Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Exploration of the Role of Cellular Neuroplasticity in Large Scale Models of Biological Neural Networks

Cellular level learning is vital to almost all brain function, and extensive homeostatic plasticity is required to maintain brain functionality. While much has been learned about cellular level plasticity in vivo, how these mechanisms affect higher level functionality is not readily apparent. The cellular level circuitry of most networks that process information is unknown. A variety of models were developed to better understand plasticity in both learning and homeostasis. Spike time dependent plasticity (STDP) and reward-modulated plasticity may be the primary methods through which neurons record information. We implemented rewarded STDP to model foraging behavior in a virtual environment. When appropriate homeostatic mechanisms were in place, the network of spiking neurons developed the capability of producing highly successful decision-making. The networks used in the foraging model used a very simple initial configuration to avoid assumptions about network organization. More realistic network configurations can help to show how plasticity interacts with genetically determined network. We developed three network models of synaptic mechanisms of FM sweep processing based on published experimental data. One of these, the `inhibitory sideband' model, used frequency selective inputs to a network of excitatory and inhibitory cells. The strength and asymmetry of these connections resulted in neurons responsive to sweeps in a single direction and of sufficient rate. STDP was shown to be capable of causing to become selective for sweeps in the same direction as a repeatedly presented training sweep.The experience dependent plasticity, occurs primarily during the waking state, however, sleep is essential for learning. Slow wave sleep activity may be essential for memory consolidation and homeostasis. We developed a model of slow wave sleep that included methods to calculate the electrical field in the space around the network. We show here that a network model of up and down states displays this CSD profile only if a frequency-filtering extracellular medium is assumed. While initiation of the active cortical states during sleep slow oscillation has been intensively studied, the it's termination remains poorly understood. We explored the impact of intrinsic and synaptic inhibition on the state transition. We found that synaptic inhibition controls the duration and the synchrony of active state termination. Together these models set the stage for a model network that can learn through input driven processes in a waking state then explore the consolidation of memory in a sleeping state. This will allow us to explore in greater detail how plasticity on the level of a single cell contributes to learning and stability on the level of the whole brain.
Synthetic CpG islands reveal DNA sequence determinants of chromatin structure

The mammalian genome is punctuated by CpG islands (CGIs), which differ sharply from the bulk genome by being rich in G + C and the dinucleotide CpG. CGIs often include transcription initiation sites and display ‘active’ histone marks, notably histone H3 lysine 4 methylation. In embryonic stem cells (ESCs) some CGIs adopt a ‘bivalent’ chromatin state bearing simultaneous ‘active’ and ‘inactive’ chromatin marks. To determine whether CGI chromatin is developmentally programmed at specific genes or is imposed by shared features of CGI DNA, we integrated artificial CGI-like DNA sequences into the ESC genome. We found that bivalency is the default chromatin structure for CpG-rich, G + C-rich DNA. A high CpG density alone is not sufficient for this effect, as A + T-rich sequence settings invariably provoke de novo DNA methylation leading to loss of CGI signature chromatin. We conclude that both CpG-richness and G + C-richness are required for induction of signature chromatin structures at CGIs. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.03397. 001
Branching structure of motoneuron stem dendrites: a study of neck muscle motoneurons intracellularly stained with horseradish peroxidase in the cat

The branching structure of the stem dendrites of five motoneurons innervating the dorsal neck muscles, biventer cervicis and complexus, was examined in the adult cat using intracellular staining techniques. The dendritic tree of each motoneuron was reconstructed completely and then dissected into several parts, each corresponding to the branches. Twenty-five of the 49 stem dendrites examined had branches which confined to a small region of the territory occupied by the complete dendritic tree. These dendrites were distributed to one of three zones, a ventral zone deep in the ventral horn, a lateral zone dorsolateral to the motor nucleus, and a medial zone dorsomedial to the motor nucleus. The remaining stem dendrites projected to two or more of these zones and occasionally occupied a region almost as large as the territory occupied by the complete dendritic tree. The frequency of each type of stem dendrite, defined according to the number and location of the zones to which they projected, was remarkably consistent from motoneuron to motoneuron. The maximum order of branching reached by stem dendrites of biventer cervicis and complexus motoneurons was variable. Stem dendrites whose maximum order of branching was four or less usually had one major stalk from which emerged simple, unbranched, side processes. The branching structure was not related, in a simple manner, to the dendritic distribution pattern. These results indicate that the distribution and branching structure of motoneuron stem dendrites are organized in a complex, but precise, fashion which could play an important role in the integrative properties of the motoneuron.
Child Rights, Classroom and School Management: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper provides a systematic review of scholarly literature concerning the enforcement of children’s rights in the classroom context and school management. The literature review is based on a systematic review methodology the authors developed drawing on the methods and guidelines used in the medical sciences over the last 15 years. Forty-two articles published between 1990 and 2014 were selected and analysed. The paper presents both a descriptive analysis and a thematic analysis in order to provide the state-of-art of international literature on child rights, classroom and school management. The descriptive analysis highlights the main characteristics of the articles included, such as type of study and methods used, classification of literature based on the geographical and thematic focus, article citation frequency, and chronological development of the subject in question. The thematic analysis synthesises the main findings extracted from the literature and highlights the main trends and gaps in research.
Computer-administered bath ankylosing spondylitis and Quebec Scale outcome questionnaires for low back pain: agreement with traditional paper format.

OBJECTIVE To measure the agreement between computer and paper-administered versions of Bath ankylosing spondylitis (AS) questionnaires and the Quebec Scale for low back pain (LBP). METHODS Fifty patients with LBP completed the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Functional Index (BASFI), Global Score (BAS-G), and the Quebec Scale. Outcome measures were administered both in traditional paper format and by computerized touch-screen system. The order of completion was randomly assigned to each participant. The length of time required to complete each set of questionnaires was recorded and a "washout" period of at least 40 minutes was ensured between completion of the first and second set of outcome measures. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference in completion time between the 2 methods of administration. A small systematic difference between computer and paper-administered versions was observed in the Quebec Scale and in the BAS-G results. However, there was a high degree of agreement between paper and computer-administered versions of the Quebec Scale, the BASDAI, BASFI, and BAS-G. Out of the 50 subjects, 84% indicated a preference for the computer-administered method. CONCLUSION The Bath AS questionnaires and the Quebec Scale can be reliably administered by a computerized touch-screen system. Given the ease of data integration and analysis supported by computer-administered versions of these outcome measures, their excellent reliability, and their popularity among study participants, the computerized versions of the BASDAI, BASFI, BAS-G, and Quebec Scale seem preferable to the traditional paper format.
Development of Genomic Resources for Pacific Herring through Targeted Transcriptome Pyrosequencing

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) support commercially and culturally important fisheries but have experienced significant additional pressure from a variety of anthropogenic and environmental sources. In order to provide genomic resources to facilitate organismal and population level research, high-throughput pyrosequencing (Roche 454) was carried out on transcriptome libraries from liver and testes samples taken in Prince William Sound, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. Over 40,000 contigs were identified with an average length of 728 bp. We describe an annotated transcriptome as well as a workflow for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery and validation. A subset of 96 candidate SNPs chosen from 10,933 potential SNPs, were tested using a combination of Sanger sequencing and high-resolution melt-curve analysis. Five SNPs supported between-ocean-basin differentiation, while one SNP associated with immune function provided high differentiation between Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island within the Gulf of Alaska. These genomic resources provide a basis for environmental physiology studies and opportunities for marker development and subsequent population structure analysis.
On Free Algebras in Varieties Generated by Iterated Semidirect Products of Semilattices

We present a new solution of the word problem of free algebras in varieties generated by iterated semidirect products of semilattices. As a consequence, we provide asymptotical bounds for free spectra of these varieties. In particular, each finite -trivial (and, dually, each finite -trivial) semigroup has a free spectrum whose logarithm is bounded above by a polynomial function.
Adapting to network and client variation using infrastructural proxies: lessons and perspectives

Today's Internet clients vary widely with respect to both hardware and software properties: screen size, color depth, effective bandwidth, processing power, and the ability to handle different data formats. The order-of-magnitude span of this variation is too large to hide at the network level, making application-level techniques necessary. We show that on-the-fly adaptation by transformational proxies is a widely applicable, cost-effective, and flexible technique for addressing all these types of variations. To support this claim, we describe our experience with data-type-specific distillation (lossy compression) in a variety of applications. We also argue that placing adaptation machinery in the network infrastructure, rather than inserting it into end servers, enables incremental deployment and amortization of operating costs. To this end, we describe a programming model for large-scale interactive Internet services and a scalable cluster-based framework that has been in production use at UC Berkeley since April 1997. We present a detailed examination of TranSend, a scalable transformational Web proxy deployed on our cluster framework, and give descriptions of several handheld-device applications that demonstrate the wide applicability of the proxy-adaptation philosophy.
Fast shared boosting: Application to large-scale visual concept detection

This work addresses the problem of large-scale visual concept detection. Visual concepts are usually learned from an annotated image or video database with a machine learning algorithm, posing this problem as a multiclass supervised learning task. Some practical issues appear when the number of concept grows, in particular when one aims at developing applications for real users, restricting the constraints in terms of available memory and computing time (both for learning and testing). To cope with these issues, we propose in this article to use a multiclass boosting with feature sharing algorithm and reduce its computational complexity with a set of efficient improvements. This makes our algorithm able to handle a problem of classification with many classes in a reasonable time. The relevance of our algorithm is evaluated in the context of information retrieval, on the benchmark proposed into the ImageCLEF international evaluation campaign and shows competitive results.
Delayed tension pneumoperitoneum after colostomy closure

THREE patients developed tension pneumoperitoneum to the drain site were removed there was an impressive after intraperitoneal closure of colostomies. Each escape of gas, allowing abdominal decompression and an sunrived without further laparotomy, but early immediate improvement of breathing. Although a recognition of this complication and urgent relief of corrugated drain was inserted her condition relapsed in an identical manner (Fig. 3) 6 nights later. On this occasion decompression was achieved easily in the ward the tension are considered important.
The Transition from RDBMS to NoSQL. A Comparative Analysis of Three Popular Non-Relational Solutions: Cassandra, MongoDB and Couchbase

NoSQL databases were built in the need to deal with the increasing amount of complex data (Big Data), required in real-time web applications, and are mostly addressing some of these points: the focus on availability over consistency, horizontally scalable, distributed architecture, and open-source. The purpose of this paper is to present the reasons for a transition from RDBMS to NoSQL databases, to describe the main characteristics of non-relational databases and to compare and analyze three popular NoSQL solutions - Cassandra, MongoDB and CouchBase, outlining the results obtained during performance comparison tests. Each solution is optimized for different workloads and different use cases. Therefore, each has its own strong points and weaknesses.
Decision Support Systems Application Development Trends (2002 - 2012)

This survey provides newly reported approaches to the design and development of DSSs published in peer reviewed journals. DSS applications were searched using the online database ABI/INFORM complete, which is available on the web through ProQuest. The collected 80 specific DSS applications, where were published in 41 journals, are analyzed to examine the development pattern of DSS in the time period of 2002-2012. This paper summarizes the survey results according to 1 the area of application, 2 the year of publication in each area of application, 3 the distribution of underlying decision support tools in DSSs, 4 a classification based on Alter's taxonomy, and 5 the management level operational, tactical, or strategic for which the DSS was designed.
Does temperature and oxygen affect duration of intramarsupial development and juvenile growth in the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber (Crustacea, Malacostraca)?

Abstract According to the temperature-size rule (TSR), ectotherms developing under cold conditions experience slower growth as juveniles but reach a larger size at maturity. Whether temperature alone causes this phenomenon is unknown, but oxygen limitation can play a role in the temperature-size relationship. Oxygen may become limited under warm conditions when the resulting higher metabolism creates a greater demand for oxygen, especially in larger individuals. We examined the independent effects of oxygen concentration (10% and 22% O2) and temperature (15 °C and 22 °C) on duration of ontogenic development, which takes place within the maternal brood pouch (marsupium), and juvenile growth in the terrestrial isopod common rough woodlouse (Porcellio scaber). Individuals inside the marsupium undergo the change from the aqueous to the gaseous environment. Under hypoxia, woodlice hatched from the marsupium sooner, but their subsequent growth was not affected by the level of oxygen. Marsupial development and juvenile growth were almost three times slower at low temperature, and marsupial development was longer in larger females but only in the cold treatment. These results show that temperature and oxygen are important ecological factors affecting developmental time and that the strength of the effect likely depends on the availability of oxygen in the environment.
Ant colony optimization for Steiner tree problems

Complexity in real-world problems is often tackled by a divide-and-conquer strategy which consists of breaking down the problem into sub-problems to find local solutions. These solutions are then merged in a bottom-up fashion and optimized to produce the final solution. Applications like wiring and pipelining in urban areas are typically complex problems. They require searching the famous Minimum Steiner tree in huge graphs that model the real-world topology of the urban areas. The present paper introduces a new approach relying on the notion of divide-and-conquer to solve the Minimum Steiner tree in large graphs. This approach, called SC-IAC, combines spectral clustering and ant colony optimization in a two-stage algorithm. The first stage allows generating graph segments, whereas the second uses parallel independent ant colonies to find local and global minima of the Steiner tree. To illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of SC-IAC, large real-world benchmarks are used.
The Slow Cyclic GMP Increase Caused by Serotonin in NG108‐15 Cells Is Not Inhibited by Antagonists of Known Serotonin Receptors: Possible Existence of a New Receptor Subtype Coupled with Membrane‐Bound Guanylate Cyclase

Characterization of the serotonin (5‐HT>induced cyclic GMP (cGMP) elevation was investigated in comparison with bradykinin‐ and ANP‐induced elevations in NG108‐15 cells. At 20 s, l,2‐bis(2‐aminophenoxy)ethaae‐N,N,N′,N′‐tetraaoetic acid tetraacetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA‐AM, 100 μM), a membrane‐permeabilized Ca2+ chelator, or N‐monomethyl‐L‐arginine (NMMA, 300 μM), an inhibitor of L‐arginine‐derived nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, inhibited 5‐HT‐induced elevation by approximately 40%, and completely inhibited bradykinin‐induced response. Neither 5‐HT‐ nor ANP‐induced cGMP elevation at 10 rain was affected by BAPTAAM or NMMA. The cGMP elevated by 5‐HT as well as by ANP was effluxed to the extracellular medium. These results and our previous report suggest that 5‐HT stimulates two subtypes of 5‐HT receptors in NG108‐15: first, 5‐HT3 subtype stimulating Ca2+‐sensitive cytosolic guanylate cyclaje through NO derived from L‐arginine and second, a probably novel 5‐HT receptor subtype involved in activation of membrane‐bound guanylate cyclase.
SKIN SEGMENTATION USING NON LINEAR PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS

This paper presents a new statistical skin color model that performs a classi cation in a feature space with a higher dimensionality than the original one created by the kernel PCA algorithm using polynomial kernels. Given that RGB color distribution has a non linear behaviour, a feature space is created to solve this non linearity problem and obtain a robust classi cation. Kernel PCA is learned under controlled illumination conditions to parametrize its values and once the parameters are tuned, it has been tested in di erent natural scenes. Classi cation task is done by using Mixture of Gaussians in such feature space. Finally, the model has been successfully applied to segment skin regions from a video.
Escala de valoración del profesor I-S

En el presente estudio mostramos la eficacia de la Escala de Valoracion del Profesor I-S. El profesor evalua a sus alumnos en dos areas fundamentales del ambito escolar como son Inteligencia y Socializacion. Tras la factorizacion de la escala aparecieron tres factores que explicaban el 100% de la varianza. Estos factores fueron Valoracion de la Inteligencia, Valoracion de las Relaciones Sociales y Valoracion del Respeto a la Autoridad. Para evaluar el valor predictivo de la Escala I-S realizamos una serie de analisis de regresion, con la finalidad de predecir el rendimiento academico de los estudiantes. Para ello hemos utilizado como otras variables predictivas factores de Autoconcepto, Desadaptacion Escolar y Personalidad. El estudio ha sido llevado a cabo con alumnos de ambos sexos del primer ciclo de secundaria, con edades comprendidas entre los 12 y los 16 anos. Los resultados obtenidos en el Analisis de Regresion demuestran que el mejor predictor del Rendimiento Academico es la Valoracion de los alumnos realizada por el profesor, especialmente el factor Capacidad Intelectual es el que mayor porcentaje de varianza explica en todas las ecuaciones de regresion, entrando tambien como factores relevantes Relaciones Sociales y Respeto a la Autoridad.
Epidemiology, aetiology, and prognosis of heart failure

Heart failure is now recognised as a major and escalating public health problem in industrialised countries with ageing populations. Any attempt to describe the epidemiology, aetiology, and prognosis of heart failure, however, must take account of the difficulty in defining exactly what heart failure is. Though the focus of this article is the symptomatic syndrome it must be remembered that as many patients again may have asymptomatic disease that might be legitimately labelled “heart failure”—for example, asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction. More comprehensive reviews of the epidemiology and associated burden of heart failure have been published by McMurray and colleagues1 and more recently by Cowie and colleagues.2 Data relating to the aetiology, epidemiology and prognostic implications of heart failure are principally available from five types of studies: Within the context of the specific limitations of the type of data available from these studies, the current understanding of the aetiology, epidemiology, and prognostic implications of chronic heart failure are discussed here. ### Prevalence Table 1 summarises the reported prevalence of heart failure according to whether …