Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional characterization of the neural components in Drosophila motion detection.

Flies, among many other species mainly rely on visual information to safely navigate through their environment. Behaviors like finding appropriate food sources or potential mates, avoiding obstacles and predators, or simply stabilizing their flight or walking trajectory are executed based on visual cues in their surroundings. Optic flow on the flies’ eyes for instance helps them to respond to disturbances caused by external distractors like a gust of wind. In order to do so, the animal has to extract relevant information about the produced optic flow. Calculating features, such as the speed and direction of motion is crucial for their successful compensation. A possible model for the computation of direction selectivity in Drosophila melanogaster is based on asymmetric temporal filtering of signals originating from two neighboring photoreceptors in the retina. Wide field neurons in the lobula plate of the fly’s optic lobes have long been known to respond in a direction-selective way. The computations in the upstream neuropils that lead to direction selectivity, however, have not yet been described. During my PhD-thesis, I characterized neurons presynaptic to directionselective lobula plate tangential cells by exploiting the genetic toolbox of the fruit fly in combination with physiological techniques. The use of genetically encoded calcium indicators and two-photon microscopy allowed me to directly investigate response properties of small columnar elements prior to the lobula plate. Expressing neuronal silencers in distinct subtypes of neurons and simultaneously recording from lobula plate tangential cells, I could further probe the contribution of these elements to the computation of direction-selective signals. Combining these techniques with several other methods available in our laboratory, including a behavioral readout of tethered walking flies, optogenetic activation, pharmacology, and modeling, resulted in a total of six publications that comprise this cumulative thesis. Measuring calcium signals in T4 and T5 cells in the first study, established that both populations of neurons exhibit direction-selective response properties. Furthermore, T4 cells only respond to moving bright edges, whereas T5 cells encode exclusively dark motion. Silencing the synaptic output of T4 and T5 separately, we were able to determine that both lobula plate tangential cell responses as well as the turning behavior of walking flies were impaired only to bright or dark edges, respectively. We thus proposed that the detection of the direction of visual motion must happen either presynaptic to, or on the dendrites of T4 and T5 neurons, and that this computation takes place independently for brightness increments and decrements. The second paper published in 2014 was motivated by an anatomical study that found an asymmetric wiring between L2 and L4 cells with the dendrites of Tm2 in the distal medulla. Using two-photon calcium imaging and neuronal silencing combined with postsynaptic electro-
Extending CP-Nets with Stronger Conditional Preference Statements

A logic of conditional preferences is defined, with a language which allows she compact representation of certain kinds of conditional preference statements, a semantics and a proof theory. CP-nets can be expressed in this language, and the semantics and proof theory generalise those of CP-nets. Despite being substantially more expressive, the formalism maintains important properties of CP-nets; there are simple sufficient conditions for consistency, and, under these conditions, optimal outcomes can be efficiently generated. It is also then easy to find a total order on outcomes which extends the conditional preference order, and an approach to constrained optimisation can be used which generalises a natural approach for CP-nets. Some results regarding the expressive power of CP-nets are also given.
Satisfiability Algorithms for Restricted Circuit Classes

In recent years, finding new satisfiability algorithms for various circuit classes has been a very active line of research. Despite considerable progress, we are still far away from a definite answer on which circuit classes allow fast satisfiability algorithms. This survey takes a (far from exhaustive) look at some recent satisfiability algorithms for a range of circuit classes and high- lights common themes. A special focus is given to connections between satisfiability algorithms and circuit lower bounds. A second focus is on reductions from satisfiability algorithms to a range of polynomial time problems, such as matrix multiplication and the Vector Domination Problem.
Financial integration and Emerging Markets Capital Structure

This paper investigates the impact of country-level financial integration on corporate financing choices in emerging economies. Examining 4477 public firms from 24 countries, we find that corporate leverage is positively related to credit market integration and negatively related to equity market integration. As integration proceeds to higher levels, high-growth firms seem to obtain more debt than low-growth firms; large firms seem to obtain more debt - especially long-term debt - and issue more equity than small firms. Also, there is evidence that firms are able to borrow more funds in countries with more efficient legal systems during integration process.
The impact of counsellor training on emotional intelligence

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the impact of counsellor training on emotional intelligence (EI) in 45 undergraduates and 58 postgraduates. Significant improvements were recorded by students on completion of both programmes, suggesting that these were attributable to training which enhanced intra- and interpersonal aspects of emotional functioning. As a group, postgraduates were older than undergraduates, and at the outset of the study, EISAQ scores were comparable; however, at follow-up, undergraduates recorded significantly higher EISAQ scores. Students’ EI was not significantly related to their age, and these findings indicate the potential for effective EI-skills training which is unrelated to quantity of life experiences. It is hoped that this study contributes to a growing quantitative evidence base from which the counselling profession can evaluate its training profile.
Atomic-scale modeling of self-positioning nanostructures

Atomic-scale finite element procedure for modeling of self-positioning nanostructures is devel- oped. Our variant of the atomic-scale finite element method is based on a meshless approach and on the Ter- soff interatomic potential function. The developed al- gorithm is used for determination of equilibrium con- figuration of atoms after nanostructure self-positioning. Dependency of the curvature radius of nanostructures on their thickness is investigated. It is found that for thin nanostructures the curvature radius is considerably smaller than predicted by continuum mechanics equa- tions. Curvature radius variation with varying orienta- tion of crystallographic axes is also modeled and results are compared to finite element continuum anisotropic so- lution. keyword: Nanostructure, Self-positioning, Atomic- scale finite element method.
Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics A: Synthetic Approaches to Human Understanding

Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics is the first introductory book on this new interdisciplinary area. This book consists of two volumes, the first of which, Synthetic Approaches to Human Understanding, advances human understanding from a robotics or engineering point of view. The second, Analytic Approaches to Human Understanding, addresses related subjects in cognitive science and neuroscience. These two volumes are intended to complement each other in order to more comprehensively investigate human cognitive functions, to develop human-friendly information and robot technology (IRT) systems, and to understand what kind of beings we humans are. Volume B describes to what extent cognitive science and neuroscience have revealed the underlying mechanism of human cognition, and investigates how development of neural engineering and advances in other disciplines could lead to deep understanding of human cognition.
Competitive algorithms about online reverse auctions

Similar to the concept of on-line auctions presented by Ron Lavi and Noam Nisan [3], this paper discusses pricing algorithms for on-line reverse auction which bidders arrive one by one and on-line buyer must be required to make a decision immediately about each bid as it is received. For online buyer in a reverse auction, we propose on-line mean pricing algorithm and on-line randomized pricing algorithm, and then prove that the two algorithms are competitive and incentive compatible. Moreover, as the bid prices concentrated in a small domain, by competitive analysis for the two algorithms, we find their merits which can avoid the results of purchasing failure or more cost caused by reservation price algorithm. Finally, an example is obtained to illustrate their application.
Iron overload across the spectrum of non‐transfusion‐dependent thalassaemias: role of erythropoiesis, splenectomy and transfusions

Non‐transfusion‐dependent thalassaemias (NTDT) encompass a spectrum of anaemias rarely requiring blood transfusions. Increased iron absorption, driven by hepcidin suppression secondary to erythron expansion, initially causes intrahepatic iron overload. We examined iron metabolism biomarkers in 166 NTDT patients with β thalassaemia intermedia (n = 95), haemoglobin (Hb) E/β thalassaemia (n = 49) and Hb H syndromes (n = 22). Liver iron concentration (LIC), serum ferritin (SF), transferrin saturation (TfSat) and non‐transferrin‐bound iron (NTBI) were elevated and correlated across diagnostic subgroups. NTBI correlated with soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), labile plasma iron (LPI) and nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs), with elevations generally confined to previously transfused patients. Splenectomised patients had higher NTBI, TfSat, NRBCs and SF relative to LIC, than non‐splenectomised patients. LPI elevations were confined to patients with saturated transferrin. Erythron expansion biomarkers (sTfR, growth differentiation factor‐15, NRBCs) correlated with each other and with iron overload biomarkers, particularly in Hb H patients. Plasma hepcidin was similar across subgroups, increased with >20 prior transfusions, and correlated inversely with TfSat, NTBI, LPI and NRBCs. Hepcidin/SF ratios were low, consistent with hepcidin suppression relative to iron overload. Increased NTBI and, by implication, risk of extra‐hepatic iron distribution are more likely in previously transfused, splenectomised and iron‐overloaded NTDT patients with TfSat >70%.
The Role of Sleep in Memory Consolidation and Brain Plasticity: Dream or Reality?

The notion that a good night of sleep improves memory is widely accepted by the general public. Among sleep scientists, however, the idea has been hotly debated for decades. In this review, the authors consider current evidence for and against the hypothesis that sleep facilitates memory consolidation and promotes plastic changes in the brain. They find that despite a steady accumulation of positive findings over the past decade, the precise role of sleep in memory and brain plasticity remains elusive. This impasse may be resolved by more integrated approaches that combine behavioral and neurophysiological measurements in well-described in vivo models of synaptic plasticity.
Virtual machine based security architecture

In this paper a new approach based on using reference validation mechanism to improve system reliability is proposed. Since device drivers are the main cause of system failure, they are chosen as case study. Thus by improving driver reliability, security of the whole system is improved. To monitor driver functionality and also manage kernel memory, lightweight hypervisor layer is used, and reference validation mechanism is implemented in this layer.
Single cell OFDMA / SDMA allocation algo systems

Solutions proposed in bibliography for multiple user allocation on the sub-bands of an OFDM system, adopting multiple antennas, require highly computational effort and consider delay insensitive applications. Our approach tends to overcome all these limitations relaxing some hypothesis in order to give a feasible solution. The proposed algorithm can be applied to a real multiple antenna OFDM system, allocating many users to an high number of possible sub-bands, while guaranteeing the required individual bit rate and BER.
Double martingale structure and existence of -moments for weighted branching processes

Given the infinite Ulam-Harris tree V = S n�0 N n , let T(v) = (Ti(v))i�1, v ∈ V, be a family of i.i. d. nonnegative random vectors with generic copy (Ti)i�1. Interpret Ti(v) as a weight attached to the edge connecting the nodes v and vi in the tree. Define L(v) as the total weight of the unique path from the root to v obtained by multiplication of the edge weights. The associated weighted branching process (WBP) is then given by Zn def = P |v|=n L(v), n ≥ 0, and forms a nonnegative martingale with a.s. limit W under the normalization assumption P i�1 ETi = 1. For regularly varying functions φ(x) = x � l(x) of order α ≥ 1 satisfying limx! 1 x 1 φ(x) = ∞, the paper provides necessary and sufficient conditions on (Ti)i�1 for Eφ(W) to be positive and finite. The double martingale structure of (Zn)n�0 first observed and utilized in (4) for similar results for Galton-Watson processes forms a major tool in our analysis. It further requires results following from the connection between a WBP and an associated random walk and drawing on results from renewal theory. In particular, a pathwise renewal theorem is proved which may also be of interest in its own right.
Emotion elicitation by odors and their influence on behavior and cognitive performance

Because of technical constraints associated to odor delivery, odor-borne emotions have often been understudied in comparison to other sensory modalities. The understanding of these emotions and their links with other cognitive processes remains at a nascent stage, in spite of the strong affective power of smells. This work aims at decoding the complex mesh of odor-born feelings and their underlying mechanisms at the behavioral, physiological and neural level in humans. In particular, this manuscript presents three studies; one of them describes the representation of complex odor-specific emotions in the brain, beyond odor pleasantness only. The second study assesses the influence of endogenous attentional modulation on the neural processing of odor valence. The third evaluates the influence of an affective olfactory context on learning processes at the behavioral and psychophysiological levels. The manuscript also includes the description of a new MRI-compatible olfactometer that was implemented during this doctorate work.
In Healthy Young Men, a Short Exhaustive Exercise Alters the Oxidative Stress Only Slightly, Independent of the Actual Fitness

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the apparent disagreement regarding the effect of a typical cycling progressive exercise, commonly used to assess VO2max, on the kinetics of ex vivo copper induced peroxidation of serum lipids. Thirty-two (32) healthy young men, aged 24–30 years, who do not smoke and do not take any food supplements, participated in the study. Blood was withdrawn from each participant at three time points (before the exercise and 5 minutes and one hour after exercise). Copper induced peroxidation of sera made of the blood samples was monitored by spectrophotometry. For comparison, we also assayed TBARS concentration and the activity of oxidation-related enzymes. The physical exercise resulted in a slight and reversible increase of TBARS and slight changes in the activities of the studied antioxidant enzymes and the lag preceding peroxidation did not change substantially. Most altered parameters returned to baseline level one hour after exercise. Notably, the exercise-induced changes in OS did not correlate with the physical fitness of the subjects, as evaluated in this study (VO2max = 30–60 mL/min/kg). We conclude that in healthy young fit men a short exhaustive exercise alters only slightly the OS, independent of the actual physical fitness.
Incremental value of radial discoordination index for the prediction of response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

AIMS Previous studies have identified four baseline characteristics associated with a favourable response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT): female, non-ischaemic aetiology of heart failure, left bundle-branch block (LBBB), and QRS duration ≥150 ms. This study evaluated the incremental value of discoordination and dyssynchrony indices over these characteristics for the prediction of the response to CRT. METHODS AND RESULTS The speckle-tracking strain analysis was performed in 120 CRT candidates. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the gender (male vs. female), aetiology of heart failure (ischaemic vs. non-ischaemic), QRS morphology (LBBB vs. non-LBBB), and QRS duration (≥150 vs. <150 ms), respectively. Discoordination was measured using the mid-ventricular radial discoordination index (RDI-M), the ratio of the average mid-ventricular thinning to thickening during ejection. Patients with one of the four favourable characteristics were more likely to exhibit other favourable characteristics and had greater amounts of average myocardial thinning during ejection and RDI-M than those without (all P< 0.05). In contrast, dyssynchrony indices failed to demonstrate significant differences between male and female and between ischaemic and non-ischaemic subjects. Of 39 patients who had 6-month follow-up data after CRT, left ventricular reverse remodelling was found in 22 patients (56%). Combining the favourable characteristics and RDI-M provides the best ability to predict reverse remodelling after CRT (area under the curve = 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.98, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Mechanical discoordination rather than mechanical dyssynchrony provides a significant incremental value over the baseline characteristics for the prediction of the response to CRT.
PAPR reduction by DCT based PTS techniques with interleaving in OFDM system

The advancement in 4G technology mainly depends upon the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme. OFDM scheme has much betterment like efficient spectrum usage, mitigation of selective fading effects, reduces ICI and ISI, etc. The major disadvantage of this scheme is a high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) which requires a costlier high power amplifier for processing. Partial Transmit Sequence is solitary for intricacy the PAPR reduction techniques. The proposed technique employs interleaving with both PTS and modified PTS with the discrete cosine transform (DCT) in OFDM system. The modified PTS method reduces the computation intricacy of the system. The simulation results shows that the proposed method gives better performance compared to the conventional techniques.
Completely positive classical structures and sequentializable quantum protocols

We study classical structures in various categories of completely positive morphisms: on sets and relations, on cobordisms, on a free dagger compact category, and on Hilbert spaces. As an application, we prove that quantum maps with commuting Kraus operators can be sequentialized. Hence such protocols are precisely as robust under general dephasing noise when entangled as when sequential.
Light responses of mire mosses – a key to survival after water-level drawdown?

Mosses are important ecosystem engineers in mires. Their existence may be threatened directly or indirectly by anthropogenic drying, which further leads to shading and changed competition conditions via increased arboreal plant cover. Yet, some species are able to acclimate to the changing habitat, while some give way to new colonizers. In the shaded conditions, acclimation or adaptation to low light levels is likely to be a winning strategy to survive. We studied the light responses of photosynthesis and photosynthetic pigment concentrations in mosses from an open mire and its shaded, i.e. drained and forested counterpart. Against our expectations, the Sphagnum species found only in the open habitat had lower photosynthetic capacity and maximum quantum yield than those found to grow in the shade. Chlorophyll fluorescence results suggested that photoinhibitory damage to photosystem II is responsible for the low photosynthetic performance of the Sphagna of the open habitat, which were inefficient to utilize any light level. In the shaded habitat, Sphagnum mosses showed adaptation to lower light conditions only by possessing a higher chlorophyll content. Pleurozium schreberi reached photosynthetic light saturation at half the irradiance level compared to Sphagna. The lack of efficient photoprotection or repair mechanism after photodamage may constrain the success of these species in the open habitat. Thus, the dominant Sphagna in the open pristine conditions seem to be stress tolerant, while the dominants of the shaded drained mire appear to be species capable of maximizing their growth and production to compete in the unstressful conditions in terms of light and desiccation.
Image Retrieval Method Based on Entropy and Fractal Coding

In content-based image retrieval system, describing and extracting image’s feature is a key question. An image can be characterized by its fractal codes, and fractal codes can be used as the image’s feature to retrieve the images effectively. This paper proposes a novel image retrieval method using information entropy and fractal coding. First, each image in the database is classified by computing information entropy which is compared with a given threshold estimated from the inquired image. Second, the inquired image’s fractal codes are generated via Jacquin method, which is applied to the same kind of database images with fractal tenth iteration decoding. Finally, the image retrieval result is obtained by matching the similar Euclidean distance between the inquired image and the iterated decoded image. Experimental results show that compared with the direct image pixels similar matching strategy, our scheme not only reduces retrieval complexity and retrieval time, but also guarantees the retrieval rate. Thus our proposed method is effective and feasible. Key-Words: Fractal coding; Image information entropy; Image retrieval; Similar
A Hybrid Type DTN Routing Method Using Delivery Predictability and Maximum Number of Replication

In recent years, by spread of wireless communication terminal, a demand for wireless networks which can use anywhere and anytime is increasing. In some of wireless networks, communication environments have became with long time communication delay and occurrence of link disconnection. It was not supposed in current communication networks. In such a worst communication environment, Delay / Disruption / Disconnection Tolerant Networks (DTN) are paid attention as a communication technology with high reliability. In DTN, each node replicates messages to an encountered node and the receiving node repeats this procedure until the messages reach destination nodes. However, in DTN which assumes poor communication environment, it is difficult to determine nodes for replication. Since nodes in DTN control the replication by a routing method, communication performance changes by affinity of communication environments and routing methods. From these reasons, the routing method is important research target in DTN. In this paper, we propose a routing method which combines Spray and Wait, and Prophet. The Spray and Wait restricts a number of replications and the Prophet determines a replicated node by comparing delivery predictability for destination node. We aim improvement of message arrival rate by combining these two methods. From evaluations of experiments of real machine and simulation, we show that the proposed method has high message arrival rate than Spray and Wait, and Prophet.