Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Backward Projections in the Cerebral Cortex: Implications for Memory Storage

Cortical areas are characterized by forward and backward connections between adjacent cortical areas in a processing stream. Within each area there are recurrent collateral connections between the pyramidal cells. We analyze the properties of this architecture for memory storage and processing. Hebb-like synaptic modifiability in the connections and attractor states are incorporated. We show the following: (1) The number of memories that can be stored in the connected modules is of the same order of magnitude as the number that can be stored in any one module using the recurrent collateral connections, and is proportional to the number of effective connections per neuron. (2) Cooperation between modules leads to a small increase in memory capacity. (3) Cooperation can also help retrieval in a module that is cued with a noisy or incomplete pattern. (4) If the connection strength between modules is strong, then global memory states that reflect the pairs of patterns on which the modules were trained together are found. (5) If the intermodule connection strengths are weaker, then separate, local memory states can exist in each module. (6) The boundaries between the global and local retrieval states, and the nonretrieval state, are delimited. All of these properties are analyzed quantitatively with the techniques of statistical physics.
University of São Paulo “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture” Ozone technology as an alternative for reducing mycotoxin contamination in wheat products

Ozone technology as an alternative for reducing mycotoxin contamination in wheat products The objective of this study was to evaluate the reduction on the levels of mycotoxins in wheat products and by-products: deoxynivalenol (DON) in whole wheat flour, wheat bran and the efluent from wet milling of wheat flour, and zearalenone (ZEN) in wheat bran. Firstly, the reduction of DON contamination was studied on whole wheat flour, naturaly contaminated, and considering different moisture levels, as well as in wet milling effluent of wheat flour. Further, the impact of the ozonation process on the rheological properties of the processed flour was evaluated. Secondly, the wheat bran naturally co-contaminated with DON and ZEN was studied, considering the degradation of both mycotoxins and the impact of the ozonation process on the bran phenolic compound content and on the antioxidant capacity. The DON degradation in the whole wheat flour increased with both processing time and moisture content. By changing these process parameters, it was possible to obtain products in accordance with the legal limits of Brazil and the European Union, even starting with concentration 2-4 times higher than the legal limits. However, the rheological properties of the whole wheat flour were affected by the process, probably due to protein modifications. The DON concentration on the wet milling effluent was linearly reduced by the ozonation. In wheat bran naturally contaminated and in its equilibrium moisture, the ozonation reduced both DON and ZEN contamination. The degradation of ZEN was higher and faster than the degradation of DON, which could be explained by their molecular structures. It was also observed that the ozonation process did not negatively affect the phenolic compounds and the antioxidant capacity, which is high desirable from a nutritional point of view. Consequently, this work concludes that the ozonation process was effective in reducing DON and ZEN in different wheat products and efluent. It is noteworthy that the results obtained are promising for future studies and to elucidate the mechanism of action of ozone on mycotoxins and constituents of food.
‘Shock and Awe’: A critique of the Ghana-centric child trafficking discourse

This paper is a critique of the dominant anti-trafficking discourse and activism in Ghana. The paper argues that the discourse grossly underplays the role played by external forces in shaping the conditions underpinning children’s labour mobility in the past and the hardships underpinning the phenomenon today. In place of critical analysis and understanding, anti-child-trafficking campaigns employ melodramatic ‘shock and awe’ tactics and a tendency to blame local culture or traditions for activists’ claims of ‘pervasive’ child trafficking in the country. The paper suggests that dominant anti-trafficking discourse and activism in Ghana thus reinvigorate historic and persistent external causal agents of inequality which drive Ghanaian children’s labour mobility today. The paper demonstrates this problem and offers correctives to it.
Modeling the Static Software Architecture in AADL

Abstraction and encapsulation are two principles that have been introduced to manage the complexity ofion and encapsulation are two principles that have been introduced to manage the complexity of software systems through modular design. They have manifested themselves in the concept of classes and methods to support data abstraction, in the concept of package to support organization of the design space, and the concept of component to support structuring the system architecture. AADL has been developed as architecture modeling language for embedded software systems. As such it focuses on modeling the runtime architecture, i.e., the dynamics of the operational system and its non-functional quality attributes, such as performance and safety. In this note we discuss how AADL supports modular design of software in a hierarchical fashion, its organization into libraries, and constraints on the architecture structure.
Nutrient recovery by struvite precipitation, ion exchange and adsorption from source-separated human urine – a review

ABSTRACT The control of nutrients is a priority issue to protect drinking water resources as well as other water bodies. Although this control can be ensured through well designed joint treatment systems in cities, its application in rural areas is not as technically feasible. Therefore, the concept of decentralized treatment and source separation of domestic wastewater has been developed as a result of this requirement. This concept includes, not only control of nutrients, but also recovery and reuse of nutrients mainly for agricultural purposes. Among the source-separated fractions of domestic wastewaters, human urine or yellow water is of importance since it collects a significant part of all nutrients in a small volume. Therefore, studies have been focused on nutrient recovery from source separated human urine. This review evaluates the present state of urine treatment and resource recovery using struvite precipitation, ion exchange with zeolites and adsorption processes. The evaluation of these processes has been made by considering their theoretical bases, operational parameters, efficiencies, advantages and disadvantages. Coupling of these treatment and recovery processes with newly developed technologies such as electrochemical and biological means were considered. The impact of the use of these technologies on the environment was also evaluated. Further need of research for all processes has also been assessed and emphasized. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
A co-evolutionary arms race: trypanosomes shaping the human genome, humans shaping the trypanosome genome

SUMMARY Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of African sleeping sickness in humans and one of several pathogens that cause the related veterinary disease Nagana. A complex co-evolution has occurred between these parasites and primates that led to the emergence of trypanosome-specific defences and counter-measures. The first line of defence in humans and several other catarrhine primates is the trypanolytic protein apolipoprotein-L1 (APOL1) found within two serum protein complexes, trypanosome lytic factor 1 and 2 (TLF-1 and TLF-2). Two sub-species of T. brucei have evolved specific mechanisms to overcome this innate resistance, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. In T. b. rhodesiense, the presence of the serum resistance associated (SRA) gene, a truncated variable surface glycoprotein (VSG), is sufficient to confer resistance to lysis. The resistance mechanism of T. b. gambiense is more complex, involving multiple components: reduction in binding affinity of a receptor for TLF, increased cysteine protease activity and the presence of the truncated VSG, T. b. gambiense-specific glycoprotein (TgsGP). In a striking example of co-evolution, evidence is emerging that primates are responding to challenge by T. b. gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense, with several populations of humans and primates displaying resistance to infection by these two sub-species.
Test pattern generation and partial-scan methodology for an asynchronous SoC interconnect

Asynchronous design offers a solution to the interconnect problems faced by system-on-chip (SoC) designers, but their adoption has been held back by a lack of methodology and support for post-fabrication testing. This paper first addresses the problem of testing C-elements, an important building block of asynchronous circuits. A simple method for generating test patterns is described which is shown to be applicable for a wide range of implementations. Based on the C-element testability, a partial scan technique was developed that achieves a test coverage of over 99.5% when applied to an asynchronous, network-on-chip, interconnect fabric. Test patterns are automatically generated by a custom program, given the interconnect topology. Area savings of at least 60% are noted, in comparison to standard, asynchronous, full-scan level-sensitive scan devices (LSSD) methods.
Blockade of Thrombospondin-1-CD47 Interactions Prevents Necrosis of Full Thickness Skin Grafts

Background:Skin graft survival and healing requires rapid restoration of blood flow to the avascular graft. Failure or delay in the process of graft vascularization is a significant source of morbidity and mortality. One of the primary regulators of blood flow and vessel growth is nitric oxide (NO). The secreted protein thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) limits NO-stimulated blood flow and growth and composite tissue survival to ischemia. We herein demonstrate a role for TSP1 in regulating full thickness skin graft (FTSG) survival. Methods and Results:FTSG consistently fail in wild type C57BL/6 mice but survive in mice lacking TSP1 or its receptor CD47. Ablation of the TSP1 receptor CD36, however, did not improve FTSG survival. Remarkably, wild type FTSG survived on TSP1 null or CD47 null mice, indicating that TSP1 expression in the wound bed is the primary determinant of graft survival. FTSG survival in wild type mice could be moderately improved by increasing NO flux, but graft survival was increased significantly through antibody blocking of TSP1 binding to CD47 or antisense morpholino oligonucleotide suppression of CD47. Conclusions:TSP1 through CD47 limits skin graft survival. Blocking TSP1 binding or suppressing CD47 expression drastically increases graft survival. The therapeutic applications of this approach could include burn patients and the broader group of people requiring grafts or tissue flaps for closure and reconstruction of complex wounds of diverse etiologies.
An Assessment of Simulated Compact Polarimetric SAR Data for Wetland Classification Using Random Forest Algorithm

ABSTRACT Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) compact polarimetry (CP) systems are of great interest for large area monitoring because of their ability to acquire data in a wider swath compared to full polarimetry (FP) systems and a significant improvement in information content compared to single or dual polarimetry (DP) sensors. In this study, we compared the potential of DP, FP, and CP SAR data for wetland classification in a case study located in Newfoundland, Canada. The DP and CP data were simulated using full polarimetric RADARSAT-2 data. We compared the classification results for different input features using an object-based random forest classification. The results demonstrated the superiority of FP imagery relative to both DP and CP data. However, CP indicated significant improvements in classification accuracy compared to DP data. An overall classification accuracy of approximately 76% and 84% was achieved with the inclusion of all polarimetric features extracted from CP and FP data, respectively. In summary, although full polarimetric SAR data provide the best classification accuracy, the results demonstrate the potential of RADARSAT Constellation Mission for mapping wetlands in a large landscape.
On the Role of Defect Taxonomy Types for Testing Requirements: Results of a Controlled Experiment

Context: The use of defect taxonomies and their assignment to requirements can improve system-level testing of requirements. Experiences from industrial applications indicate that the type of the underlying top-level defect categories constitutes the main influence factor for defining defect taxonomies. Objective: The objective addressed in this paper is to investigate the influence of the type of top-level defect categories on the quality of the created defect taxonomy, on the quality of the assignment of requirements to defect categories as well as the quality of designed test cases. Method: We conducted a controlled student experiment to determine the influence of two different types of top-level defect categories, i.e., Generic and web application specific, on the quality of the created defect taxonomy, their assignment to requirements and the derived test cases. Results: The results indicate an influence of the type of the top-level defect categories on the quality of the derived defect taxonomy but no influence on the quality of the assignment of requirements to defect categories and the quality of the designed test cases. Contribution: The main contributions of this paper is the empirical investigation of the role of the type of top-level defect taxonomies themselves for testing requirements and the consequences of the results for industrial application.
Adaptive control of a diffusion to a goal and a parabolic Monge–Ampère-type equation

We study the following adaptive stochastic control problem: to maximize the probability ~P[X(T) = 1] of reaching the "goal" x = 1 during the finite time-horizon [0,T], over "control" processes 7r(-) which are adapted to the natural filtration of the "observation" process Y(t) = W(t) + Bt, 0 < t < T and satisfy almost surely /^ 7r{t)dt < 00 and 0 < X{t) = x + Jj 7r(s)dY(s) < 1,V0 < t < T. Here W(') is standard Brownian motion, and B is an independent random variable with known distribution ^. The case B = b ^ 0 of this problem was studied by Kulldorff (1993). Modifying a martingale method due to Heath (1993), we find an optimal control process 7r(-) for the general case of this problem, and solve explicitly for its value and for the associated HamiltonJacobi-Bellman equation of Dynamic Programming. This reduces to 2QxxQs = QxxQyy ~ Qxyi ai1 apparently novel parabolic-Monge-Ampere-type equation.
Treating lysosomal storage diseases with pharmacological chaperones: from concept to clinics

Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are a group of genetic disorders due to defects in any aspect of lysosomal biology. During the past two decades, different approaches have been introduced for the treatment of these conditions. Among them, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) represented a major advance and is used successfully in the treatment of some of these disorders. However, ERT has limitations such as insufficient biodistribution of recombinant enzymes and high costs. An emerging strategy for the treatment of LSDs is pharmacological chaperone therapy (PCT), based on the use of chaperone molecules that assist the folding of mutated enzymes and improve their stability and lysosomal trafficking. After proof‐of‐concept studies, PCT is now being translated into clinical applications for Fabry, Gaucher and Pompe disease. This approach, however, can only be applied to patients carrying chaperone‐responsive mutations. The recent demonstration of a synergistic effect of chaperones and ERT expands the applications of PCT and prompts a re‐evaluation of their therapeutic use and potential. This review discusses the strengths and drawbacks of the potential therapies available for LSDs and proposes that future research should be directed towards the development of treatment protocols based on the combination of different therapies to improve the clinical outcome of LSD patients.
Benthic communities at high-Arctic cold seeps: Faunal response to methane seepage in Svalbard

Article III and Article IV should not by today's date be publicly available in Munin. Article III is unpublished material intended for a scientific peer review journal. In order to not take away any novelty of the scientific content, this can be available after peer review publishing. Article IV are not open access and has an embargo of 5 years from published date. It can be published in the printed version of the thesis, however not appear online. A pre-print version of this article is already made available in Munin and can be used instead of the original published version that comes with this thesis.
Bayesian inverse analysis of neuromagnetic data using cortically constrained multiple dipoles

A recently introduced Bayesian model for magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data consistently localized multiple simulated dipoles with the help of marginalization of spatiotemporal background noise covariance structure in the analysis [Jun et al., ( 2005 ): Neuroimage 28:84–98]. Here, we elaborated this model to include subject's individual brain surface reconstructions with cortical location and orientation constraints. To enable efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling of the dipole locations, we adopted a parametrization of the source space surfaces with two continuous variables (i.e., spherical angle coordinates). Prior to analysis, we simplified the likelihood by exploiting only a small set of independent measurement combinations obtained by singular value decomposition of the gain matrix, which also makes the sampler significantly faster. We analyzed both realistically simulated and empirical MEG data recorded during simple auditory and visual stimulation. The results show that our model produces reasonable solutions and adequate data fits without much manual interaction. However, the rigid cortical constraints seemed to make the utilized scheme challenging as the sampler did not switch modes of the dipoles efficiently. This is problematic in the presence of evidently highly multimodal posterior distribution, and especially in the relative quantitative comparison of the different modes. To overcome the difficulties with the present model, we propose the use of loose orientation constraints and combined model of prelocalization utilizing the hierarchical minimum‐norm estimate and multiple dipole sampling scheme. Hum Brain Mapp 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Regional Variation in the Refractive-Index of the Bovine and Human Cornea

Purpose. Given the refractive importance of the human cornea, surprisingly little attention has been directed to the study of local variation in corneal refractive-index. This in vitro and in vivo study measures the refractive-index of different portions of the bovine and human cornea. Methods. Fifty fresh bovine corneas (obtained from an abattoir) and 10 human subjects were used for the study. The refractive-index of the central, nasal, and temporal corneal epithelium was measured with a bench-top Abbe refractometer in the case of bovine corneas and with a hand-held refractometer with humans. Results. The mean (±standard deviation) refractive-indices of the central, nasal, and temporal bovine corneal epithelium were 1.3760 (±0.003), 1.3757 (±0.002), and 1.3746 (±0.002), respectively. Refractive-indices of the anterior and posterior bovine corneal stroma were 1.3731 (±0.002) and 1.3708 (±0.004), respectively. The mean (±standard deviation) refractive-index in the central, nasal, and temporal periphery of the human cornea epithelium were 1.3970 (±0.001), 1.3946 (±0.001), and 1.3940 (±0.001), respectively. Conclusion. There are small local differences in the refractive-index of the bovine and human corneal epithelium and the refractive-index of the epithelium is higher than that of the anterior and posterior stroma of the bovine cornea.
Project Aura: Toward Distraction-Free Pervasive Computing

The most precious resource in a computer system is no longer its processor, memory, disk, or network, but rather human attention. Aura aims to minimize distractions on a user's attention, creating an environment that adapts to the user's context and needs. Aura is specifically intended for pervasive computing environments involving wireless communication, wearable or handheld computers, and smart spaces. Human attention is an especially scarce resource in such environments, because the user is often preoccupied with walking, driving, or other real-world interactions. In addition, mobile computing poses difficult challenges such as intermittent and variable-bandwidth connectivity, concern for battery life, and the client resource constraints that weight and size considerations impose. To accomplish its ambitious goals, research in Aura spans every system level: from the hardware, through the operating system, to applications and end users. Underlying this diversity of concerns, Aura applies two broad concepts. First, it uses proactivity, which is a system layer's ability to anticipate requests from a higher layer. In today's systems, each layer merely reacts to the layer above it. Second, Aura is self-tuning: layers adapt by observing the demands made on them and adjusting their performance and resource usage characteristics accordingly. Currently, system-layer behavior is relatively static. Both of these techniques will help lower demand for human attention.
Online Retailers' Strategies to Survive in Homogeneous Product Market: An Exploratory Analysis

The shakeup in e-commerce gives us an opportunity to reevaluate the effectiveness of various business strategies in this electronic revolution. This study investigates the strategies adopted by 125 online retailers in the PDA market during the period between July 2001 and December 2002, including economies of scale, developing first-mover or multichannel advantages, branding, offering value-added services, being a loss leader, and going public. Results of logistic regression show that branding, multichannel operation, and offering value-added services give retailers sustainable competitive advantages in the electronic market. Findings from cluster analysis reveal that online retailers who offer customers superior value enjoy a price premium and are more likely to survive competition. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.