Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology

This thoroughly revised new edition of a classic book provides a clinically inspired but scientifically guided approach to the biological foundations of human mental function in health and disease. It includes authoritative coverage of all the major areas related to behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry. Each chapter, written by a world-renowned expert in the relevant area, provides an introductory background as well as an up-to-date review of the most recent developments. Clinical relevance is emphasized but is placed in the context of cognitive neuroscience, basic neuroscience, and functional imaging. Major cognitive domains such as frontal lobe function, attention and neglect, memory, language, prosody, complex visual processing, and object identification are reviewed in detail. A comprehensive chapter on behavioural neuroanatomy provides a background for brain-behaviour interactions in the cerebral cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebullum. Chapters on temperolimbic epilepsy, major psychiatric syndromes, and dementia provide in-depth analyses of these neurobehavioral entities and their neurobiological coordinates. Changes for this second edition include the reflection throughout the book of the new and flourishing alliance of behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry with cognitive science;major revision of all chapters; new authorship of those on language and memory; and the inclusion of entirely new chapters on psychiatric syndromes and the dementias. Both as a textbook and a reference work, the second edition of Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology represents an invaluable resource for behavioural neurologists, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists, cognitive and basic neuroscientists, geriatricians, physiatrists, and their students and trainees.
Constraints on the Cardassian Expansion from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey Gravitational Lens Statistics

The existence of a dark energy component has usually been invoked as the most plausible way to explain the recent observational results. However, it is also well known that effects arising from new physics (e.g., extra dimensions) can mimic the gravitational effects of a dark energy through a modification of the Friedmann equation. In this paper we investigate some observational consequences of a flat, matter-dominated, and accelerating/decelerating scenario in which this modification is given by H2 = g(ρm,n,q), where g(ρm,n,q) is a new function of the energy density ρm, the so-called generalized Cardassian models. We mainly focus our attention on the constraints from the recent Cosmic All-Sky Survey (CLASS) lensing sample on the parameters n and q that fully characterize the models. We show that, for a large interval of the q-n parametric space, these models are in agreement with the current gravitational lenses data. The influence of these parameters on the acceleration redshift, i.e., the redshift at which the universe begins to accelerate, and on the age of the universe at high-redshift is also discussed.
Mouse susceptibility to mouse hepatitis virus infection is linked to viral receptor genotype

We have reported that the receptor for mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) expressed in MHV-susceptible BALB/c mice (MHVR1) has 10 to 30 times the virus-binding activity of the MHV receptor expressed in MHV-resistant SJL mice (MHVR2) (N. Ohtsuka, Y. K. Yamada, and F. Taguchi, J. Gen. Virol. 77:1683-1992, 1996). This fact indicates the possibility that the difference in MHV susceptibility between BALB/c and SJL mice is determined by the virus-binding activity of the receptor. To test this possibility, we have examined MHV susceptibility in mice with the homozygous MHVR1 gene (R1/R1 genotype), mice with the MHVR1 and MHVR2 genes (R1/R2 genotype), and mice with the homozygous MHVR2 gene (R2/R2 genotype) produced by cross and backcross mating between BALB/c and SJL mice. All 63 F2 and backcrossed mice with the MHVR1 gene (R1/R1 and R1/R2) were susceptible to MHV infection, and all 57 with the homozygous MHVR2 gene (R2/R2) were resistant. We have also examined the MHV receptor genotypes of several mouse strains that were reported to be susceptible to MHV infection. All of those mice had the MHVR1 gene. These results suggest the possibility that the viral receptor determines the susceptibility of the whole animal to MHV infection.
Differentiated services with multiple random early detection algorithm using ns2 simulator

This paper presents an overview of random early detection algorithm and differentiated services on ns2. In the present scenario of computer networks the traffic is increasing exponentially due to which packet losses are also increasing at a great rate. An active queue management in routers and gateways can potentially reduce packet loss rates in the Internet. In this paper we have proposed use of an active queue management algorithm, a modified form of RED algorithm, called MRED (Multi RED) which is an effective way to reduce packet loss rates in the internet. MRED computes the packet drop probability based on our heuristic method rather than the simple method used in RED and enables bandwidth allocation over a single link to different types of traffics. Using simulation, MRED can be shown to perform better than existing queue management schemes. This paper also introduces implementation of DiffServ (Differentiated service) and MRED on ns2 simulator thus depicting advantages of QoS (Quality of Service) to improve network congestion.
Parallel Programming Issues

Parallel computer architectures and hardware have evolved impressively in the last few years from the architecture and the hardware point of view. Progress on the software side can be best characterized as moderate. The lack of methodologies and software to support parallel programming is profound even on the most advanced parallel machines. Parallel programming is a complex task and the performance of a parallel program can be influenced by many different factors such as coding of parallel constructs and/or restructuring, scheduling schemes and scheduling overhead, synchronization and/or communication cost, program and data partitioning and memory allocation. In this paper we discuss the major aspects of parallel programming. Parallel programming environments are considered in three fundamental phases: parallelism specification, parallelism exploita tion and supporting environments and tools. A parallel programming environment built at the University of Illinois is discussed as a case study. Finally, we address the influence of parallel programming on multiprocessor operating systems and discuss future research directions.
Factor Analysis of Motor and Nonmotor Signs in Essential Tremor: Are These Signs All Part of the Same Underlying Pathogenic Process?

Essential tremor (ET) has traditionally been viewed as monosymptomatic. However, there is an emerging appreciation of an expanded number of motor manifestations as well as a new awareness of nonmotor manifestations. The current goal, through factor analyses, was to determine how these diverse signs relate to one another and shed light on their pathogenic bases. One hundred and thirty-eight ET patients had detailed neurological examinations. In these analyses, three separate factors emerged, explaining 58.7% of the variance. Factor I was comprised of the hallmark feature of ET, action tremor. It also included intention tremor, which is generally viewed as a sign of cerebellar dysfunction, and tremor duration. Factor II was comprised of cognitive test scores and age, and factor III, of rest tremor. Cognitive test scores did not fall into the same domain as motor features or tremor duration. These results suggest that: (1) the process that underlies cognitive dysfunction in ET is distinct from that which is responsible for action and intention tremors and their progression over time, and (2) cognitive dysfunction in ET is not likely due to cerebellar degeneration. Age loaded with cognitive test scores, further raising the possibility that age-related processes (e.g. Alzheimer-type changes) could underlie cognitive changes in ET.
Density bounding in the HII regions of galactic discs: evidence and consequences

RESUMEN Presentamos cuatro tipos de evidencia que conducen a la conclusi on de que una fracci on notable de los fotones ionizantes emitidos por las estrellas que se encuentran en el interior de las regiones H II en los discos de las galaxias espirales normales, escapa de las regiones hacia el medio circundante y m as all a de este. Estas son: (1) La distribuci on de la intensidad de brillo supercial del H difuso emitido por el disco de una galaxia, es bien modelado suponiendo que el continuo de Lyman que lo origina escapa de las regiones H II. (2) La relaci on entre el brillo supercial central en H y la luminosidad total de una regi on H II, se aleja de las predicciones para sistemas uniformes limitados en ionizaci on. (3) La funci on de luminosidad en H de poblaciones completas de regiones H II muestra un cambio de pendiente con par ametros que pueden explicarse con la hip otesis de limitaci on en densidad, pero no mediante hip otesis competidoras. (4) La relaci on entre anchura de velocidad interna en H y la luminosidad de las regiones H II se puede explicar de manera natural mediante la limitaci on en densidad. Una estructura de nube fractal y grumosa proporciona par ametros que pueden explicar las observaciones. Mostramos c omo la fracci on de fotones Lyman que escapan de las regiones H II, nalmen te escapa de los discos de las galaxias, y puede ionizar grandes vol umenes del medio de baja densidad interior a los c umulos, en torno a las galaxias.
High‐Density Lipoprotein‐Cholesterol: Determining Hygienic Factors for Intervention

Current guidelines of the Adult Treatment Panel on High-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C) emphasize the protective effect of HDL-C in reducing one's risk for coronary heart disease and recommend that individuals with serum HDL-C levels below 35 mg/dL utilize hygienic means to raise them. A cross-sectional study was performed to examine the relationship of the hygienic factors obesity (measured by percent body fat and body mass index), smoking, and aerobic exercise to HDL-C. The sample, consisting of 1701 male employees of a large aerospace hardware assembly plant, were evaluated by health risk appraisal and anthropometric measurement. Regression analysis revealed a significant negative relationship between body mass index, percent body fat, age, smoking and the level of HDL-C in the blood. Alcohol consumption was directly related to HDL-C, and Whites had a lower HDL-C than all other races combined. Aerobic exercise was not found to be significantly related to HDL-C. A model (multiple R2 = .1136) consisting of age, race, alcohol consumption, smoking, and body mass index fit the data well. These findings justify weight management and smoking cessation interventions for raising HDL-C. However, the role of aerobic exercise was not supported in this study as a means of raising HDL-C. Future studies should use maximum oxygen consumption as a measure of aerobic capacity, which may be a better indicator of aerobic exercise level. The role of medication and genetic and dietary factors in HDL-C management should also be explored. Although findings from this study support smoking cessation and weight management interventions, longitudinal research is needed to determine the most effective strategy for HDL-C management.
Optimality and Robustness of a Biophysical Decision-Making Model under Norepinephrine Modulation

The locus ceruleus (LC) can exhibit tonic or phasic activity and release norepinephrine (NE) throughout the cortex, modulating cellular excitability and synaptic efficacy and thus influencing behavioral performance. We study the effects of LC–NE modulation on decision making in two-alternative forced-choice tasks by changing conductances in a biophysical neural network model, and we investigate how it affects performance measured in terms of reward rate. We find that low tonic NE levels result in unmotivated behavior and high levels in impulsive, inaccurate choices, but that near-optimal performance can occur over a broad middle range. Robustness is greatest when pyramidal cells are less strongly modulated than interneurons, and superior performance can be achieved with phasic NE release, provided only glutamatergic synapses are modulated. We also show that network functions such as sensory information accumulation and short-term memory can be modulated by tonic NE levels, and that previously observed diverse evoked cell responses may be due to network effects.
The actor's brain: Exploring the cognitive neuroscience of free will

Prologue - Against freedom 1. Moving a finger 2. Assembling a 'will' 3. The timing of intentions 4. Volitional architectures 5. Losing control 6. Failing to act 7. Hysterical agents 8. Deceivers all 9. Harming others 10. Human response space Epilogue - Raising a fist
Dynamic Processing in the Human Language System: Synergy between the Arcuate Fascicle and Extreme Capsule

The production and comprehension of human language is thought to involve a network of frontal, parietal, and temporal cortical loci interconnected by two dominant white matter pathways. These two white matter bundles, often referred to as the dorsal and ventral processing tracts, are hypothesized to have markedly different language functions. The dorsal tract is thought to process phonological processing, while the ventral tract is considered to abet semantics. This proposed functional differentiation of tracts is similar to the ventral and dorsal dichotomy proposed for the visual and auditory systems. The present study evaluated this characterization of the language system in the context of various components involved in its function. Twenty-four chronic stroke patients completed a battery of 10 language tests designed to measure performance on the comprehension and production of phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax. The patients also completed diffusion MRI scanning. Lesions were confined to the left hemisphere, but the size and location of the insult varied so that patients had damage to a single tract, both tracts, or neither tract. Individual FA maps were generated, and focal areas of hypointensity served as markers of white matter damage. Whole-brain voxel-by-voxel correlations revealed that only phonological and semantic tasks fit into the dual-stream model, while syntax and morphology involved both pathways. ROI analyses of the arcuate fascicle and extreme capsule supported this finding. These data suggest that natural language function is more likely to reflect a synergistic system rather than a segregated dual-stream system.
Decrease of psychomotor performance in subjects with latent ‘asymptomatic’ toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasma gondii is known to induce specific behavioural changes in its intermediate hosts. This is usually considered to be an evolutionary adaptation aimed to increase the probability of transmission of the parasite into its definitive host, the cat, by predation. In rodents an increase of reaction time as well as many other specific behavioural patterns have been observed. Here we report the results of our double blind study showing the significantly longer reaction times of 60 subjects with latent toxoplasmosis in comparison with those of 56 controls. Moreover, the existence of a positive correlation between length of infection and mean reaction time suggested that slow and cumulative effects of latent toxoplasmosis rather than a one-step (and possibly transient) effect of acute toxoplasmosis disease are responsible for the decrease of psychomotor performance of infected subjects. To our knowledge, this is the first study confirming the existence of such parasite-induced changes in human behaviour that could be considered in evolutionary history of the human species as adaptive from the point of view of parasite transmission.
Mas ∪ Abss ⊇ Mabs the Purpose of the Second International Workshop in Multi Agent Based

Simulation is to investigate and develop the synergy between software engineering for multi agent systems and agent based social simulation. Some computer scientists see little overlap. Edmonds (1998), for example, quotes Wooldridge and Jennings (1998) to the effect that " [i]f a system contains many agents…, then the dynamics can become too complex to manage effectively. There are several techniques that one can use to try to manage a system in which there are many agents. First, one can place it under central control. Another way. is to severely restrict the way in which agents can interact. one can ensure that there are few channels of communication. [or] by restricting the way in which agents interact. Thus very simple cooperation protocols are preferable…. " Edmonds goes on to say that " these are sensible warnings for the software engineer, but they are not necessarily relevant for social simulation, since the unforeseen behaviour that the engineer is trying to prevent is what the social simulator is interested in. For the social simulator, the issue of how society can impact upon individual behaviour is at least as important as how individuals impact on society. " More recently, we have observed the growing articulation of an alternative view stemming from the growing importance of large scale, complex, distributed software systems such as the Internet and large, federated databases. While the importance of agents in software engineering research is hardly in doubt, there have been some rumblings of disquiet about the scalability and breadth of applicability of the agents paradigm. The classic paper by Nwana and Ndumu (1999) points out a range of problems that the agents community has largely ceased to address – much less to resolve and concludes that A new field is only defined by its problems, not its methods/techniques. We argue strongly that MAS has to some degree been falling into the trap that has befell AI
Using machine learning to focus iterative optimization

Iterative compiler optimization has been shown to outperform static approaches. This, however, is at the cost of large numbers of evaluations of the program. This paper develops a new methodology to reduce this number and hence speed up iterative optimization. It uses predictive modelling from the domain of machine learning to automatically focus search on those areas likely to give greatest performance. This approach is independent of search algorithm, search space or compiler infrastructure and scales gracefully with the compiler optimization space size. Off-line, a training set of programs is iteratively evaluated and the shape of the spaces and program features are modelled. These models are learnt and used to focus the iterative optimization of a new program. We evaluate two learnt models, an independent and Markov model, and evaluate their worth on two embedded platforms, the Texas Instrument C67I3 and the AMD Au1500. We show that such learnt models can speed up iterative search on large spaces by an order of magnitude. This translates into an average speedup of 1.22 on the TI C6713 and 1.27 on the AMD Au1500 in just 2 evaluations.
Tacrolimus versus cyclosporin as primary immunosuppression for kidney transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for most patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Standard protocols in use typically involve three drug groups each directed to a site in the T-cell activation or proliferation cascade which are central to the rejection process: calcineurin inhibitors (e.g. cyclosporin, tacrolimus), anti-proliferative agents (e.g. azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil) and steroids (prednisolone). It remains unclear whether new regimens are more specific or simply more potent immunosuppressants. OBJECTIVES To compare the effects of tacrolimus with cyclosporin as primary therapy for kidney transplant recipients. SEARCH STRATEGY MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Renal Group's specialist register and conference proceedings were searched to identify relevant reports of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Two reviewers assessed trials for eligibility, quality and extracted data independently. SELECTION CRITERIA All RCTs where tacrolimus was compared with cyclosporin for the initial treatment of kidney transplant recipients DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Data were synthesised (random effects model) and results expressed as relative risk (RR), values <1 favouring tacrolimus, with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were used to examine potential effect modification by differences in trial design and immunosuppressive co-interventions. MAIN RESULTS 123 reports from 30 trials (4102 patients) were included. At six months graft loss was significantly reduced in tacrolimus-treated recipients (RR 0.56, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.86), and this effect was persistent up to three years. Meta-regression showed that this benefit diminished as higher trough levels of tacrolimus were targeted (P = 0.04), after allowing for differences in cyclosporin formulation (P = 0.97) and cyclosporin target trough level (P = 0.38). At one year, tacrolimus patients suffered less acute rejection (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.79), and less steroid-resistant rejection (RR 0.49, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.64), but more insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus (RR 1.86, 1.11 to 3.09), tremor, headache, diarrhoea, dyspepsia and vomiting. Cyclosporin-treated recipients experienced significantly more constipation and cosmetic side-effects. We demonstrated no differences in infection or malignancy. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Tacrolimus is superior to cyclosporin in improving graft survival and preventing acute rejection after kidney transplantation, but increases post-transplant diabetes, neurological and gastrointestinal side effects. Treating 100 recipients with tacrolimus instead of cyclosporin would avoid 12 suffering acute rejection, two losing their graft but cause an extra five to become insulin-requiring diabetics.
Assembly of GMPCPP-Bound Tubulin into Helical Ribbons and Tubes and Effect of Colchicine

Microtubule assembly and disassembly is a complex structural process that doesnot proceed by simple addition and subtraction of individual subunits to and from ahelical polymer, as would be the case for actin and other helical assemblies. Thedynamic process of microtubule growth and shrinking involves short-lasting polymerforms that differ substantially from the microtubule itself and constitute crucial assemblyand disassembly intermediates. Structural characterization thus depends on thestabilization of these brief intermediates and their preservation as polymericassemblies. This paper gives experimental details on the polymerization of GMPCPPtubulininto low-temperature stable polymers that we propose to correspond to the earlystages in microtubule assembly and includes new data on the effect of colchicine onGMPCPP-tubulin polymerization. Finally, we include our thoughts on the possiblebiological meaning of tubulin polymerization versatility.
Software landscapes: visualizing the structure of large software systems

Modern object-oriented programs are hierarchical systems with many thousands of interrelated subsystems. Visualization helps developers to better comprehend these large and complex systems. This paper presents a three-dimensional visualization technique that represents the static structure of object-oriented programs using landscape-like distributions of three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane. The familiar landscape methaphor facilitates intuitive navigation and comprehension. The visual complexity is reduced by adjusting the transparency of object surfaces to the distance of the viewpoint. An approach called Hierarchical Net is proposed for a clear representation of the relationsships between the subsystems.