Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The COMT Val158Met polymorphism moderates the association between cognitive functions and white matter microstructure in schizophrenia

Objectives Impaired cognitive functioning is a core feature of schizophrenia. Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia has been associated with white-matter (WM) abnormalities and degenerative changes of cortical myelin in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, findings suggested a role of the COMT gene in affecting both WM and neuropsychological performances. We thus hypothesized that the COMT Val158Met genotype would affect the association between cognitive functions and WM microstructure in a sample of schizophrenic patients. Materials and methods Seventy-eight schizophrenic patients performed the brief assessment of cognition in schizophrenia for assessment of cognitive performances. Sixty-nine patients provided a venous blood sample for genotypic analysis. WM integrity was evaluated using tract-based spatial statistics with threshold-free cluster enhancement (P<0.05). Results Analysis indicated an association between cognitive functions and WM microstructure in the Val/Val group, but not in the Met carriers group. WM tracts include the corpus callosum, thalamic radiations, corona radiata, forceps major and minor, superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, corticospinal tract, and cingulum. Conclusion Results suggested a moderating effect of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism on the association between cognitive functioning and WM microstructure. Our findings support the importance of myelination in cognition, identifying measures of WM microstructure as important neurobiological features of cognitive performances.
Demand Response in Electric Vehicles Management Optimal Use of End-User Contracts

Demand Response (DR) has gained attention in the past few years. With the mass introduction of Electric Vehicles (EVs) the opportunity for DR programs can grow even more. This paper concentrates on a specific type of DR, namely evaluating different scenarios with respect to end-user EVs tariffs. The effects of different tariffs are compared in several scenarios in terms of the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) operation costs and also the EVs' perspective, i.e. considering the optimal use of end-user contracts. To solve the Mixed Integer Non-Linear Problem (MINLP) a modernized optimization approach is used by combining a deterministic method in the first stage, relaxing the problem to a Mixed Integer Linear Problem (MILP) with the use of a computational intelligence method in the second stage, namely Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The case study presents different price scenarios, namely, singletariff, bi-tariff, tri-tariff, tetra-tariff, and Real-Time Pricing (RTP). The network used for this application is a 33-bus distribution network with high penetration of renewables and a fleet of 30 electric buses.
Divergent and parallel development in volume sizes of telencephalic song nuclei in and female zebra finches

Song control regions in passerine birds are known to be sexually dimorphic in the adult brain in species like zebra finches in which most males sing whereas females do not. As a first step toward the analysis of the establishment of anatomical sex differences, volumetric changes of Nissl‐defined song control regions in the forebrain of the zebra finch have been quantified in both sexes at 10‐day intervals starting at day 10 posthatching. In males, the Nissl‐defined volume of the high vocal center, the robust nucleus of the archistriatum, and area X of the lobus parolfactorius increased with age, reaching the adult value at 60, 50, and at 40 days posthatching, respectively. The lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum increased in volume until 20 days and then gradually decreased to reach the adult value at about 40 days. Whereas area X is absent in females, the high vocal center, the robust nucleus of the archistriatum, and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum were detectable throughout development and in adulthood. In contrast to the males, volumes of the high vocal center and of the robust nucleus of the archistriatum decreased in females between 10 and 40 days posthatching (58% and 61%, respectively), when adult values were reached. Contrary to the development of these two nuclei in females, the volumetric development of the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum was very similar in both sexes. Females began with a smaller lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum at 10 days posthatch, which led to a sexual dimorphism in juvenile stages, but there was no sexual dimorphism of volume size in adult brains. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Supporting awareness in instant messaging: an empirical study and mechanism design

Supporting awareness plays a prominent role in facilitating natural and effective communication in Instant Messaging (IM). This paper reports our empirical study of awareness in IM, using an online survey and face-to-face interviews to identify user needs for awareness support. The study has identified three themes, including awareness of multiple concurrent conversations, presence awareness of a group conversation, and visibility of moment-to-moment listeners and viewers. The study showed that these three types of awareness are necessary but have been either ineffectively supported or ignored by current IM systems. Drawing on these findings, we have designed three awareness features to support these three categories of awareness. Conversation Dock provides awareness of multiple conversations; Group List provides presence awareness in a group chat by showing who are no longer in the group chat and who are going to join the chat; and Track View provides awareness of in-progress listeners in voice conversations and in-progress viewers in video conversations.
Biologically plausible reinforcement learning

How does the brain learn to map multi-dimensional sensory inputs to multi-dimensional motor outputs when it can only observe single rewards for the coordinated outputs of the whole network of neurons that make up the brain? We develop MQ-AGREL, a biologically plausible multi-layer neural network model for multi-dimensional reinforcement learning. We demonstrate that MQ-AGREL can learn non-linear mappings from inputs to multi-dimensional outputs by using only scalar reward feedback. We further show that in MQ-AGREL the changes in the connection weights follow the gradient that minimizes global prediction error, and that all information required for synaptic plasticity is locally present. This chapter is based on Rombouts, van Ooyen, et al. (2012).
What Professional Responsibility Means to Teachers: national contexts and classroom constants

Summary This article discusses some of the findings pertaining to how teachers see their work which were produced by a comparative study of 360 French and 360 English primary school teachers. The sample was drawn from schools in four different types of matched catchment areas—rural, inner‐city, average suburban and affluent suburban— in Avon, UK and Bouches du Rhone, France. Four major dimensions of difference between the two national contexts are identified in terms of the range of professional activities undertaken; the ambiguity of the teacher's task; the style of pedagogy and the relative importance to teachers of the process as against the products of learning. Against a background of contemporary policy changes which seem likely to render the teaching context increasingly similar in the two countries, the article argues that attempts to change teachers’ practice without due regard to those conceptions of professional responsibility which are deeply rooted in particular national traditions as well as.
"I'm Stuck!": A Contextual Inquiry of People with Visual Impairments in Authentication

Current authentication mechanisms pose significant challenges for people with visual impairments. This paper presents results from a contextual inquiry study that investigated the experiences this population encounters when logging into their computers, smart phones, and websites that they use. By triangulating results from observation, contextual inquiry interviews and a hierarchical task analysis of participants’ authentication tasks, we found that these users experience various difficulties associated with the limitations of assistive technologies, suffer noticeable delays in authentication and fall prey to confusing login challenges. The hierarchical task analysis uncovered challenging and time-consuming steps in the authentication process that participants performed. Our study raises awareness of these difficulties and reveals the limitations of current authentication experiences to the security community. We discuss implications for designing accessible authentication experiences for people with visual impairments.
Enterococci in Post-Cesarean Endometritis

Three hundred eleven patients with post-cesarean endometritis were treated with clindamycin and gentamicin. Isolation of enterococci in the endometrium was associated with use of cephalosporin prophylaxis (P < .001). Other risk factors for enterococcus-associated endometritis included increased numbers of vaginal examinations (P=.018) and increased length of internal monitoring (P=.006). Patients with enterococcus-associated endometritis were less likely to respond to therapy with clindamycin and gentamicin than were patients without enterococci (82.4 versus 92.7%, respectively; P=.015). Patients with enterococcus-associated endometritis also were significantly more likely to have wound infection (15.7 versus 3.2%, respectively; P=.001). In a retrospective survey of 14 patients with postpartum enterococcal bacteremias, four (29%) had a poor response to initial therapy.
Shape Matching Technique vs Bounding Volume Technique in 3D Object Picking

In this paper we present an analytical study to pick 3D objects based on their shape pointing device in a 3D environment. We adapt a 2D picking metaphor to 3D selection in 3D environments by changing the projection and view matrices according to the position and orientation of a pointing device and rendering a bounding volume to an off-screen pixel buffer. This makes it difficult for users to perform tasks that require them to select objects that have a small visible area, since small targets require high levels of precision. Both an analytical evaluation based on a 3D object picking and bounding volume technique demonstrate that progressive refinement selection can be better than shape matching technique. In this paper I focused the advantages of Shape matching technique over bounding volume technique in 3D object picking. The usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed evaluation measures are shown by reporting the performance evaluation of two techniques. We then compare the application of both techniques with related work to demonstrate that they are more suitable. These analytical studies provide distinct advantages in terms of ease of use and efficiency because they consider the tasks of object picking effective application-independent picking technique for various input devices.
Cutting Edge: CD83 Regulates the Development of Cellular Immunity1

We recently found that human CD83, a marker of mature dendritic cells, is an adhesion receptor that binds to resting monocytes and a subset of activated CD8+ T cells. We injected CD83-Ig into mice transplanted with the immunogenic P815 mastocytoma and showed that it significantly enhanced the rate of tumor growth and inhibited the development of cytotoxic T cells. In contrast, mice immunized with CD83-transfected K1735 cells, a poorly immunogenic melanoma, could prevent the outgrowth of wild-type K1735 cells. Studies performed in vitro with human PBL showed that coimmobilized CD83-Ig and anti-CD3 enhanced T cell proliferation and increased the proportion of CD8+ T cells. CD83-transfected B-lymphoblastoid T51 cells stimulated T cell proliferation more effectively than untransfected T51 cells in MLR cultures and increased the generation of cytolytic T cells. We conclude that CD83 is a functionally important receptor that can regulate the development of cellular immunity by interacting with its ligand(s).
Educational Resilience in African American Adolescents

Abstract:The purpose of this article was to examine factors within the school context that facilitates educational resilience among African American high school students. The authors expected academic self-esteem to be positively associated with future expectations (academic and general). They expected perceptions of school-based social support to have positive associations with achievement outcomes. They also investigated if there are gender differences in any of the variables. The participants were 206 African American adolescents (65.54% female) who resided in a large urban city in the south-central geographic area of the United States. Results supported the notion that educational resilience was associated with perceived school support, academic self-esteem and mother's work history. The results have implications for educators and other professionals who are interested in promoting educational resilience in high school students.
Association of Promoter Methylation of VGF and PGP9.5 with Ovarian Cancer Progression

Purpose To elucidate the role of biological and clinical impact of aberrant promoter hypermethylation (PH) in ovarian cancer (OC). Experimental Design PH of PGP9.5, HIC1, AIM1, APC, PAK3, MGMT, KIF1A, CCNA1, ESR1, SSBP2, GSTP1, FKBP4 and VGF were assessed by quantitative methylation specific PCR (QMSP) in a training set. We selected two genes (VGF and PGP9.5) for further QMSP analysis in a larger independent validation (IV) set with available clinical data. Biologic relevance of VGF gene was also evaluated. Results PH frequency for PGP9.5 and VGF were 85% (316/372) and 43% (158/366) respectively in the IV set of samples while no PH was observed in controls. In 372 OC cases with available follow up, PGP9.5 and VGF PH were correlated with better patient survival [Hazard Ratios (HR) for overall survival (OS) were 0.59 (95% Confidence Intervals (CI) = 0.42–0.84, p = 0.004), and 0.73 (95%CI = 0.55–0.97, p = 0.028) respectively, and for disease specific survival (DSS) were 0.57 (95%CI 0.39–0.82, p = 0.003) and 0.72 (95%CI 0.54–0.96, p = 0.027). In multivariate analysis, VGF PH remained an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR 0.61, 95%CI 0.43–0.86, p<0.005) and DSS (HR 0.58, 95%CI 0.41–0.83, p<0.003). Furthermore, PGP9.5 PH was significantly correlated with lower grade, early stage tumors, and with absence of residual disease. Forced expression of VGF in OC cell lines inhibited cell growth. Conclusions Our results indicate that VGF and PGP9.5 PH are potential biomarkers for ovarian carcinoma. Confirmatory cohorts with longitudinal follow-up are required in future studies to define the clinical impact of VGF and PGP9.5 PH before clinical application.
EFFECTS OF TRUST AND PERCEIVED RISK ON USER ACCEPTANCE OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY SERVICE

We explored the precise impacts of trust and perceived risk on the core constructs of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). We applied the UTAUT model to the novel context of the Certified e-Document Authority (CeDA) service used in the Republic of Korea. Our results from structural equation modeling largely supported our hypotheses. Trust and perceived risk were shown to be direct antecedents of intention to use, and trust functioned as an indirect antecedent. Performance expectancy and social influence were shown to positively affect behavioral intention. Effort expectancy was also shown to influence performance expectancy. The combination of trust, perceived risk, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence accounted for 55.3% of the variance observed in users’ intention to use CeDA services.
Self-awareness after acquired and traumatic brain injury

Self-awareness deficits are common after acquired and (traumatic) brain injury (ABI), particularly in social behaviour, yet the underlying cognitive and neuroanatomical structures supporting social self-awareness are not fully understood. This paper reviews the current literature on prevalence, type and severity of self-awareness deficits in ABI. Neuropsychological and neuroanatomical models are reviewed and theoretical frameworks are examined. We summarise results of a case-control comparison of 20 ABI patients with and 20 ABI patients without behavioural disturbance. Our research found that lack of social self-awareness predicts behavioural disturbance in acquired and traumatic brain injury independent of cognitive and executive function. Theory of mind ability was related to self-awareness and a possible role for metacognition and affective processes in self-awareness is discussed to account for social self-awareness deficits.
Unsupervised Processing of Vehicle Appearance for Automatic Understanding in Traffic Surveillance

This paper deals with unsupervised collection of information from traffic surveillance video streams. Deployment of usable traffic surveillance systems requires minimizing of efforts per installed camera - our goal is to enroll a new view on the street without any human operator input. We propose a method of automatically collecting vehicle samples from surveillance cameras, analyze their appearance and fully automatically collect a fine-grained dataset. This dataset can be used in multiple ways, we are explicitly showcasing the following ones: fine-grained recognition of vehicles and camera calibration including the scale. The experiments show that based on the automatically collected data, make&model vehicle recognition in the wild can be done accurately: average precision 0.890. The camera scale calibration (directly enabling automatic speed and size measurement) is twice as precise as the previous existing method. Our work leads to automatic collection of traffic statistics without the costly need for manual calibration or make&model annotation of vehicle samples. Unlike most previous approaches, our method is not limited to a small range of viewpoints (such as eye-level cameras shots), which is crucial for surveillance applications.
Trending Topic Detection during Pandemic (Covid- 19) In Indonesian Tweets Using the Document Pivot (Doc-p) Method and BN-grams

People are providing a variety of information about the coronavirus outbreak, including the needs of affected communities and the location of the outbreak. Such information can be used as one of the resources to map the coronavirus outbreak events and the needs of affected people in Indonesia. However, the information obtained from social media has an informal structure and has low reliability as an information provider. Unstructured social media data makes it difficult to identify information related to trending topics, especially related to the coronavirus outbreak. Therefore, in this study, we used Document Pivot (Doc-p) and BN-grams (January to May 2020) methods to detect trending topics in Indonesian tweets. In our experiments, we investigate the impact of different topic numbers and master data on the quality of the resulting trending topics. We measure the accuracy of detecting trending topics by comparing both methods to trending topics found in local news and Twitter. Our experimental results show that using 10 topics yields the highest topic recall. Trending topics generated by BN-grams have the highest topic recall values. Stemming also reduces the quality of the resulting trending topics. The topic recall values of Doc-p and BN-gram from the four datasets are 75% and 50%, respectively. Overall, Doc-p has higher topic recall compared to his BN-gram because, unlike BN-gram, the dataset is used without stemming.
An adaptive communication system for heterogeneous network computing

In this paper, we present an architecture of an AdaptiveCommunication System (ACS) that provides applicationswith programmable communication, control, andmanagement services that can be adopted dynamicallyto maximize application performance at runtime. ACSsupports adaptive and scalable communication servicesthat select the appropriate multicast/broadcast algorithmsfor a given class of applications. These algorithms takeinto consideration both the application requirements andthe load of computing and communication systems.We overview the ACS architecture and then describe ourapproach to implement the ACS group communication services.We introduce two procedures (Resource Aware procedureand Application Aware procedure) to build the appropriatemulticast tree that takes into consideration both thecharacteristics and load conditions of machines as well asthe group communication patterns of a given application.We develop analytical techniques and new metric measuresto characterize and quantify the performance of a multicasttree. We also present our preliminary performance resultsthat show significant performance gain can be achievedfrom using ACS multicast algorithms.
A GA-Based Multiresolution Feature Selection for Ultrasonic Liver Tissue Characterization

This work describes the feasibility of multiresolution feature selection and its application to classify ultrasonic liver images. The proposed approach uses genetic algorithm and defines a novel fitness function for medical applications since the diagnosis correctness is the most important consideration. Via the measurement of class seperability, we can uniquely select the feature vector. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested by using five different classifiers. From the experimental results, the proposed approach is trustworthy.
Work problems after breast cancer: an exploratory qualitative study

People treated for cancer have reported a variety of problems at work. However, there is little data on work experience after breast cancer, particularly for women treated in recent years. This exploratory qualitative study was conducted among 13 breast cancer survivors who had paid employment at diagnosis, returned to work afterwards, and mentioned work‐related problems to a clinic nurse or physician. Unstructured, thematic interviews were undertaken. Qualitative thematic content analysis was conducted to identify and group themes which emerged from participants’ discourse. Women in various types of jobs reported experiencing job loss, demotion, unwanted changes in tasks, problems with the employer and co‐workers, personal changes in attitudes to work and diminished physical capacity. These work problems also preoccupied people treated for cancer more than two decades ago. New areas of concern also emerged: possible positive and negative effects of learning (implicitly or explicitly) about the diagnosis while at work and lack of discussion with health professionals about work and return‐to‐work issues, suggesting that health professionals’ behaviour may influence women's work experience right from diagnosis. The identification of these new problems and confirmation of previously reported ones underlines the pertinence of determining how important and widespread these problems are in women now being treated for breast cancer. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Relational Syntax-SemanticsInterface Basedon DependencyGrammar

We proposea syntax-semanticsinterface that realisesthemappingbetweensyntaxandsemanticsas a relationanddoesnot make functionalityassumptions in eitherdirection.This interfaceis statedin termsof ExtensibleDependenc y Grammar(XDG), a grammarformalismwe newly specify. XDG’s constraint-basedparsersupportsthe concurrentflow of information betweenany two levels of linguistic representation, even whenonly partial analyses areavailable.Thisgeneralisestheconceptof underspecification.