Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Brain as a Crystal Ball: The Predictive Potential of Default Mode Network

The Danish Nobel Prize Niels Bohr once stated that “making a prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” (Ellis, 1970). The exact and original source of this quotation is still a matter of debate: someone argues that it is an old Danish proverb that Bohr was fond of quoting, others think that this is probably a sentence pronounced by a member of the Danish parliament or perhaps first said by the Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen. Something is rotten in this Danish quote; however, it could be reasonable to agree with the content of the quote itself. Making predictions, one of the basic desires of mankind, is very difficult. Predictions are pillars of scientific method, and, from an epistemological point of view, the holy grail of every scientists should be designing a theory capable of generate predictions on all the possible consequences deriving from the theory itself, with each of them being testable and potentially falsifiable (Popper, 1959). More realistically, some researchers succeed in making, at least, some working hypotheses. However, something is changing. We currently know that when an individual is awake and alert and not actively engaged in attention-demanding tasks, organized neural activity is present in a set of brain regions called default mode network (DMN; Raichle et al., 2001). This network involves densely interconnected pivotal structures, such as the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), the precuneus, and parts of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and its activity is suspended during specific goal-directed behaviors (Sandrone and Bacigaluppi, 2012). DMN activity have been investigated across the whole range of life cycle, from the emergence in 2-day-old newborn (Gao et al., 2009) to its disappearance in dead brain patients (Boly et al., 2009), through its evolution in both healthy and pathological conditions, where DMN show inter-individual differences, abnormalities, and disruptions (for a review see Power et al., 2010). Interestingly, recent evidence on these DMN differences, abnormalities, and disruptions in both connectivity and activity coming from different neuroscientific domains can account for an emerging concept that we named the “predictive value” or “predictive potential” of DMN (Sandrone and Bacigaluppi, 2012). In fact, it is seems that DMN can be used as predictive behavioral markers and as clinical diagnostic tools, thus making the brain a sort of crystal ball. These predictions are highly heterogeneous and the current evidence are scattered between several neuroscientific domains: they range from neurological to psychiatric conditions, and mix up behavioral phenotypes and neuropsychological evidence, in an intriguing parallelism between connectivity and activity.
Prophetic Ministry Today

In a recent study, ministry has been described in four basic forms: priestly, pastoral, governance, and prophetic. ' This was the Danforth Study of Campus Ministries, designed to bring together the resources of the university, the church, and the community with a view to a more humane society. The findings have relevance for the church as a whole and not just for the campus ministries out of which the study grew.
Building synergistic EDP teams

A team is termed “synergistic” when the members working together are able to achieve results significantly beyond what could be expected from the same team members working relatively independently. Unfortunately, placing several employees into a work group and calling them a team does not necessarily result in the desired synergy. On the contrary, a team can function so ineffectively as to actually reduce the potential output of various individual members. Therefore, it is not surprising that Powers and Dickson (1973) found no direct relationship between MIS project success and such elements as the systems experience of project personnel or the utilization of a project team composed of MIS staff and user personnel. To achieve a synergistic effect, teams must be carefully built and developed through the assistance of EDP management. This paper draws on the literature related to group behavior, decision making, and organizational structure to identify a number of factors which affect the ability of EDP teams to achieve synergistic effects. Two types of factors are discussed: (1) structural factors and (2) process factors. Structural factors focus on the basic parameters within which the team operates and include team size, appropriate choices of technical expertise, resource allocation, and reward systems. Process factors relate to the ongoing operations and interrelationships of the team and include such elements as interpersonal skills, modes of conflict resultion, and team leadership. Failure of EDP management to concern itself with the structural and process factors of teams could doom the team concept in situations where, with proper attention to team building, a team could deliver the best results.
Comparing kernel-space and user-space communication protocols on Amoeba

Most distributed systems contain protocols for reliable communication, which are implemented either in the microkernel or in user space. In the latter case, the microkernel provides only low-level, unreliable primitives and the higher-level protocols are implemented as a library in user space. This approach is more flexible but potentially less efficient. We study the impact on performance of this choice for RPC and group communication protocols on Amoeba. An important goal in this paper is to look at overall system performance. For this purpose, we use several (communication-intensive) parallel applications written in Orca. We look at two implementations of Orca on Amoeba, one using Amoeba's kernel-space protocols and one using user-space protocols built on top of Amoeba's low-level FLIP protocol. The results show that comparable performance can be obtained with user-space protocols.
Palatable Hyper-Caloric Foods Impact on Neuronal Plasticity

Neural plasticity is an intrinsic and essential characteristic of the nervous system that allows animals “self-tuning” to adapt to their environment over their lifetime. Activity-dependent synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system is a form of neural plasticity that underlies learning and memory formation, as well as long-lasting, environmentally-induced maladaptive behaviors, such as drug addiction and overeating of palatable hyper-caloric (PHc) food. In western societies, the abundance of PHc foods has caused a dramatic increase in the incidence of overweight/obesity and related disorders. To this regard, it has been suggested that increased adiposity may be caused at least in part by behavioral changes in the affected individuals that are induced by the chronic consumption of PHc foods; some authors have even drawn attention to the similarity that exists between over-indulgent eating and drug addiction. Long-term misuse of certain dietary components has also been linked to chronic neuroimmune maladaptation that may predispose individuals to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. In this review article, we discuss recent evidence that shows how consumption of PHc food can cause maladaptive neural plasticity that converts short-term ingestive drives into compulsive behaviors. We also discuss the neural mechanisms of how chronic consumption of PHc foods may alter brain function and lead to cognitive impairments, focusing on prenatal, childhood and adolescence as vulnerable neurodevelopmental stages to dietary environmental insults. Finally, we outline a societal agenda for harnessing permissive obesogenic environments.
Contributing Factors That Affect the Achievement of African-American Females Taught by Caucasian Teachers on the Arkansas Literacy Exam: A Case Study

This qualitative intrinsic case study was designed to assist Caucasian educators with the researched academic skills and behaviors to engage African-American females in the learning environment. The study provided strategies and recommendations to promote self-worth, selfmotivation, self-efficacy, and morale in African-American females when they did not perform as well as or higher than their Caucasian peers in a high school English classroom on the state literacy examination instructed by a Caucasian teacher. The research site was a low socioeconomic urban high school with a majority of minorities with several native based home languages. The study took an in-depth approach to find the contributing factors that cause African-American females to score ‘Advanced’ at a much lower rate compared to their Caucasian peers under the instruction of Caucasian English teachers initiated by the interest of researcher, an African-American female. Data collection of the methodological process included interviews from educators, collection of artifacts and documents, and classroom observations. The data were analyzed through open coding, axial coding, and triangulation (audit trail) to produce selective codes from themes and categories. Six theories emerged from selective codes as findings: Training, social behaviors, learning behaviors, changing expectations, curriculum resources, and literacy skills. Policy, methodology, and validity directed the study. In belief, the findings of the results will give insight to African-American parents, teachers, principal, superintendent, the school board, community, legislatures, and testing companies in regards of the need to include culture.
Evaluation of processed bovine cancellous bone matrix seeded with syngenic osteoblasts in a critical size calvarial defect rat model

Introduction: Biologic bone substitutes may offer alternatives to bone grafting procedures. The aim of this study was to evaluate a preformed bone substitute based on processed bovine cancellous bone (PBCB) with or without osteogenic cells in a critical size calvarial defect rat model. Methods: Discs of PBCB (Tutobone®) were seeded with second passage fibrin gel‐immobilized syngenic osteoblasts (group A, n = 40). Cell‐free matrices (group B, n = 28) and untreated defects (group C; n=28) served as controls. Specimens were explanted between day 0 and 4 months after implantation and were subjected to histological and morphometric evaluation. Results: At 1 month, bone formation was limited to small peripheral areas. At 2 and 4 months, significant bone formation, matrix resorption as well as integration of the implants was evident in groups A and B. In group C no significant regeneration of the defects was observed. Morphometric analysis did not disclose differences in bone formation in matrices from groups A and B. Carboxyfluorescine‐Diacetate‐Succinimidylester (CFDA) labeling demonstrated low survival rates of transplanted cells. Discussion: Osteoblasts seeded into PBCB matrix display a differentiated phenotype following a 14 days cell culture period. Lack of initial vascularization may explain the absence of added osteogenicity in constructs from group A in comparison to group B. PBCB is well integrated and represents even without osteogenic cells a promising biomaterial for reconstruction of critical size calvarial bone defects.
Dual function of Rpn5 in two PCI complexes, the 26S proteasome and COP9 signalosome

Functional redundancy of Rpn5 in budding yeast allows its participation and function in two distinct but structurally related PCI complexes: the proteasome lid and the CSN. As a lid subunit, Rpn5 stabilizes proteasome integrity; as a CSN subunit, Rpn5 is required for enzymatic hydrolysis of Rub1/Nedd8 from cullins.
Culmination of Low-Dose Pesticide Effects

Pesticides applied in agriculture can affect the structure and function of nontarget populations at lower doses and for longer timespans than predicted by the current risk assessment frameworks. We identified a mechanism for this observation. The populations of an aquatic invertebrate (Culex pipiens) exposed over several generations to repeated pulses of low concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide (thiacloprid) continuously declined and did not recover in the presence of a less sensitive competing species (Daphnia magna). By contrast, in the absence of a competitor, insecticide effects on the more sensitive species were only observed at concentrations 1 order of magnitude higher, and the species recovered more rapidly after a contamination event. The underlying processes are experimentally identified and reconstructed using a simulation model. We conclude that repeated toxicant pulse of populations that are challenged with interspecific competition may result in a multigenerational culmination of low-dose effects.
Model-based approaches to synthesize microarray data: a unifying review using mixture of SEMs

Several statistical methods are nowadays available for the analysis of gene expression data recorded through microarray technology. In this article, we take a closer look at several Gaussian mixture models which have recently been proposed to model gene expression data. It can be shown that these are special cases of a more general model, called the mixture of structural equation models (mixture of SEMs), which has been developed in psychometrics. This model combines mixture modelling and SEMs by assuming that component-specific means and variances are subject to a SEM. The connection with SEM is useful for at least two reasons: (1) it shows the basic assumptions of existing methods more explicitly and (2) it helps in straightforward development of alternative mixture models for gene expression data with alternative mean/covariance structures. Different specifications of mixture of SEMs for clustering gene expression data are illustrated using two benchmark datasets.
Microbial diversity and iron oxidation at Okuoku‐hachikurou Onsen, a Japanese hot spring analog of Precambrian iron formations

Banded iron formations (BIFs) are rock deposits common in the Archean and Paleoproterozoic (and regionally Neoproterozoic) sedimentary successions. Multiple hypotheses for their deposition exist, principally invoking the precipitation of iron via the metabolic activities of oxygenic, photoferrotrophic, and/or aerobic iron‐oxidizing bacteria. Some isolated environments support chemistry and mineralogy analogous to processes involved in BIF deposition, and their study can aid in untangling the factors that lead to iron precipitation. One such process analog system occurs at Okuoku‐hachikurou (OHK) Onsen in Akita Prefecture, Japan. OHK is an iron‐ and CO2‐rich, circumneutral hot spring that produces a range of precipitated mineral textures containing fine laminae of aragonite and iron oxides that resemble BIF fabrics. Here, we have performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of microbial communities across the range of microenvironments in OHK to describe the microbial diversity present and to gain insight into the cycling of iron, oxygen, and carbon in this ecosystem. These analyses suggest that productivity at OHK is based on aerobic iron‐oxidizing Gallionellaceae. In contrast to other BIF analog sites, Cyanobacteria, anoxygenic phototrophs, and iron‐reducing micro‐organisms are present at only low abundances. These observations support a hypothesis where low growth yields and the high stoichiometry of iron oxidized per carbon fixed by aerobic iron‐oxidizing chemoautotrophs like Gallionellaceae result in accumulation of iron oxide phases without stoichiometric buildup of organic matter. This system supports little dissimilatory iron reduction, further setting OHK apart from other process analog sites where iron oxidation is primarily driven by phototrophic organisms. This positions OHK as a study area where the controls on primary productivity in iron‐rich environments can be further elucidated. When compared with geological data, the metabolisms and mineralogy at OHK are most similar to specific BIF occurrences deposited after the Great Oxygenation Event, and generally discordant with those that accumulated before it.
Digital libraries and knowledge disaggregation: the use of journal article components

A scientific journal article is comprised of standard components, such as author names, an abstract, figures, a bibliography, and sections describing methods and results. With the creation of digital documents and new tools for manipulating them comes the ability to facilitate the disaggregation of journal articles into separate components. This paper describes how article components are identified, mobilized, and used by students and faculty members, based on the preliminary analysis of data collected through focus groups, workplace interviews, transaction logging, and usability testing associated with the University of Illinois Digital Libraries Initiative project. The paper presents a schema of component use purposes, discusses the intellectual and physical processes of component use, identifies several issues and implications for digital library design, and highlights the need for multiple methods in studying document disaggregation.
The Supreme Court and Antitrust Analysis: The (Near) Triumph of the Chicago School

Since the Sherman Act was passed in 1890,' the Supreme Court has struggled to find an appropriate analytical and methodological framework for applying the federal antitrust laws. For a while, it appeared as if the Court might succeed. In a series of six cases since 1975,2 the Court seemed to be moving toward a comprehensive, integrated antitrust methodology based on economic analysis and largely following the writing of Chicago school scholars such as Robert Bork3 and Richard Posner.4 Last Term, however, in Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society,5 the Court missed a
Changes in the sensitivity of GABAA current rundown to drug treatments in a model of temporal lobe epilepsy

The pharmacological treatment of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), the most common epileptic syndrome in adults, is still unsatisfactory, as one-third of the patients are or become refractory to antiepileptic agents. Refractoriness may depend upon drug-induced alterations, but the disease per se may also undergo a progressive evolution that affects the sensitivity to drugs. mTLE has been shown to be associated with a dysfunction of the inhibitory signaling mediated by GABAA receptors. In particular, the repetitive activation of GABAA receptors produces a use-dependent decrease (rundown) of the evoked currents (IGABA), which is markedly enhanced in the hippocampus and cortex of drug-resistant mTLE patients. This phenomenon has been also observed in the pilocarpine model, where the increased IGABA rundown is observed in the hippocampus at the time of the first spontaneous seizure, then extends to the cortex and remains constant in the chronic phase of the disease. Here, we examined the sensitivity of IGABA to pharmacological modulation. We focused on the antiepileptic agent levetiracetam (LEV) and on the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which were previously reported to attenuate mTLE-induced increased rundown in the chronic human tissue. In the pilocarpine model, BDNF displayed a paramount effect, decreasing rundown in the hippocampus at the time of the first seizure, as well as in the hippocampus and cortex in the chronic period. In contrast, LEV did not affect rundown in the hippocampus, but attenuated it in the cortex. Interestingly, this effect of LEV was also observed on the still unaltered rundown observed in the cortex at the time of the first spontaneous seizure. These data suggest that the sensitivity of GABAA receptors to pharmacological interventions undergoes changes during the natural history of mTLE, implicating that the site of seizure initiation and the timing of treatment may highly affect the therapeutic outcome.
The effects of external cues on media habit and use: Push notification alerts and mobile application usage habits

THE EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL CUES ON MEDIA HABIT AND USE: PUSH NOTIFICATION ALERTS AND MOBILE APPLICATION USAGE HABITS By Mijung Kim This dissertation is an examination of how push notifications affect habit formation and the relationship between habit and mobile application use. For the purpose of this study, we created a simple weather forecast mobile application for a 20-day panel study of two randomly assigned groups: one received push notification alerts and the other did not. During the period of study, participants were asked to use the application every day and completed four surveys five days apart. This dissertation examined the temporal sequencing and mutual influence between habit strength for visiting the application and application usage behaviors (i.e., frequency of visits and duration on the application use) using bivariate latent difference score structural equation modeling. Longitudinal data from 115 smartphone application users revealed level of habit strength for visiting the application through push notification alerts to be positively associated with changes in frequency of visits. Higher scores on habit strength anticipated increases in frequency of visits. Repeated-measured ANOVAs showed a significant difference between users who received push notification alerts and the other users who did not in frequency of visits and push notification receivers visited the application more during the study period. In addition, users who clicked push notification alert messages visited more than users who received push notifications but did not click. These findings highlight the role of external media prompts in media habit formation and usage and provides evidence of causation in media use – adding to our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of media habit formation in ways that were absent in prior research.
Symptoms of asthma, bronchial responsiveness and atopy in immigrants and emigrants in Europe

To the Editor: I read with interest the article by Tobias et al. 1. Firstly, I would like to state my doubts on the validity and relevance of using the umbrella term “immigrants” in reference to people from various countries of the world who settle in developed countries. Most of the time, leaving one's home country is not a deliberate action. The main initiatives are related to economical and political reasons. Those who immigrate for economical reasons usually use legal routes. The legal process makes it obligatory to have a health check and does not permit diseased individuals to migrate. This obligation does not hold true for the immigrants who leave their countries for political reasons. Political immigrants are however, still expected to have a relatively better health status than the general population to enable them to escape the legal barriers and leave their country. The observation in Turkish …