Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the detection of associatively novel events using fMRI

Identifying and evaluating events which are novel in a particular environment is crucially important for adaptive behavior. These events are often not just novel, as they typically violate expectations which may be formulated based on numerous features of our surroundings, one of which includes the ordinal structure (temporal order) of relevant stimuli. Events which violate such expectations, namely sequential deviants, constitute one category of associatively novel stimuli. The present event‐related fMRI study investigated the detection of sequential deviants presented within three types of equivalently organized, attended visual sequences which differed in stimulus dimensions relevant for defining the sequential structure (position, rhythm, and object identity). Presenting deviants within perceptual sequences defined by position and rhythm stimulus properties triggered comparable patterns of activations within the lateral parietal, premotor, and prefrontal regions. However, the activations identified in the context of position sequences showed a more dorsal distribution when compared to those in rhythm sequences. In contrast, detection of deviants within object sequences was supported by right‐lateralized parietal and temporal cortices. Thus, although the obtained results indicate similarities and partial overlap in activations triggered by specific pairs of deviants, differences in their processing were also revealed. This suggests that the general task context and specific stimulus features which define the deviant itself influence which brain regions within a widespread network incorporating lateral prefrontal, anterior premotor, and posterior (mainly lateral parietal) areas will become engaged in its processing. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Easy Matting ‐ A Stroke Based Approach for Continuous Image Matting

We propose an iterative energy minimization framework for interactive image matting. Our approach is easy in the sense that it is fast and requires only few user‐specified strokes for marking the foreground and background. Beginning with the known region, we model the unknown region as a Markov Random Field (MRF) and formulate its energy in each iteration as the combination of one data term and one smoothness term. By automatically adjusting the weights of both terms during the iterations, the first‐order continuous and feature‐preserving result is rapidly obtained with several iterations. The energy optimization can be further performed in selected local regions for refined results. We demonstrate that our energy‐driven scheme can be extended to video matting, with which the spatio‐temporal smoothness is faithfully preserved. We show that the proposed approach outperforms previous methods in terms of both the quality and performance for quite challenging examples.
Robust null-space based interference avoiding scheme for D2D communication underlaying cellular networks

In this paper, we design a null-space based robust interference avoiding strategy for the Device-to-Device (D2D) communication underlaying network. Thanks to the coordination between D2D user and the regular user, the interfering channel state information (CSI) among the base station (BS), cellular user equipment (CUE) and the D2D user equipments (DUEs) can be estimated from the training approach. Then, the null-space based transmit and receive beam-formings are designed at appropriate terminals to mitigate the interference caused in the future data transmission. To make the design practical, we also characterize the null-space uncertainty that is resulted from the imperfect channel estimation. Moreover, we derive the optimal transmission strategy that can achieve the best training-throughput tradeoff. Simulation results are provided to corroborate the proposed studies.
IMPROVED SYNCHRONIZING PROCEDURE OF PDAS TO DELIVERY THE COMMON SENSE OF THE TIME TO STAND ALONE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT

The paper proposes the optimized evolution of the previous procedure to synchronize the PDAs to the node of the Distributed Measurement System (DMS) in order to physically bring the common sense of time to the stand alone node. The improvements concern with (i) the selection of the clock node as reference one, (ii) the contemporaneous synchronization of all the involved PDAs, and (iii) the compensation of the effects of the drift of the electronic components on the number of system cycle after whom the control of the MI must be executed. The improvements pointed out originate from the practical evaluation of the performance of the previous synchronization procedure. The improved procedure meets the advantages of the synchronization based on the IEEE std 1588. Experimental tests are shown to validate the synchronization procedure and to highlight the advantages.
Modulated two-dimensional patterns in reaction–diffusion systems

New modulation equations for hexagonal patterns in reaction–diffusion systems are derived for parameter régimes corresponding to the onset of patterns. These systems include additional nonlinearities which are not present in Rayleigh–Bénard convection or Swift–Hohenberg type models. The dynamics of hexagonal and roll patterns are studied using a combination of analytical and computational approaches which exploit the hexagonal structure of the modulation equations. The investigation demonstrates instabilities and new phenomena not found in other systems, and is applied to patterns of flame fronts in a certain model of burner stabilized flames.
Efficient approaches for intrusion detection in cloud environment

Intrusion Detection System is one of the challenging research areas in Cloud Security. Security incidents such as Denial of service, scanning, malware code injection, virus, worm and password cracking are becoming common in cloud environment. These attacks can become a threat to the reputation of the company and can also cause financial loss if not detected on time. Hence securing the cloud from these types of attacks is very important. In this paper, we have proposed techniques to secure cloud environment by incorporating some of the efficient approaches in intrusion detection. We have focused on two major issues in IDS: efficient detection mechanism and speed of detection. We have proposed approaches to tackle these issues using Machine Learning and parallelization. We have also provided security frameworks to demonstrate how these approaches will be deployed in Cloud Environment. A preliminary analysis was conducted for some of the approaches and results are promising.
Improving particle approximations of the joint smoothing distribution with linear computational cost

Particle smoothers are widely used algorithms allowing to approximate the smoothing distribution in hidden Markov models. Existing algorithms often suffer from slow computational time or degeneracy. We propose in this paper a way to improve any of them with a linear complexity in the number of particles. When iteratively applied to the degenerated Filter-Smoother, this method leads to an algorithm which turns out to outperform all other linear particle smoothers for a fixed computational time.
Was something rotten in the state of Denmark? Three narratives of the active internationalism in Danish foreign policy

The Danish decision to enter US-led coalitions in Afghanistan and Iraq significantly consolidated and strengthened the Atlantic dimension in Danish foreign policy in the period 2001–2009. The period has attracted considerable academic interest, but there seems to be a lack of consensus about how to interpret the Danish decision, which has been characterised as everything from an indication of adaptation, to continuation of the Danish acquiescence to great powers, to path-breaking change in Danish foreign policy to an expression of small state independence. Part of the confusion in the literature is due to the lack of clear conceptual awareness regarding the concepts in use. This article identifies three frames in the literature and contributes to our understanding of the question of change and continuity in small state foreign and security policy by identifying the analytical implications of adopting a clearer understanding of analytical concepts such as adaptation, determinism, activism and internationalism in the Scandinavian context in general and the Danish context more specifically.
Exploiting Dimensions of the MIMO wireless channel: multidimensional link adaptation

In this paper, we propose an adaptive radio interface scheme for systems that employ multiple antennas. This is in contrast to the adaptive interface of single-antenna systems like in current packet data cellular systems. We propose groups of transmission parameters called modulation, coding and antenna schemes (MCAS) that are chosen according to the current conditions of the wireless channel, in order to maximize the performance in terms of good put, while maintaining a certain level of reliability.
Functional Analysis of the Cathepsin-Like Cysteine Protease Genes in Adult Brugia malayi Using RNA Interference

Background Cathepsin-like enzymes have been identified as potential targets for drug or vaccine development in many parasites, as their functions appear to be essential in a variety of important biological processes within the host, such as molting, cuticle remodeling, embryogenesis, feeding and immune evasion. Functional analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans cathepsin L (Ce-cpl-1) and cathepsin Z (Ce-cpz-1) has established that both genes are required for early embryogenesis, with Ce-cpl-1 having a role in regulating in part the processing of yolk proteins. Ce-cpz-1 also has an important role during molting. Methods and Findings RNA interference assays have allowed us to verify whether the functions of the orthologous filarial genes in Brugia malayi adult female worms are similar. Treatment of B. malayi adult female worms with Bm-cpl-1, Bm-cpl-5, which belong to group Ia of the filarial cpl gene family, or Bm-cpz-1 dsRNA resulted in decreased numbers of secreted microfilariae in vitro. In addition, analysis of the intrauterine progeny of the Bm-cpl-5 or Bm-cpl Pro dsRNA- and siRNA-treated worms revealed a clear disruption in the process of embryogenesis resulting in structural abnormalities in embryos and a varied differential development of embryonic stages. Conclusions Our studies suggest that these filarial cathepsin-like cysteine proteases are likely to be functional orthologs of the C. elegans genes. This functional conservation may thus allow for a more thorough investigation of their distinct functions and their development as potential drug targets.
Understanding the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy: Illustrations from Bangladesh and Ghana

The past decade has seen increased attention to measuring women’s empowerment and autonomy, motivated by the goal of identifying promising programs and policies for reducing gender inequalities. One of the most common quantitative indicators of women’s empowerment is the self-reported ability to participate in household decision making over important matters. Despite the widespread use of such indicators in the literature, uncertainty exists over how to construct valid indicators of empowerment based on questions about decision making. In particular, it is unclear how indicative joint decision making is of individual decision-making power and to what extent joint decision making reflects a consistent understanding of decision-making power within households. We utilize data from women and men in Bangladesh and Ghana to investigate whether respondents who report sole decision making in a particular domain tend to experience stronger or weaker feelings of autonomous motivation—measured using a Relative Autonomy Index—than those who report joint decision making. We find systematic differences between men and women in the association between feelings of autonomous motivation and decision making outcomes. In addition, results vary by the domain of decision making and by whether or not there is a shared understanding of decision-making power within households. These findings suggest that in order to accurately measure empowerment, further innovation in the specificity as well as the sensitivity of indicators is needed.
Secure identification based on fuzzy commitment scheme for JPEG XR images

A secure identification scheme for JPEG XR images is proposed in this paper. The aim is to securely identify JPEG XR images which are generated from the same original image under various compression levels. A property of the positive and negative signs of lapped biorthogonal transform coefficients is employed to achieve a robust scheme against JPEG XR compression. The proposed scheme is robust against a difference in compression levels, and does not produce false negative matches in any compression level. Existing conventional schemes having this property are not secure. To construct a secure identification system, we propose a novel identification system that consists of a new error correction technique and a fuzzy commitment scheme, which is a well-known biometric cryptosystem. The experimental results show the proposed scheme is effective for JPEG XR compressed video sequences in terms of the querying such as false negative and true positive matches, while keeping a high level of the security.
Changes occurring in cortical NO release and brain NO‐synthases during a paradoxical sleep deprivation and subsequent recovery in the rat

Variations occurring in cortical nitric oxide (NO) release were analysed with a voltametric method in rats (i) placed in control conditions, (ii) while being paradoxical sleep deprived (PSD), or (iii) recovering from a PSD. Activities of neuronal (nNOS) and inducible (iNOS) NO‐synthases as well as nNOS expression were also determined in several brain regions. In baseline conditions, circadian variations in nNOS expression and activity were maximal during the dark period and minimal during the light one for all the structures analysed (frontal cortex, pons and medulla). In the same way, cortical NO release occurred through a circadian rhythm exhibiting maxima and minima during dark and light periods, respectively. In the same experimental conditions, iNOS activity did not exhibit time‐dependent changes. The correlative changes observed in baseline conditions between NO release, nNOS expression and activity within the frontal cortex were disrupted during PSD and subsequent recovery. Still again, iNOS activity remained unchanged. Results obtained point out that the tight coupling existing in control conditions between nNOS expression‐activity and NO release is disrupted by a PSD and remains affected during the subsequent 24 h recovery. Their significance is discussed.
SP-ACT: A hybrid framework for complex activity recognition combining OWL and SPARQL rules

In this paper we describe SP-ACT, a hybrid framework for the derivation of high-level activity interpretations in context-aware environments, by defining a combination of OWL ontologies and SPARQL CONSTRUCT graph patterns. More specifically, the native semantics of OWL is used to formally represent and integrate activity-related information originated from different data sources, whereas SPARQL (SPIN) rules further aggregate activities so as to derive highlevel activity abstractions. The goal of the hybrid framework is to address the limitations of the ontology-based context modelling paradigm in domains that require the recognition of complex context elements, namely, the lack of support for (i) temporal reasoning and (ii) new named individual assertions.
Imaging studies for diagnosing Graves' orbitopathy and dysthyroid optic neuropathy

Although the diagnosis of Graves' orbitopathy is primarily made clinically based on laboratory tests indicative of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity, imaging studies, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and color Doppler imaging, play an important role both in the diagnosis and follow-up after clinical or surgical treatment of the disease. Imaging studies can be used to evaluate morphological abnormalities of the orbital structures during the diagnostic workup when a differential diagnosis versus other orbital diseases is needed. Imaging may also be useful to distinguish the inflammatory early stage from the inactive stage of the disease. Finally, imaging studies can be of great help in identifying patients prone to develop dysthyroid optic neuropathy and therefore enabling the timely diagnosis and treatment of the condition, avoiding permanent visual loss. In this paper, we review the imaging modalities that aid in the diagnosis and management of Graves' orbitopathy, with special emphasis on the diagnosis of optic nerve dysfunction in this condition.
Developmental Ethanol Exposure Leads to Long-Term Deficits in Attention and Its Underlying Prefrontal Circuitry

Abstract Chronic prenatal exposure to ethanol can lead to a spectrum of teratogenic outcomes that are classified in humans as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). One of the most prevalent and persistent neurocognitive components of FASD is attention deficits, and it is now thought that these attention deficits differ from traditional attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in their quality and response to medication. However, the neuronal mechanisms underlying attention deficits in FASD are not well understood. We show here that after developmental binge-pattern ethanol exposure, adult mice exhibit impaired performance on the five-choice serial reaction time test for visual attention, with lower accuracy during initial training and a higher rate of omissions under challenging conditions of high attention demand. Whole-cell electrophysiology experiments in these same mice find dysregulated pyramidal neurons in layer VI of the medial prefrontal cortex, which are critical for normal attention performance. Layer VI neurons show decreased intrinsic excitability and increased responses to stimulation of both nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) glutamate receptors. Moreover, although nicotinic acetylcholine responses correlate with performance on the five-choice task in control mice, these relationships are completely disrupted in mice exposed to ethanol during development. These findings demonstrate a novel outcome of developmental binge-pattern ethanol exposure and suggest that persistent alterations to the function of prefrontal layer VI neurons play an important mechanistic role in attention deficits associated with FASD.
Using Treemaps to Visualize Gene Ontologies

2. Gene Ontology 2.1 Objective The objective of Gene Ontology (GO) is to provide controlled vocabularies for the description of the molecular function, biological process and cellular component of gene products. The controlled vocabularies of terms are structured to allow both attribution and querying to be at different levels of granularity. The three organizing principles of GO are molecular function, biological process and cellular component [1]. Each of these are further divided into subparts. For example cellular component is further divided into cell, external protective structure, extracellular, obsolete, unlocalized etc. Each of these nodes is further divided into sub categories.
On the Performance of Different OFDM Based Optical Wireless Communication Systems

This paper analyzes the performance of indoor orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) optical wireless communication systems in the presence of light emitting diode (LED) nonlinear distortions. There are several forms of optical OFDM using intensity modulation [7th Int. Symp. on Communication Systems Networks and Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP), 2010, pp. 566-570]. In this paper, DC-biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) and asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) are considered. ACO-OFDM produces a half-wave symmetry time signal at the output of the OFDM modulator by special assignment of subcarriers, thus allowing signal clipping at the zero level and avoiding the need for DC bias at the expense of data rate reduction. DCO-OFDM assigns data to all possible subcarriers to increase the data rate. However, half-wave symmetry signals cannot be achieved and a high DC bias is needed to convert the bipolar signal to a unipolar signal before modulating the LED intensity. This paper considers a practical LED model and studies the performance of both systems in terms of average electrical OFDM signal power versus bit error ratio in the presence of an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In addition, DC power consumption and the transmitted optical power for the two systems are compared. The analytical results are validated through Monte Carlo simulations and the obtained results demonstrate close match. It is shown that LED clipping has significant impact on the performance of both systems and an optimum system design should take into account the OFDM signal power, DC-bias point, and LED dynamic range.
A Dual-Mode CMOS RF Power Amplifier With Integrated Tunable Matching Network

A dual-mode CMOS power amplifier (PA) with an integrated tunable matching network is presented. A switched capacitor is fully analyzed to implement a tunable matching network in terms of power-handling capability, tuning ratio, quality factor, and linearity. Based on the presented consideration, a 3.3-V 2.4-GHz fully integrated CMOS dual-mode PA is implemented in a 0.18-μm CMOS process. The PA has two power modes, high-power and low-power (LP), and each mode is optimally matched by the tunable matching network. The LP mode enables more than 50% dc current reduction from 0- to 10-dBm power range. The improved efficiency in this study is approximately twice that of other multimode CMOS PAs reported thus far.
Theorizing the role of executive heads in international organizations

International Relations scholars have long neglected the question of leadership in international organizations. The structural turn in International Relations led to an aversion to analysing or theorizing the impact of individuals. Yet, empirical studies suggest that different leaders affect the extent to which international organizations facilitate cooperation among states and/or the capacity of a global agency to deliver public goods. It is difficult to study how and under what conditions leaders have an impact due to the challenges of attributing outcomes to a particular leader and great variation in their powers and operating context. We offer a starting point for overcoming these challenges. We identify three different types of constraints that executive heads face: legal-political, resource and bureaucratic. We argue that leaders can navigate and push back on each of these constraints and provide illustrations of this, drawing on existing literature and interviews with executive heads and senior management of international organizations. Executive heads of international organizations may operate in a constrained environment but this should not stop scholars from studying their impact.
Semimetallic Two-Dimensional Boron Allotrope with Massless Dirac Fermions

It has been widely accepted that planar boron structures, composed of triangular and hexagonal motifs are the most stable two-dimensional (2D) phases and likely precursors for boron nanostructures. Here we predict, based on an ab initio evolutionary structure search, a novel 2D boron structure with nonzero thickness, which is considerably, by $50\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{meV}/\mathrm{atom}$, lower in energy than the recently proposed $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-sheet structure and its analogues. In particular, this phase is identified for the first time to have a distorted Dirac cone, after graphene and silicene the third elemental material with massless Dirac fermions. The buckling and coupling between the two sublattices not only enhance the energetic stability, but also are the key factors for the emergence of the distorted Dirac cone.