Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservation of Essential Odor-Guided Behaviors and Odor-Based Reversal Learning after Targeting Adult Brain Serotonin Synthesis

Visual Abstract Abstract The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) is considered a powerful modulator of sensory system organization and function in a wide range of animals. The olfactory system is innervated by midbrain 5-HT neurons into both its primary and secondary odor-processing stages. Facilitated by this circuitry, 5-HT and its receptors modulate olfactory system function, including odor information input to the olfactory bulb. It is unknown, however, whether the olfactory system requires 5-HT for even its most basic behavioral functions. To address this question, we established a conditional genetic approach to specifically target adult brain tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (Tph2), encoding the rate-limiting enzyme in brain 5-HT synthesis, and nearly eliminate 5-HT from the mouse forebrain. Using this novel model, we investigated the behavior of 5-HT–depleted mice during performance in an olfactory go/no-go task. Surprisingly, the near elimination of 5-HT from the forebrain, including the olfactory bulbs, had no detectable effect on the ability of mice to perform the odor-based task. Tph2-targeted mice not only were able to learn the task, but also had levels of odor acuity similar to those of control mice when performing coarse odor discrimination. Both groups of mice spent similar amounts of time sampling odors during decision-making. Furthermore, odor reversal learning was identical between 5-HT–depleted and control mice. These results suggest that 5-HT neurotransmission is not necessary for the most essential aspects of olfaction, including odor learning, discrimination, and certain forms of cognitive flexibility.
Automatic Guidance of an Agricultural Tractor along with the Side Shift Control of the Attached Row Crop Cultivator

This paper presents the automatic guidance system of an agricultural tractor and the side shift control of the attached row crop cultivator using electro-hydraulic actuators. In order to simulate the dynamic behaviour of the tractor along with the attached cultivator, the modified bicycle model was adopted. Steering angle sensor, fibre optic gyroscope (FOG) and RTK-DGPS technologies are assumed for measurements of the steering angle, yaw rate and the lateral position of the tractor, respectively. The kinematics model was used for the implement. In this study four cascade controllers were designed and simulated for tractor guidance which consists of PD, PD, P and PID controllers. Other PI and PID controllers also had been designed for implement side shifting purpose. Then, these two systems were combined and the performance of the whole system was evaluated through the simulation results. According to the results tractor reaches the desired path after less than 10 seconds. Simulations showed that the maximum deviation of the tractor from the desired path was about 5 cm within this period. And the cultivator blades would follow the predetermined path with steady state error of about 5 cm too.
GPU-based computational acceleration of phaseless algorithms for antenna characterization

In the field of antenna diagnosis and characterization, the Sources Reconstruction Method (SRM) has been proved to be a powerful tool enabling the use of arbitrary-geometry measurement and reconstruction surfaces. The SRM has been extended for phaseless antenna characterization using two or more acquisition surfaces, as a simpler (but slower) alternative to holographic techniques. One of the main drawbacks of phase retrieval using multiple surfaces is the need of solving a set of nonlinear equations relating the measured amplitude with a set of equivalent currents using iterative, time-consuming methods. This contribution aims to improve the applicability of this methodology by reducing the time cost of the iterative procedure by means of Graphics Processing Units (GPU). Speed-up rates ranging from 50 to 90 times compared with sequential CPU (Central Processing Unit)-only implementation have been achieved.
A Novel Scalable Hybrid-MAC Protocol for Densely Deployed M2M Networks

In this paper, we propose a scalable hybrid-medium access control (MAC) protocol for inter-M2M communications, which combines the benefits of both contention-based and reservation-based medium access schemes. This protocol facilitates concurrent transmissions through spatial reuse. We assume that the contention and reservation portion of M2M devices is a frame structure, which is comprised of two sections: contention interval (CI) and transmission interval (TI). The CI duration follows p-persistent carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) mechanism, which allows M2M devices to contend for the transmission slots. After contention, only those devices, which have won time-slots, are allowed to transmit data packets during TI. In our proposed MAC scheme, the TI duration is basically a time division multiple access (TDMA) frame. Each M2M transmitter device and its corresponding one-hop distant receiver device communicate using MBAA-MAC protocol within each TDMA slot to facilitate concurrent transmissions, and to overcome the various limitations of TDMA mechanism. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid-MAC protocol.
Mapping the journalism–blogging relationship

Using a systems framework from the sociology of occupations, this article maps the journalism-blogging relationship, revealing areas of conflict between the two, vulnerabilities, and predictors of vulnerability. The systems framework suggests occupations exist within a network of other occupations and that they encroach into each other’s jurisdictional areas. A variety of factors shape these fluid processes. Factors that are external to the occupation include organizational division of labor, revenue needs, and relationships with other institutions. Internal factors include the degree to which journalists control the definition of problems and inference to solutions, and the success with which they solve problems. Difficulties posed by external and internal factors have led journalism to neglect some types of news information, which in turn have been poached by bloggers. These include partisan expression, ‘old stories’, stories driven by non-elite sources, and highly specialized content. A model for future study is constructed from these observations.
Jenaer Schriften zur Wirtschaftswissenschaft Voluntary Commitment to Environmental Protection : A Bounded Rationality Approach

Global environmental protection is characterized as a public good. In contrast to the national level where the state is able to regulate external effects, there is a lack of supranational institutions which have enough power to force countries to reduce pollution levels. In spite of the free-riding problem it can nevertheless be observed that countries sometimes commit themselves to contribute to the public good ‘environmental protection’. The case of the Kyoto protocol for global CO2 reduction demonstrates that some countries make substantial volunatry contributions, but others do not or on a much less level. The paper provides a game-theoretic explanation how the free-riding-problem can be overcome to some extent by voluntary cooperative behavior. It is analysed under which conditions free-riding countries can be motivated to make at least small pollution reduction efforts.
A grammar-based index for matching business processes

Complex services are composed of simple services which typically need to be processed in a particular order. Two complex services only match if they agree on both, their simple services and their processing order. This matching semantics can be formalized by means of modelling complex services as finite state automata (FSAs), and analysing the intersection of the FSAs. However, computing the intersection of FSAs is computationally expensive, and thus, does not scale for large service repositories. This paper presents an approach for indexing and matching complex services using an abstraction that transforms the underlying FSA via its grammar into a form that can be indexed using available index mechanisms. Evaluation of this approach shows a performance gain of several orders of magnitude as compared to sequential matching.
CenH3/CID Incorporation Is Not Dependent on the Chromatin Assembly Factor CHD1 in Drosophila

CHD1 is a SNF2-related ATPase that is required for the genome-wide incorporation of variant histone H3.3 in the paternal pronucleus as well as in transcriptionally active nuclei in Drosophila embryos. The S. pombe and vertebrate orthologs of CHD1 have been implicated in the assembly of the centromeric histone H3 variant CenH3CENP-A, which occurs in a DNA replication-independent manner. Here, we examined whether CHD1 participates in the assembly of CenH3CID in Drosophila. In contrast to the findings in fission yeast and vertebrate cells, our evidence clearly argues against such a role for CHD1 in Drosophila. CHD1 does not localize to centromeres in either S2 cells or developing fly embryos. Down-regulation of CHD1 in S2 cells by RNAi reveals unchanged levels of CenH3CID at the centromeres. Most notably, ablation of functional CHD1 in Chd1 mutant fly embryos does not interfere with centromere and kinetochore assembly, as the levels and localization of CenH3CID, CENP-C and BubR1 in the mutant embryos remain similar to those seen in wild-type embryos. These results indicate that Drosophila CHD1 has no direct function in the incorporation of the centromeric H3 variant CenH3CID into chromatin. Therefore, centromeric chromatin assembly may involve different mechanisms in different organisms.
c-Jun N-terminal phosphorylation correlates with activation of the JNK subgroup but not the ERK subgroup of mitogen-activated protein kinases

c-Jun transcriptional activity is stimulated by phosphorylation at two N-terminal sites: Ser-63 and -73. Phosphorylation of these sites is enhanced in response to a variety of extracellular stimuli, including growth factors, cytokines, and UV irradiation. New members of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase group of signal-transducing enzymes, termed JNKs, bind to the activation domain of c-Jun and specifically phosphorylate these sites. However, the N-terminal sites of c-Jun were also suggested to be phosphorylated by two other MAP kinases, ERK1 and ERK2. Despite these reports, we find that unlike the JNKs, ERK1 and ERK2 do not phosphorylate the N-terminal sites of c-Jun in vitro; instead they phosphorylate an inhibitory C-terminal site. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of c-Jun in vivo at the N-terminal sites correlates with activation of the JNKs but not the ERKs. The ERKs are probably involved in the induction of c-fos expression and thereby contribute to the stimulation of AP-1 activity. Our study suggests that two different branches of the MAP kinase group are involved in the stimulation of AP-1 activity through two different mechanisms.
Autophagy and heterophagy dysregulation leads to retinal pigment epithelium dysfunction and development of age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex, degenerative and progressive eye disease that usually does not lead to complete blindness, but can result in severe loss of central vision. Risk factors for AMD include age, genetics, diet, smoking, oxidative stress and many cardiovascular-associated risk factors. Autophagy is a cellular housekeeping process that removes damaged organelles and protein aggregates, whereas heterophagy, in the case of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), is the phagocytosis of exogenous photoreceptor outer segments. Numerous studies have demonstrated that both autophagy and heterophagy are highly active in the RPE. To date, there is increasing evidence that constant oxidative stress impairs autophagy and heterophagy, as well as increases protein aggregation and causes inflammasome activation leading to the pathological phenotype of AMD. This review ties together these crucial pathological topics and reflects upon autophagy as a potential therapeutic target in AMD.
A broadband 44-GHz frequency divider in 90-nm CMOS

The paper presents two designs of high-frequency, broadband frequency dividers. The designs are optimized for stability across process variations and high operating frequencies. The first design divides an input frequency range of 4-44GHz, drawing 4.4mA from a 1.2-V supply. The minimum input power is -5dBm at 40GHz. No performance degradation is observed at 50/spl deg/C, and only 16% degradation at 75 /spl deg/C. A second divider operates from dc-37GHz, consuming only 1.6mW at 30GHz. By not using inductive peaking, the designs achieve high bandwidth and small area (19/spl mu/m by 40/spl mu/m).
Deaf students’ metacognitive awareness during language comprehension

This study explored deaf and hearing university students’ metacognitive awareness with regard to comprehension difficulties during reading and classroom instruction. Utilising the Reading Awareness Inventory (Milholic, V. 1994. An inventory to pique students’ metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Journal of Reading 38: 84–6), parallel inventories were created to tap metacognitive awareness during comprehension of sign language (deaf students) and spoken language (hearing students). Overall, both deaf and hearing students appeared to have greater metacognitive awareness of ongoing comprehension and repair strategies during reading than during instruction in the classroom, but deaf students scored lower than hearing students in both modalities. Deaf students were no more likely than hearing students to report adopting inappropriate strategies, but both groups indicated they were more likely to do so in classroom contexts than during reading.
Opportunity, Challenge and a Definition of Religion

In assembling an array of disciplines to study religion, nature and culture, the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture presents an opportunity for progress through cross-fertilization and synthesis. In so doing, the Society also challenges us to communicate with each other despite our differing assumptions. Such communication requires, first, that we explicitly define our terms, not least the three terms central to the society’s name. Ideally, our definitions will be at once substantive, applicable cross-culturally, and explicitly embedded in theory. Fortunately, current scholarship makes such definitions appear possible. In the case of the term religion, for example, cognitive science supports defining it, broadly yet substantively, as a system of thought and action for interpreting and influencing the world, built on anthropomorphic premises. Anthropomorphism, in turn, may be theorized as the inevitable consequence of a strategy of perception for an ambiguous world: namely, guess first at what matters most. Similarly broad, substantive definitions appear possible for nature and culture as well.
The nature and course of olfactory deficits in Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the specific nature and course of olfactory deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies had noted impaired odor identification, but there was no unanimity about the presence of odor detection deficits. METHOD Odor identification was tested in 55 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 57 elderly control subjects by using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test. Odor detection was assessed in 46 subjects with Alzheimer's disease and 40 control subjects by using a forced-choice threshold test with geraniol as the odorant. RESULTS Significant deficits in olfactory identification were present in subjects who were in the earliest stages of cognitive impairment, and these deficits increased as Alzheimer's disease progressed. There was some overlap in individual smell identification test scores between cognitively impaired patients and normal elderly subjects. On the other hand, odor detection deficits did not appear until Alzheimer's disease was relatively advanced. Smell identification test scores were correlated with Mini-Mental State scores, but geraniol detection was not. CONCLUSIONS Odor identification is impaired early in Alzheimer's disease and may be more influenced by cognitive status than is acuity of odor detection, which is not altered until later in the disorder. The pattern of hyposmia in Alzheimer's disease suggests that the disorder may not "begin in the nose," as has been theorized previously. Further refinement of olfactory testing may be useful in the diagnostic evaluation of early dementia.
If We Offer it, Will They Accept? Factors Affecting Patient Use Intentions of Personal Health Records and Secure Messaging

Background Personal health records (PHRs) are an important tool for empowering patients and stimulating health action. To date, the volitional adoption of publicly available PHRs by consumers has been low. This may be partly due to patient concerns about issues such as data security, accuracy of the clinical information stored in the PHR, and challenges with keeping the information updated. One potential solution to mitigate concerns about security, accuracy, and updating of information that may accelerate technology adoption is the provision of PHRs by employers where the PHR is pre-populated with patients’ health data. Increasingly, employers and payers are offering this technology to employees as a mechanism for greater patient engagement in health and well-being. Objective Little is known about the antecedents of PHR acceptance in the context of an employer sponsored PHR system. Using social cognitive theory as a lens, we theorized and empirically tested how individual factors (patient activation and provider satisfaction) and two environment factors (technology and organization) influence patient intentions to use a PHR among early adopters of the technology. In technology factors, we studied tool empowerment potential and value of tool functionality. In organization factors, we focused on communication tactics deployed by the organization during PHR rollout. Methods We conducted cross-sectional analysis of field data collected during the first 3 months post go-live of the deployment of a PHR with secure messaging implemented by the Air Force Medical Service at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska in December 2010. A questionnaire with validated measures was designed and completed by 283 participants. The research model was estimated using moderated multiple regression. Results Provider satisfaction, interactions between environmental factors (communication tactics and value of the tool functionality), and interactions between patient activation and tool empowerment potential were significantly (P<.05) associated with behavioral intentions to use the PHR tool. The independent variables collectively explained 42% of the variance in behavioral intentions. Conclusions The study demonstrated that individual and environmental factors influence intentions to use the PHR. Patients who were more satisfied with their provider had higher use intentions. For patients who perceived the health care process management support features of the tool to be of significant value, communication tactics served to increase their use intentions. Finally, patients who believed the tool to be empowering demonstrated higher intentions to use, which were further enhanced for highly activated patients. The findings highlight the importance of communication tactics and technology characteristics and have implications for the management of PHR implementations.
SUBMISSION TO MIREX AMS TASK 2011 – SPARSE CODING SIMILARITY LEARNING METHOD

This paper describes our submissions to the MIREX 2011 audio music similarity and retrieval task. The proposed method is based on a machine learning technique – sparse coding (SC). The music similarity is not directly obtained from computed distance measures on audio contents, instead, we predict a higher level similarity scores to match the listener’s subjective perceptions based on these distance measures and our pre-trained models. At the training stage, we will record the mapping of computed distance measures and the associated high level similarity scores which is estimated from human (expert) tags. Using the sparse coding techniques, this mapping is recorded using two jointly learned dictionaries that respectively store the representative computed distance and the high level similarity score patterns. Both the computed distance measures and the similarity scores can be represented as a sparse linear combination of the elements in the corresponding dictionary. At the testing stage, we will find the ratios that each element in the dictionary contributes to the newly computed distance measures, and then use this ratio to predict the corresponding similarity scores. 1. ALGORITHM OVERVIEW We illustrate the flowchart of our algorithm in Figure 1. At the training stage, we first take the expert labelled tags of the training audio to estimate multifaceted similarity scores, such as, general-similarity, style-similarity, moodsimilarity, etc. Then, for each song, we extract a set of computable acoustic features. Using these features, we compute multiple distance measures for each song-pair. Next, we jointly learn two dictionaries for the representative distance measure patterns and the associated similarity score patterns. Given any two testing songs in the testing stage, we will compute its distance measures to estimate the similarity scores. This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ c © 2010 The Authors. Acoustic
Dual Layer Pt Metal Nanocrystal Flash for Multi-Level-Cell NAND Application

Most of the current high-density Flash cells use multi-level-cell (MLC) technology to store 2-bits/cell to increase memory density. In this work, dual layer metal nanocrystal (NC) flash EEPROM device, with large memory window, good retention and 10 4 cycle endurance is reported. High-temperature retention, gate bias accelerated retention, read disturb and post- cycling retention measurements show excellent reliability of the NC devices which make them suitable for the MLC application.
Passive-rotor disk-shaped transverse flux permanent magnet machine with reduced cogging torque

High torque density at low speed is one of the main characteristics of applications such as wind turbines and traction systems. Permanent magnet transverse flux machines exhibit this features owing to their high-energy magnetic flux, which is normal to current and motion vector. The machine's specific geometry magnifies cogging torque that further increases torque ripple, noise, and mechanical vibrations. This paper presents a cogging torque reduction method of the transverse flux permanent magnet generator using a novel passive-rotor disk-shaped topology for wind applications. The modified structure is discussed as well as the finite element analysis is performed to validate the proposed machine performance. Furthermore, the machine performance is compared to that of with the permanent magnet transverse flux machines without modifications.