Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospects for Human Pharmacological Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (phMRI)

Many textbooks and review articles fully explain the fundamental principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); therefore, I shall give only a brief description. As with most neuroimaging techniques, fMRI is a method for determining which parts of the brain are activated by different types of physical sensation or activity, such as sight, sound, or movement of a subject, as well as areas responding to cognitive tasks and activation by other means (such as drug administration). The MR signal on fMRI images is strongly influenced by the oxygenation state of the blood (blood oxygen level dependency [BOLD]), and this dependency is harnessed in fMRI. Therefore, precise changes in brain activation or metabolism are not directly observed with fMRI, but the effects of local increases in blood flow and microvascular oxygenation in the region of activation are mapped as a change in raw image intensity. The spatial resolution on high field systems (currently 3 or 4 Tesla) for whole-brain imaging is commonly 3 mm × 3 mm × 6 mm, but it is feasible to collect data at higher spatial resolution by focusing specifically on one area of interest. The temporal resolution is approximately 2.5 seconds for one data point (i.e., coverage of the whole brain every 2.5 seconds), allowing for great flexibility in experimental design compared with other neuroimaging methods. In summary, this “brain mapping” is achieved by setting up an advanced MRI scanner in a special way so that the increased blood flow to the neurally active region of the brain shows up on fMRI scans. Pharmacological MRI (or phMRI) is simply the combination of administering drugs with the collection of fMRI data, and although this nomenclature is becoming widely used, it is not yet fully accepted as the only term for combining drugs with fMRI studies. One can determine either direct modulation of brain function through centrally acting drugs or indirect modulation of brain activation by altered afferent input after treatment with peripherally acting drugs. Most work to date has focused on acute administration of centrally acting drugs.
Texton-based diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

The textural content of FDG-PET brain images has been shown to be useful for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). In this paper, we investigate the use of the textons method [1], a powerful texture extraction procedure that uses a full statistical representation of the response of the image to a set of filters. We also extend the MR8 filter bank used in [1] to 3D in order to match the dimensionality of FDG-PET images, while maintaining important properties such as invariance to rotation and a low dimensionality of the filter response space. We propose two methods to tackle difficulties inherent to the extraction and classification of texture from images whose appearance varies over space and to the fact that most regions of the image are not affected by AD or MCI. The first method selects only the voxels with the most discriminative filter responses, while the second method focuses on brain regions manually labeled by an expert physician. Experiments showed that the proposed approaches outperformed the more common one that uses voxel intensities directly as features both in the diagnosis of AD and MCI. It was also observed that the discriminative power of certain brain regions increased significantly when the texton based analysis was performed.
Estimates of Enhanced Outcomes in Employment, Income, Health, and Volunteerism for The Association of Boarding Schools Member School Graduates

We analyzed data from 65 schools that are U.S. members of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) to estimate how TABS member school graduates who enter college compare with college entrants from non-boarding schools on several long-term quality-of-life estimates. Although TABS students are more likely to graduate college than the population of college-bound U.S. high school students as a whole, they are also more likely to come from households with higher education and income levels. We statistically removed some of this advantage using proxy data from the U.S. Census Bureau. After this adjustment, TABS students still remain more likely to graduate college. We use the increased likelihood of holding a bachelor’s degree to project increased estimates in earnings, health, volunteering, and other life outcomes.
The role of school counsellors in supporting teaching and learning in schools of skills in the Western Cape

THE ROLE OF SCHOOL COUNSELLORS IN SUPPORTING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SCHOOLS OF SKILLS IN THE WESTERN CAPE Current debates in education and education support focus on the importance of schools needing to facilitate the holistic development of learners and also ensuring the achievement of educational objectives. This study focused on the need for counsellors to support teaching and learning in Schools of Skills and investigated challenges that emerged when school counsellors facilitate school development. The research question which framed this study was, what is the role school counsellors play in supporting teaching and learning and school development? A mixed methods approach that employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques was adopted in an attempt to construct a rich and meaningful picture of school counselling practice within School of Skills. Participants included principals, counsellors and educators at four schools of skills situated in the Western Cape. The data collection process included interviews and questionnaires. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with the four principals and the four school counsellors and questionnaires including both open-ended and closed questions were completed by educators. The findings illuminate the psycho-social barriers experienced by learners and how school counsellors can support learners. Roles of school counsellors are varied and involve the provision of support to various members of the school community in addition to teaching and administration. Challenges faced by school counsellors were highlighted as lack of human resources, lack of support and workload. The recommendations are presented as suggestions for consideration at various levels in the system, from micro (level of the individual) to macro (level of the state).
Optimizing program disturb fault tests using defect-based testing

Nonvolatile memories (NVMs) are susceptible to a special type of faults known as program disturb faults. These faults are described using logical fault models and often functional tests are used to detect different faults that occur under such models. The use of functional fault models and tests results in the simplification of the testing process, although such tests can be very long. In this paper, we present a defect-based model that can be used to model different disturb faults in NVM. The relationship between defect location and fault manifestation is first established using electrical simulation. Next, the use of stress tests and margin read schemes and how they are used to detect disturb faults is discussed. Using electrical simulation results, we show that defect-based testing can be used to optimize the cost of program disturb tests of NVM.
On the Development of the Structural Use of Word-Order in Modern English

[In the actor-action-goal construction and in the character-substance (or modifier-noun) construction, Old English used taxemes of selection (inflected forms) to distinguish between actor (subject) and goal (object), and to indicate the direction of modification. The development of English has been away from the use of taxemes of selection with non-distinctive and connotative word-order, toward the use of taxemes of order operating practically without the aid of other devices. The patterns of the Modern English use seem to have been established by the middle of the 15th century. ]
Generation of graftable dopaminergic neuron progenitors from mouse ES cells by a combination of coculture and neurosphere methods

Parkinson's disease is characterized by a loss of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons and is generally viewed as a potential target for stem cell therapy. Although several studies have reported the generation of postmitotic DA neurons from embryonic stem (ES) cells, it is unknown whether the proliferative progenitors of DA neurons can be isolated in vitro. To investigate this possibility, we have developed a combined approach in which ES cells are cocultured with PA6 stromal cells to expose them to stromal cell‐derived inducing activity (SDIA) and are then cultured as neurospheres. Mouse ES cell colonies were detached from PA6 feeder cells after 8 days of SDIA treatment and then expanded as spheres for another 4 days in serum‐free medium supplemented with fibroblast growth factor‐2. The spheres exhibited neural stem cell characteristics and contained few DA neurons at this stage of culture. After being induced to differentiate on polyornithine/laminin‐coated dishes for 7 days, these spheres generated DA neurons in vitro at a relatively low frequency. Intriguingly, addition of PA6 cell conditioned medium to the sphere culture medium significantly increased the percentage of DA neurons to 25–30% of the total number of neurons. Transplantation of conditioned medium‐treated day 4 spheres, which contained DA neuron progenitors, into the mouse striatum resulted in the generation of a significant number of graft‐derived DA neurons. These findings suggest that progenitors of DA neurons are generated and can proliferate in ES cell‐derived neurospheres induced by serial SDIA and PA6 conditioned medium treatment. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A comparison of a second-order snow model with field observations

A microwave scattering model based on second-order solution of radiative transfer equation has been developed for dry snow. Advanced integral equation model (AIEM) and a semiempirical model were included in the model to account for ground contribution. Also, ellipsoid grain shape was adopted to describe ice particle. This model was compared with the groundbased scatterometer data (frequencies are 1.25GHz and 15.5 GHz) from NASA Cold-land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX). Inputs to the model were from Local-Scale Observation Site (LSOS) snow pit measurements, except that particle size and shape were computed as free parameters. The comparison shows that the model agrees well with the field data. Also from the comparison, it could be seen that particle shape had a significant effect on the cross-polarization signals. Keywordssnow; second-order model; CLPX
Frequency landscape of tip-growing plants

It has been interesting that nearly all of the ion activities that have been analysed thus far have exhibited oscillations that are tightly coupled to growth. Here, we present discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spectra with a finite sampling of tip-growing cells and organs that were obtained from voltage measurements of the elongating coleoptiles of maize in situ. The electromotive force (EMF) oscillations (~ 0.1 {\mu}V) were measured in a simple but highly sensitive RL circuit, in which the solenoid was initially placed at the tip of the specimen and then was moved thus changing its position in relation to growth (EMF can be measured first at the tip, then at the sub-apical part and finally at the shank). The influx- and efflux-induced oscillations of Ca$^{2+}$, along with H$^{+}$, K$^{+}$ and Cl$^{-}$ were densely sampled (preserving the Nyquist theorem in order to 'grasp the structure' of the pulse), the logarithmic amplitude of pulse spectrum was calculated, and the detected frequencies, which displayed a periodic sequence of pulses, were compared with the literature data. A band of life vital individual pulses was obtained in a single run of the experiment, which not only allowed the fundamental frequencies (and intensities of the processes) to be determined but also permitted the phase relations of the various transport processes in the plasma membrane and tonoplast to be established. A discrete frequency spectrum (like the hydrogen spectrum in quantum physics) was achieved for a growing plant for the first time, while all of the metabolic and enzymatic functions of the life cell cycle were preserved using this totally non-invasive treatment.
Effects of Parental Power/Prestige and Acceptance on the Psychological Adjustment of Turkish Youth

The moderator role of perceived parental power and prestige in relation to perceived parental acceptance and adolescents’ psychological adjustment was analyzed in this study. The sample consisted of 306 adolescents (45% males) within the age range of 16 through 20 years (M = 17.23). Measures used were the child versions of Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire for mothers and fathers, the youth version of Parental Power–Prestige Questionnaire, and the youth version of Personality Assessment Questionnaire. Results showed that both maternal acceptance and paternal acceptance were significantly correlated with youth’s psychological adjustment, regardless of sex. Neither power nor prestige was significantly correlated with psychological adjustment. Power and prestige were, however, correlated with maternal acceptance among females, but not among males. In addition, parental prestige was negatively correlated with paternal acceptance among females. After controlling for the effects of age, hierarchical multiple regression showed that only perceived maternal acceptance made a unique contribution to the psychological adjustment of females, and only perceived paternal acceptance made a unique contribution to the adjustment of males. However, interpersonal power moderated the relationship between perceived maternal acceptance and females’ psychological adjustment.
Hirunorms are true hirudin mimetics. The crystal structure of human α‐thrombin‐hirunorm V complex

A novel class of synthetic, multisite‐directed thrombin inhibitors, known as hirunorms, has been described recently. These compounds were designed to mimic the binding mode of hirudin, and they have been proven to be very strong and selective thrombin inhibitors. Here we report the crystal structure of the complex formed by human α‐thrombin and hirunorm V, a 26‐residue polypeptide containing non‐natural amino acids, determined at 2.1 Å resolution and refined to an R‐factor of 0.176. The structure reveals that the inhibitor binding mode is distinctive of a true hirudin mimetic, and it highlights the molecular basis of the high inhibitory potency (Ki, is in the picomolar range) and the strong selectivity of hirunorm V.
0 D ec 2 00 3 THE ROLE OF BEAM GEOMETRY IN POPULATION STATISTICS AND PULSE PROFILES OF RADIO AND γ-RAY PULSARS

We present results of a pulsar population synthesis study that incorporates a number of recent developments and some significant improvements over our previous study. We have included the results of the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey in our select group of nine radio surveys, doubling our sample of radio pulsars. More realistic geometries for the radio and γ-ray beams are included in our Monte Carlo computer code that simulates the characteristics of the Galactic population of radio and γ-ray pulsars. We adopted with some modifications the radio beam geometry of Arzoumanian, Chernoff & Cordes (2002). For the γ-ray beam, we have assumed the slot gap geometry described in the work of Muslimov & Harding (2003). To account for the shape of the distribution of radio pulsars in the Ṗ − P diagram, we continue to find that decay of the magnetic field on a timescale of 2.8 Myr is needed. With all nine surveys, our model predicts that EGRET should have seen 7 radio-quiet (below the sensitivity of these radio
An Improved One-to-All Broadcasting in Higher Dimensional Eisenstein-Jacobi Networks

Recently, a higher dimensional Eisenstein-Jacobi (EJ) networks, EJα^(n) has been proposed, which is shown that they have better average distance with more number of nodes than a single dimensional EJ networks. Some communication algorithms such as one-to-all and all-to-all communications are well known and used in interconnection networks. In one-to-all communication, a source node sends a message to every other node in the network. Whereas, in all-to-all communication, every node is considered as a source node and sends its message to every other node in the network. In this paper, an improved one-to-all communication algorithm in EJα^(n) networks is presented. The paper shows that the proposed algorithm achieves a lower average number of steps to receiving the broadcasted message. In addition, since the links are assumed to be half-duplex, the all-to-all broadcasting algorithm is divided into three phases. The simulation results are discussed and showed that the improved one-to-all algorithm achieves better traffic performance than the well-known one-to-all algorithm and has 2.7% less total number of senders.
The role of oxygen and water on molybdenum nanoclusters for electro catalytic ammonia production

Summary The presence of water often gives rise to oxygen adsorption on catalyst surfaces through decomposition of water and the adsorbed oxygen or hydroxide species often occupy important surfaces sites, resulting in a decrease or a total hindrance of other chemical reactions taking place at that site. In this study, we present theoretical investigations of the influence of oxygen adsorption and reduction on pure and nitrogen covered molybdenum nanocluster electro catalysts for electrochemical reduction of N2 to NH3 with the purpose of understanding oxygen and water poisoning of the catalyst. Density functional theory calculations are used in combination with the computational hydrogen electrode approach to calculate the free energy profile for electrochemical protonation of O and N2 species on cuboctahedral Mo13 nanoclusters. The calculations show that the molybdenum nanocluster will preferentially bind oxygen over nitrogen and hydrogen at neutral bias, but under electrochemical reaction conditions needed for nitrogen reduction, oxygen adsorption is severely weakened and the adsorption energy is comparable to hydrogen and nitrogen adsorption. The potentials required to reduce oxygen off the surface are −0.72 V or lower for all oxygen coverages studied, and it is thus possible to (re)activate (partially) oxidized nanoclusters for electrochemical ammonia production, e.g., using a dry proton conductor or an aqueous electrolyte. At lower oxygen coverages, nitrogen molecules can adsorb to the surface and electrochemical ammonia production via the associative mechanism is possible at potentials as low as −0.45 V to −0.7 V.
Proteomic Analysis of Sera from Common Variable Immunodeficiency Patients Undergoing Replacement Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy

Common variable immunodeficiency is the most common form of symptomatic primary antibody failure in adults and children. Replacement immunoglobulin is the standard treatment of these patients. By using a differential proteomic approach based on 2D-DIGE, we examined serum samples from normal donors and from matched, naive, and immunoglobulin-treated patients. The results highlighted regulated expression of serum proteins in naive patients. Among the identified proteins, clusterin/ApoJ serum levels were lower in naive patients, compared to normal subjects. This finding was validated in a wider collection of samples from newly enrolled patients. The establishment of a cellular system, based on a human hepatocyte cell line HuH7, allowed to ascertain a potential role in the regulation of CLU gene expression by immunoglobulins.
Structure prediction of magnetosome-associated proteins

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are Gram-negative bacteria that can navigate along geomagnetic fields. This ability is a result of a unique intracellular organelle, the magnetosome. These organelles are composed of membrane-enclosed magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) crystals ordered into chains along the cell. Magnetosome formation, assembly, and magnetic nano-crystal biomineralization are controlled by magnetosome-associated proteins (MAPs). Most MAP-encoding genes are located in a conserved genomic region – the magnetosome island (MAI). The MAI appears to be conserved in all MTB that were analyzed so far, although the MAI size and organization differs between species. It was shown that MAI deletion leads to a non-magnetic phenotype, further highlighting its important role in magnetosome formation. Today, about 28 proteins are known to be involved in magnetosome formation, but the structures and functions of most MAPs are unknown. To reveal the structure–function relationship of MAPs we used bioinformatics tools in order to build homology models as a way to understand their possible role in magnetosome formation. Here we present a predicted 3D structural models’ overview for all known Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense strain MSR-1 MAPs.
Convenient, attractive, and normative: the CAN approach to making children slim by design.

E ducation is overrated when it comes to changing eating behavior. This is as true for children as for adults. There is a very unreliable link between knowledge and behavior, and relying only on education and knowledge to change the eating behavior of children will continue to be frustratingly unsuccessful. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Most children of all ages have a choice of what and how much they eat. Even if given only a bowl of gruel from the Oliver Twist cookbook, they have the choice of whether to eat any of it or whether to eat it all and ask for more. The key to changing their behavior is not in convincing a child that an apple is better for them than potato chips—that does not work for adults, let alone defiant 7 year olds. Instead the key is to make sure that the apple is the more convenient, attractive, and normative food to grab. Even though the typical person thinks that they make about 20–30 decisions about a food each day, we make closer to 200 food decisions. We are not fully aware of about 90% of these decisions because they don’t involve reason and deliberation. They involve quick, instinctive actions. The same is true with children. They are not aware of why they choose the foods they choose. This gives us a great opportunity to set up our child’s eating environment so their quick, instinctive actions are biased toward the healthier foods—toward the apple rather than the cookie.