Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience Computational Neuroscience

synapses, although there is some experimental evidence for a similar property for inhibitory GABAergic connections (Woodin et al., 2003; Tzounopoulos et al., 2004). Due to its temporal resolution, STDP can lead to input selectivity based on spiking information at the scale of milliseconds, namely spike-time correlations (Gerstner et al., 1996; Kempter et al., 1999). To achieve this, STDP can regulate the output firing rate in a regime that is neither quiescent nor saturated by means of enforcing stability upon the mean incoming synaptic weight and in this way establishing a homeostatic equilibrium (Kempter et al., 2001). In addition, a proper weight specialization requires STDP to generate competition between individual weights (Kempter et al., 1999; van Rossum et al., 2000; Gütig et al., 2003). In the case of several similar input pathways , a desirable outcome is that the weight selection corresponds to a splitting between (but not within) the functional input pools, hence performing symmetry breaking of an initially homogeneous weight distribution that reflects the synaptic input structure (Kempter et al. In this review, we examine how the concepts described above extend from a single neuron (or feed-forward architecture) to recurrent networks , focusing on how the corresponding weight dynamics differs in both cases. The learning dynamics causes synaptic weights to be either potentiated or depressed. Accordingly, STDP can lead to the evolution of different network structures that depend on both the correlation structure of the external inputs and the activity of the network In particular , we relate our recent body of analytical work shortcite (Gilson et al., 2009a–c, 2010) to other studies with a view to illustrating how theory applies to the corresponding network configurations. Models In the present paper, we use a model of STDP that contains two key features: the dependence upon relative timing for pairs of spikes via a temporally asymmetric learning window W (Gerstner et al.,
Managerial Perceptions of Performance

In a cross-cultural experiment the research sought to identify emic theories of individual and group influences on the performance control process. Results suggested that both Japanese and American managers have a Rational Man theory of the individual in the control process. However, differences occurred in their theory of group functioning: Americans tend to see groups as helping to reduce the risk of poor performance, whereas Japanese see them as enhancing good performance.
An antifungal compound produced by Bacillus subtilis YM 10-20 inhibits germination of Penicillium roqueforti conidiospores.

AIMS To identify and characterize an antifungal compound produced by Bacillus subtilis YM 10-20 which prevents spore germination of Penicillium roqueforti. METHODS AND RESULTS The antifungal compound was isolated by acid precipitation with HCl. This compound inhibited fungal germination and growth. Identification by HPLC and mass spectrometry analysis showed high similarity to iturin A. Permeabilization and morphological changes in P. roqueforti conidia in the presence of the inhibitor were revealed by fluorescence staining and SEM, respectively. CONCLUSOINS: The iturin-like compound produced by B. subtilis YM 10-20 permeabilizes fungal spores and blocks germination. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY Fluorescence staining in combination with flow cytometry and scanning electron microscopy are efficient tools for assessing the action of antifungal compounds against spores. Iturin-like compounds may permeabilize fungal spores and inhibit their germination.
Understanding the Relation Between Obesity and Depression: Causal Mechanisms and Implications for Treatment

Obesity is a serious and prevalent condition, with grave risks for morbidity and mortality. While the physical consequences of obesity have been well studied, the psychological correlates are less well understood. Theory and research suggest that obesity and depression may be causally linked. We propose a bidirectional theoretical model identifying the behavioral, cognitive, physiological, and social mechanisms that may be responsible for the pathway between obesity and depression, and vice versa. We investigate the research that supports this model, and identify areas of need for future research. In addition, we discuss the clinical implications of this literature, including the need for integrated care in this population.
An improved method of preparing the amyloid β-protein for fibrillogenesis and neurotoxicity experiments

Synthetic amyloid β-protein (Aβ) is used widely to study fibril formation and the physiologic effects of low molecular weight and fibrillar forms of the peptide on cells in culture or in experimental animals. Not infrequently, conflicting results have arisen in these studies, in part due to variation in the starting conformation and assembly state of Aβ. To avoid these problems, we sought a simple, reliable means of preparing Aβ for experimental use. We found that solvation of synthetic peptide with sodium hydroxide (AβNaOH), followed by lyophilization, produced stocks with superior solubility and fibrillogenesis characteristics. Solubilization of the pretreated material with neutral buffers resulted in a pH transition from -10.5 to neutral, avoiding the isoelectric point of Aβ (pl=5.5), at which Aβ precipitation and aggregation propensity are maximal. Relative to trifluoroacetate (Aβ-TFA) or hydrochloric acid (Aβ-HCl) salts of Aβ, yields of “low molecular weight Aβ” (monomers and/or dimers) were improved significantly by NaOH pretreatment. Time-dependent changes in circular dichroism spectra and Congo red dye-binding showed that Aβ-NaOHformed fibrils more readily than did the other Aβ preparations and that these fibrils were equally neurotoxic. NaOH pretreatment thus offers advantages for the preparation of Aβ for biophysical and physiologic studies.
The Effects of a Student Sampling Plan on Estimates of the Standard Errors for Student Passing Rates

Examined in this study were three procedures for estimating the standard errors of school passing rates using a generalizability theory model. Also examined was how these procedures behaved for student samples that differed in size. The procedures differed in terms of their assumptions about the populations from which students were sampled, and it was found that student sample size generally had a notable effect on the size of the standard error estimates they produced. Also the three procedures produced markedly different standard error estimates when student sample size was small.
Bidirectional Photon Mapping

This paper introduces a method for optimal combination of light paths generated from the camera and from the light sources in the photon mapping algorithm used for computing global illumination. Our method is based on Multiple Importance Sampling, a general approach, introduced by Veach, for adaptive path connection in bi-directional pathtracing. Our goal is to examine this method in connection with the biased algorithm of photon mapping and to improve the ineffective final gather heuristic used in the original version of this algorithm. This heuristic is usually problematic when applied to the scenes where highly glossy materials prevail.
Selective sweeps in growing microbial colonies

Evolutionary experiments with microbes are a powerful tool to study mutations and natural selection. These experiments, however, are often limited to the well-mixed environments of a test tube or a chemostat. Since spatial organization can significantly affect evolutionary dynamics, the need is growing for evolutionary experiments in spatially structured environments. The surface of a Petri dish provides such an environment, but a more detailed understanding of microbial growth on Petri dishes is necessary to interpret such experiments. We formulate a simple deterministic reaction–diffusion model, which successfully predicts the spatial patterns created by two competing species during colony expansion. We also derive the shape of these patterns analytically without relying on microscopic details of the model. In particular, we find that the relative fitness of two microbial strains can be estimated from the logarithmic spirals created by selective sweeps. The theory is tested with strains of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for spatial competitions with different initial conditions and for a range of relative fitnesses. The reaction–diffusion model also connects the microscopic parameters like growth rates and diffusion constants with macroscopic spatial patterns and predicts the relationship between fitness in liquid cultures and on Petri dishes, which we confirmed experimentally. Spatial sector patterns therefore provide an alternative fitness assay to the commonly used liquid culture fitness assays.
Student conscientiousness, self-regulated learning, and science achievement: An explorative field study

This explorative field study examined the mediating role of self-regulated learning (SRL) in the relationship between the personality trait of conscientiousness, SRL, and science achievement in a sample of junior high school students. Over the course of an entire academic year, data on enacted SRL were collected each week for 52 eighth-grade students in the context of an inquiry-based ecology project. Data were also collected on personality traits, self-reported study strategies, science project achievement, and grade point average. Findings show significant relationships between conscientiousness, SRL, and achievement. As hypothesized, conscientiousness was shown to significantly impact academic achievement in the inquiry-based course, mediated by enacted SRL. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Faraday Rotation Estimation from Unfocused Raw Data Analysis using ALOS-PALSAR Data.

We propose to estimate Faraday rotation (FR) from SAR unfocussed raw data rather than focussed Single Look Complex (SLC) data. The main issue of the previous approaches presented in literature is the inherent averaging of the FR angle with the focussing process. This averaging might lead to wrong estimation of FR especially in the case of rapid spatial variation of Total Electron Content (TEC) in the ionosphere. The presence of nonlinear operations in the SAR processor is a second issue that might affect the FR estimation from SLC data. We show the comparison between the two approaches using ALOS-PALSAR data and the ESA PALSAR verification processor.
Examining the Effect of Incarceration and In-Prison Family Contact on Prisoners'Family Relationships

This article explores the effect of incarceration on relationships between prisoners and their family members, examining the extent to which in-prison contact with family may mediate the negative effect of incarceration on family relationships and support after release. Based on responses from 233 Chicago-bound male prisoners interviewed before and after their release from prison, the authors examine the extent to which the quality of relationships prior to prison is related to the frequency and type of family contact during prison, as well as the quality of family relationships and level of family support after release. Findings indicate that level and type of family contact typically mediate the effect of pre-prison relationship quality on both post-prison family relationship quality and support, but that in-prison contact can be a negative influence if intimate partner relationships are already poor.
Completely decentralised Navigation Functions for agents with finite sensing regions with application in aircraft conflict resolution

We develop the framework of decentralised Navigation Functions for the case of multiple agents of arbitrary shapes and sensing areas around them moving in N-dimensional space. Unlike previous approaches utilising the Navigation Functions methodology, the construction here does not rely on diffeomorphisms, thus reducing the computational cost of the algorithm. The resulting potential field is absolutely locally computable and can be easily adapted to decentralised aircraft conflict resolution, as shown in the paper. Simulation results of multi-aircraft conflict resolution are included to support the efficacy of the complete control scheme.
On Floating‐Point Normal Vectors

In this paper we analyze normal vector representations. We derive the error of the most widely used representation, namely 3D floating‐point normal vectors. Based on this analysis, we show that, in theory, the discretization error inherent to single precision floating‐point normals can be achieved by 250.2 uniformly distributed normals, addressable by 51 bits. We review common sphere parameterizations and show that octahedron normal vectors perform best: they are fast and stable to compute, have a controllable error, and require only 1 bit more than the theoretical optimal discretization with the same error.
Optimization of Air Source Heat Pump Systems over the Heating Season through the Use of Renewable Energy Sources

The drive to cover with renewable energy sources an increasing quota of the energy use of a building is boosting the installation of heat pumps coupled with PV panels for residential heating applications. This HVAC solution is especially advantageous in high performance buildings when low temperature hydronic systems (e.g. radiant panels) are adopted. Nonetheless, the seasonal performance of the heating system is strongly dependent on HVAC design choices, such as the system sizes (heat pump, water storage tank, PV battery), and on the system control strategies adopted. Besides, if too many heat pumps are installed an unbearable burden may be imposed to the national power grid. Thus, an optimal design and control of the heating systems installed in high performance building is essential to ensure, along the entire heating season, not only a low energy use but also the appropriate exploitation of in-situ available renewable energy sources. This study presents a possible approach to the optimization of different system configurations, storage and control strategies for high performance buildings. A massive building located in the northern part of Italy has been considered to perform a preliminary application of this approach. The dynamic simulation of the building and its heating system was set up using the TRNSYS simulation suite and the optimization of the HVAC systems was performed coupling the simulation code with a Genetic Algorithm, to minimize the total energy consumption. Results highlight the role of thermal and electrical storage to optimize selfconsumption and enhance the energy performance of air source heat pump. Besides, the study points out the issues of coupling systems with high response time in high performance buildings.
A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice.

Organized anarchies are organizations characterized by problematic preferences, unclear technology, and fluid participation. Recent studies of universities, a familiar form of organized anarchy, suggest that such organizations can be viewed for some purposes as collections of choices looking for problems, issues and feelings looking for decision situations in which they might be aired, solutions looking for issues to which they might be an answer, and decision makers looking for work. These ideas are translated into an explicit computer simulation model of a garbage can decision process. The general implications of such a model are described in terms of five major measures on the process. Possible applications of the model to more narrow predictions are illustrated by an examination of the model's predictions with respect to the effect of adversity on university decision making.
An Electronic Panopticon? A Sociological Critique of Surveillance Theory

The concept of an electronic Panopticon is making increasingly frequent appearances within analyses of electronic surveillance. This paper traces briefly the history of the Panopticon from Jeremy Bentham to Michel Foucault and through a series of case studies shows how the idea seems relevant in the context of computer databases. It is argued that while the Panopticon has some salience to electronic surveillance, particularly through its enhanced capacity for invisible monitoring of personal details, the notion of a ‘societal Panopticon’ is sociologically mistaken. Nonetheless, where vestiges of the Panopticon are present within electronic surveillance, they present a challenge to social analysis and to political practice.
NIST speaker recognition evaluation chronicles

NIST has coordinated annual evaluations of textindependent speaker recognition since 1996. During the course of this series of evaluations there have been notable milestones related to the development of the evaluation paradigm and the performance achievements of state-of-the-art systems. We document here the variants of the speaker detection task that have been included in the evaluations and the history of the best performance results for this task. Finally, we discuss the data collection and protocols for the 2004 evaluation and beyond.
Construct Validation of an Approach to Modeling Cognitive Structure of U.S. History Knowledge

Abstract This research applied evolving conceptions of learning to tackle the difficult problems of how students' and experts' cognitive structures might be represented and evaluated. A diverse sample of high school students was selected to complete several tasks purporting to measure domain-specific knowledge of the Great Depression period of U.S. history, including prior knowledge, written explanation, similarity ratings, and concept mapping tasks. In this study, the technical characteristics of a method for scoring student concept maps were explored by comparing directly the quality of student maps with expert maps. Results showed that experts' concept maps could be used to score students' concept maps reliably. Further analyses showed that students who judged similarities of pairs of concepts, facts, and events from the Great Depression era in an expert-like manner constructed more correct links for those same pairs in their concept maps. MIMIC (multiple indicators, multiple causes) structural modelin.
Queueing Analysis of SPJ Queries over Continuous Data Streams

Currently, considerable body of work exists on stream data processing. Research on data streams varies from algorithms for computing various operators on streams to the design of architectures and implementation of systems for large scale stream processing. Most of the work has focused on the use of queues with traditional query processing operators to handle unpredictable, real-time processing of stream data. To the best of our knowledge, there is little or no work on the queueing analysis of continuous, real-time data and its processing using relational operators/queries. In this paper, we present an analysis based on the queueing theory to study the behavior of stream data in a query processing system. Our approach enables us to compute the mean number of tuples, the variance of the number of tuples, and the mean as well as the variance of the waiting time of tuples in the system. Furthermore, this approach establishes a way to find the probability distribution functions of both the number of tuples and the waiting time of tuples in the system. Finally, we have designed and implemented a number of experiments to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our analysis. We believe that the results of this paper are extremely useful for the design of stream processing systems and for the understanding of the behavior of stream data.
The Septin CDCrel-1 Is Dispensable for Normal Development and Neurotransmitter Release

ABSTRACT Septins are GTPases required for the completion of cytokinesis in a variety of organisms, yet their role in this process is not known. Septins may have additional functions since the mammalian septin CDCrel-1 is predominantly expressed in the nervous system, a largely postmitotic tissue. While relatively little is known about the function of this protein, we have previously shown that it is involved in regulated secretion. In addition, the gene encoding this protein maps to a locus often deleted in velo-cardiofacial and DiGeorge syndromes, and CDCrel-1 has recently been shown to be a direct target of the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity of Parkin, a causative agent in autosomal recessive forms of Parkinson’s disease. Here we show that CDCrel-1 expression rises at the time of synaptic maturation and that CDCrel-1 is present in a complex that includes the septins Nedd5 and CDC10. To investigate its function in the nervous system, we generated homozygotic CDCrel-1 null mice and showed that these mice appear normal with respect to synaptic properties and hippocampal neuron growth in vitro. Moreover, we found that while the expression of a number of synaptic proteins is not affected in the CDCrel-1 mutant mice, the expression of other septins is altered. Together, these data suggest that CDCrel-1 is not essential for neuronal development or function, and that changes in expression of other septins may account for its functional redundancy.
Romantic Relationships in Organizations: A Test of a Model of Formation and Impact Factors

We obtained questionnaire data from 465 employees to test a model containing hypothesized formation and impact factors from Pierce, Byrne, and Aguinis’s (1996) conceptual model of workplace romance. As predicted, results indicate that (a) employees’ attitudes toward romance and sexual intimacy at work and levels of perceived job autonomy are positively associated with their participation in a workplace romance; and (b) employees’ participation in a workplace romance is positively associated with their levels of job satisfaction and, to a lesser degree, organizational commitment. Employees’ participation in a workplace romance was not, however, predictive of their levels of job performance or intrinsic work motivation. We discuss implications for future workplace romance research.
Low Cerebral Exposure Cannot Hinder the Neuroprotective Effects of Panax Notoginsenosides

A bidirectional route of communication between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, termed the “gut-brain axis,” is becoming increasingly relevant to treatment of cerebral damage. Panax Notoginsenoside extract (PNE) is popular for prevention and treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular ischemic diseases although plasma and cerebral exposure levels are extremely low. To date, the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of PNE remain largely unknown. In the present study, the neuroprotective effects of PNE were systematically studied via investigation of the regulation by PNE of the gastrointestinal microbial community and γ aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. The results demonstrated that pretreatment with PNE exerted a remarkable neuroprotective effect on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats, and the efficiency was attenuated in germ-free rats. Pretreatment with PNE could significantly prevent downregulation of Bifidobacterium longum (B.L) caused by I/R surgery, and colonization by B.L could also exert neuroprotective effects. More importantly, both PNE and B.L could upregulate the expression of GABA receptors in the hippocampus of I/R rats, and coadministration of a GABA-B receptor antagonist could significantly attenuate the neuroprotective effects of PNE and B.L. The study above suggests that the neuroprotective effects of PNE may be largely attributable to its regulation of intestinal flora, and oral treatment with B.L was also useful in therapy of ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R) by upregulating GABA-B receptors.