a new harmonic average distance to measure the crowding degree of the solutions more accurately. Simulation results on nine test problems show that the proposed MODE, in most problems, is able to find much better spread of solutions with better approximating the true Pareto-optimal front compared to three other multiobjective optimization evolutionary algorithms. Further the new crowding degree estimation method improves the diversity of the nondominated solutions along the Pareto front.
Rifaximin modulates the colonic microbiota of patients with Crohn's disease: an in vitro approach using a continuous culture colonic model system.

OBJECTIVES Rifaximin, a rifamycin derivative, has been reported to induce clinical remission of active Crohn's disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder. In order to understand how rifaximin affects the colonic microbiota and its metabolism, an in vitro human colonic model system was used in this study. METHODS We investigated the impact of the administration of 1800 mg/day of rifaximin on the faecal microbiota of four patients affected by colonic active CD [Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI > 200)] using a continuous culture colonic model system. We studied the effect of rifaximin on the human gut microbiota using fluorescence in situ hybridization, quantitative PCR and PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of the antibiotic on microbial metabolic profiles, using (1)H-NMR and solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and its potential genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, using Comet and growth curve assays. RESULTS Rifaximin did not affect the overall composition of the gut microbiota, whereas it caused an increase in concentration of Bifidobacterium, Atopobium and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. A shift in microbial metabolism was observed, as shown by increases in short-chain fatty acids, propanol, decanol, nonanone and aromatic organic compounds, and decreases in ethanol, methanol and glutamate. No genotoxicity or cytotoxicity was attributed to rifaximin, and conversely rifaximin was shown to have a chemopreventive role by protecting against hydrogen peroxide-induced DNA damage. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that rifaximin, while not altering the overall structure of the human colonic microbiota, increased bifidobacteria and led to variation of metabolic profiles associated with potential beneficial effects on the host.
MR imaging of the lumbar spine: relation of posterior soft-tissue edema-like signal and body weight.

OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to determine the association between posterior lumbar spine subcutaneous edema, fluid collections, and body weight on lumbar spine MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS MR images of the lumbar spine obtained at 1.5 T of 307 consecutive outpatients (191 female, 116 male) were reviewed on the basis of MR imaging signal characteristics for the presence, degree, size, and location of presumed subcutaneous posterior soft-tissue edema and fluid collections. The patients were divided into three weight groups (<70, 70-85, or > 85 kg) and two age groups (<50 or >/=50 years old). Edema was graded on a scale of 0-5 according to its length relative to the vertebral bodies. When present, the fluid collection volumes were calculated. The vertical epicenter of the signal abnormality was noted by vertebral body level. RESULTS Lumbar soft-tissue edema was seen in 121 patients (39%), and discrete fluid collections were seen in 53 patients (17%). Both degree of edema and volume of fluid collection were associated with increasing weight (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively) and increasing age (p < 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively). The degree of edema in females was significantly greater than in males (p = 0.003). However, the sex of the patient did not correlate with frequency of fluid collections (p = 0.12) or volume of collections (p = 0.08). The mean epicenters of edema in females and males were at similar levels (L3.4 and L3.9, respectively, p = 0.54). CONCLUSION The severity of posterior lumbar subcutaneous edema and the volume of fluid collections on MR imaging are associated with increased weight.
Systolic and Super-Systolic Multipliers for Finite Field $GF(2^{m})$ Based on Irreducible Trinomials

Novel systolic and super-systolic architectures are presented for polynomial basis multiplication over GF(2m) based on irreducible trinomials. By suitable cut-set retiming, we have derived here an efficient bit-level-pipelined bit-parallel systolic design for binary field multiplication which requires fewer gates and registers and involves nearly half the time-complexity of the corresponding existing design. We have also suggested a digit-level-pipelined design, which involves lower latency, and fewer registers compared with the bit-level-pipelined structure. Moreover, we have proposed a super-systolic design consisting of a set of systolic arrays in a systolic-pipeline and a pipelined systolic-block design consisting of a pipelined blocks of concurrent systolic arrays. The super-systolic designs have the same average computation time and the same critical path as the proposed bit-level-pipelined design, but can be used to reduce the latency by a factor O(radic(m)) at the cost of marginally higher number of XOR gates and bit-registers. The hardware complexities of proposed super-systolic designs are nearly three times that of the existing bit-parallel structures, but offer very high throughput compared with the others for large values of m. For the field orders m = 233 and m = 409, the proposed structures offer, respectively, ten and eleven times more throughput than the others.
2 Tutorial Dialogues in Instructional Systems and in Interactive Knowledge Acquisition

This paper argues that interactive knowledge acquisition tools would bene t from a tighter and more thorough incorporation of tutoring and learning principles. Current systems learn from users in a very passive and disengaged manner, and could be designed to incorporate the proactive capabilities that one expects of a good student. This paper describes our analysis of the literature on tutorial dialogues presents a compilation of useful principles that students and teachers typically follow in making tutoring interactions successful. We then point out what tutoring and learning principles have been used to date in the acquisition literature, though unintentionally and implicitly. We discuss how a more thorough and explicit representation of these principles would help improve enormously how computers learn from users. We plan to use these ideas in our future work to develop more proactive and e ective acquisition interfaces. Some material in this paper is also reported in the proceedings of the Intelligent Tutoring Systems Conference (ITS 2002) or in the proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci-2002).
Calcium‐permeable AMPA receptors and silent synapses in cocaine‐conditioned place preference

Exposure to cocaine generates silent synapses in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), whose eventual unsilencing/maturation by recruitment of calcium‐permeable AMPA‐type glutamate receptors (CP‐AMPARs) after drug withdrawal results in profound remodeling of NAc neuro‐circuits. Silent synapse‐based NAc remodeling was shown to be critical for several drug‐induced behaviors, but its role in acquisition and retention of the association between drug rewarding effects and drug‐associated contexts has remained unclear. Here, we find that the postsynaptic proteins PSD‐93, PSD‐95, and SAP102 differentially regulate excitatory synapse properties in the NAc. Mice deficient for either of these scaffold proteins exhibit distinct maturation patterns of silent synapses and thus provided instructive animal models to examine the role of NAc silent synapse maturation in cocaine‐conditioned place preference (CPP). Wild‐type and knockout mice alike all acquired cocaine‐CPP and exhibited increased levels of silent synapses after drug‐context conditioning. However, the mice differed in CPP retention and CP‐AMPAR incorporation. Collectively, our results indicate that CP‐AMPAR‐mediated maturation of silent synapses in the NAc is a signature of drug–context association, but this maturation is not required for establishing or retaining cocaine‐CPP.
A Comparison of Task Driven and Information Driven Sensor Management for Target Tracking

Several authors have proposed sensor scheduling methods that are driven by information theoretic measures. In the information driven approach, the relative merit of different sensing actions is measured by the corresponding expected gain in information. Information driven approaches stand in stark contrast to task driven methods, i.e., methods that select some physical performance criteria and explicitly manage the sensor based on that criteria. This paper investigates the difference between a particular information driven approach, one that maximizes an alpha-Rényi measure of information gain, and task driven methods with a combination of theory and simulation. First, we give a mathematical relation that shows that when the decision error depends only weakly on the target state a certain type of marginalized information gain is a close approximation to the Bayes risk associated with performing a specific task. Second, we perform an empirical comparison between information driven and task driven approaches that maximize information gain or minimize risk, respectively. In particular, we give a task driven method that uses the sensor in a manner that is expected to maximize the probability the target is correctly located after the next measurement. We find as expected that the task driven method outperforms the information driven method when the performance is measured by risk, i.e., probability of localization error. However, the performance difference between the two methods is very small, suggesting that the information gain is a good surrogate for risk for this application.
City Research Online

This paper is a reflection on the emerging genre of narrative visualization, a creative response to the need to share complex data engagingly with the public. In it, we explain how narrative visualization offers authors the opportunity to communicate more effectively with their audience by reproducing and sharing an experience of insight similar to their own. To do so, we propose a two part model, derived from previous literature, in which insight is understood as both an experience and also the product of that experience. We then discuss how the design of narrative visualization should be informed by attempts elsewhere to track the provenance of insights and share them in a collaborative setting. Finally, we present a future direction for research that includes using EEG technology to record neurological patterns during episodes of insight experience as the basis for evaluation.
Direct inhibition of c-Myc-Max heterodimers by celastrol and celastrol-inspired triterpenoids

Many oncogenic signals originate from abnormal protein-protein interactions that are potential targets for small molecule inhibitors. However, the therapeutic disruption of these interactions has proved elusive. We report here that the naturally-occurring triterpenoid celastrol is an inhibitor of the c-Myc (Myc) oncoprotein, which is over-expressed in many human cancers. Most Myc inhibitors prevent the association between Myc and its obligate heterodimerization partner Max via their respective bHLH-ZIP domains. In contrast, we show that celastrol binds to and alters the quaternary structure of the pre-formed dimer and abrogates its DNA binding. Celastrol contains a reactive quinone methide group that promiscuously forms Michael adducts with numerous target proteins and other free sulfhydryl-containing molecules. Interestingly, triterpenoid derivatives lacking the quinone methide showed enhanced specificity and potency against Myc. As with other Myc inhibitors, these analogs rapidly reduced the abundance of Myc protein and provoked a global energy crisis marked by ATP depletion, neutral lipid accumulation, AMP-activated protein kinase activation, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. They also inhibited the proliferation of numerous established human cancer cell lines as well as primary myeloma explants that were otherwise resistant to JQ1, a potent indirect Myc inhibitor. N-Myc amplified neuroblastoma cells showed similar responses and, in additional, underwent neuronal differentiation. These studies indicate that certain pharmacologically undesirable properties of celastrol such as Michael adduct formation can be eliminated while increasing selectivity and potency toward Myc and N-Myc. This, together with their low in vivo toxicity, provides a strong rationale for pursuing the development of additional Myc-specific triterpenoid derivatives.
Coronary artery disease Clinical outcomes after myocardial revascularization according to operator training status : cohort study of 22 697 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass graft surgery

CLINICAL RESEARCH Coronary artery disease
Human pluripotent stem cell‐derived epicardial progenitors can differentiate to endocardial‐like endothelial cells

Abstract During heart development, epicardial progenitors contribute various cardiac lineages including smooth muscle cells, cardiac fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. However, their specific contribution to the human endothelium has not yet been resolved, at least in part due to the inability to expand and maintain human primary or pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)‐derived epicardial cells. Here we first generated CDH5‐2A‐eGFP knock‐in hPSC lines and differentiated them into self‐renewing WT1+ epicardial cells, which gave rise to endothelial cells upon VEGF treatment in vitro. In addition, we found that the percentage of endothelial cells correlated with WT1 expression in a WT1‐2A‐eGFP reporter line. The resulting endothelial cells displayed many endocardium‐like endothelial cell properties, including high expression levels of endocardial‐specific markers, nutrient transporters and well‐organized tight junctions. These findings suggest that human epicardial progenitors may have the capacity to form endocardial endothelium during development and have implications for heart regeneration and cardiac tissue engineering.
Raf-1 activation disrupts its binding to keratins during cell stress

Keratins 8 and 18 (K8/18) heteropolymers may regulate cell signaling via the known K18 association with 14-3-3 proteins and 14-3-3 association with Raf-1 kinase. We characterized Raf–keratin–14-3-3 associations and show that Raf associates directly with K8, independent of Raf kinase activity or Ras–Raf interaction, and that K18 is a Raf physiologic substrate. Raf activation during oxidative and toxin exposure in cultured cells and animals disrupt keratin–Raf association in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. Mutational analysis showed that 14-3-3 residues that are essential for Raf binding also regulate 14-3-3–keratin association. Similarly, Raf phosphorylation sites that are important for binding to 14-3-3 are also essential for Raf binding to K8/18. Therefore, keratins may modulate some aspects of Raf signaling under basal conditions via sequestration by K8, akin to Raf–14-3-3 binding. Keratin-bound Raf kinase is released upon Raf hyperphosphorylation and activation during oxidative and other stresses.
The 21st-century hipster: On micro-populations in times of superdiversity

Through a critical review of existing literature on hipsters, and an analysis of online data, this article provides a description of ‘hipster culture’. To this end, we examine the reoccurring markers of hipster identity and, crucially, the accompanying identity discourses on hipsters. As a result, a picture of hipster culture emerges as a translocal and layered phenomenon with contextually specific claims to authenticity, and certain material infrastructures and effects emerge with the culture. Finally, we will propose the concept of ‘micro-population’ as a tool for making sense not only of hipsters, but identity in general in times of superdiversity.
On minimizing training corpus for parser acquisition

Many corpus-based natural language processing systems rely on using large quantities of annotated text as their training examples. Building this kind of resource is an expensive and labor-intensive project. To minimize effort spent on annotating examples that are not helpful the training process, recent research efforts have begun to apply active learning techniques to selectively choose data to be annotated. In this work, we consider selecting training examples with the tree-entropy metric. Our goal is to assess how well this selection technique can be applied for training different types of parsers. We find that tree-entropy can significantly reduce the amount of training annotation for both a history-based parser and an EM-based parser. Moreover, the examples selected for the history-based parser are also good for training the EM-based parser suggesting that the technique is parser independent.
Providing extreme mobile broadband using higher frequency bands, beamforming, and carrier aggregation

To meet future demands on user experience and traffic volumes, mobile networks need to evolve towards providing higher capacities and data rates. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of incorporating higher frequency bands (15 GHz) and beamforming to support this evolution. We see that using user-specific beamforming, the challenging propagation conditions at higher frequencies are mitigated and outdoor-in coverage is often possible. In places where 15 GHz coverage is not satisfactory, swift fallback to a lower frequency band is essential. This is seamlessly provided by carrier aggregation with a 2.6 GHz band. Together these components provide a ten-fold increase in capacity over a reference system operating only at 2.6 GHz.
A Component-based Architecture for Vision-based Gesture Recognition

In this paper we present our research on developing a vision-based gesture recognition system. This system has three abstract layers each with their own specific type and requirements of data which enable us to implement them as separate components. The first layer is the skin detection layer. One of our contributions to the research is an adaptive skin detection algorithm that forms the core of this layer. This component provides a set of disperse skin pixels for a tracker that forms the second layer. This second component is based on the Mean-shift algorithm which has been improved for robustness against noise using our novel fuzzy-based edge estimation method that makes the tracker suitable for real world applications. The third component is the gesture recognition layer which is based on a gesture modelling technique and a classification method that we have developed for this purpose. We have used the angle space to model the input gesture and artificial neuralnetworks for classification of the gesture.