Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proprioceptive inputs to nonspiking local interneurons contribute to local reflexes of a locust hindleg

Local reflexes of a leg of the locust Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal) can be elicited by selective stimulation of a proprioceptor (the femoral chordotonal organ) at the femorotibial joint. Motor neurons are either excited or inhibited, so that a coordinated reflex response of a leg results. At the same time, some nonspiking local interneurons are either excited or inhibited by the inputs from these proprioceptive afferents. Altering the membrane potential of an individual, nonspiking interneuron can either increase or decrease the response of the participating motor neurons to the proprioceptive stimulus and thereby alter the gain of the reflex. To determine the pathways, and to understand the role of the nonspiking interneurons in mediating these reflex effects, recordings were made simultaneously from these interneurons and afferent neurons. The excitation of a particular nonspiking local interneuron is produced monosynaptically by the afferent neurons. Chemically mediated EPSPs consistently follow sensory spikes with a latency that is the same as that for the known parallel, direct connections made by these sensory neurons with motor neurons (Burrows, 1987a). The chordotonal afferents and the branches of the local interneurons project to the same regions of neuropil. In contrast, the simplest inhibitory pathway is disynaptic, involving spiking local interneurons. The afferents make direct excitatory connections with some of these spiking interneurons, which then make direct inhibitory connections with a nonspiking interneuron. Interactions between the local interneurons add to the complexity of the pathways. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Evaluation of a Cross-lingual Romanian-English Multi-document Summariser

The rapid growth of the Internet means that more information is available than ever before. Multilingual multi-document summarisation offers a way to access this information even when it is not in a language spoken by the reader by extracting the gist from related documents and translating it automatically. This paper presents an experiment in which Maximal Marginal Relevance (MMR), a well known multi-document summarisation method, is used to produce summaries from Romanian news articles. A task-based evaluation performed on both the original summaries and on their automatically translated versions reveals that they still contain a significant portion of the important information from the original texts. However, direct evaluation of the automatically translated summaries shows that they are not very legible and this can put off some readers who want to find out more about a topic.
Polygonal Boundary Evaluation of Minkowski Sums and Swept Volumes

We present a novel technique for the efficient boundary evaluation of sweep operations applied to objects in polygonal boundary representation. These sweep operations include Minkowski addition, offsetting, and sweeping along a discrete rigid motion trajectory. Many previous methods focus on the construction of a polygonal superset (containing self‐intersections and spurious internal geometry) of the boundary of the volumes which are swept. Only few are able to determine a clean representation of the actual boundary, most of them in a discrete volumetric setting. We unify such superset constructions into a succinct common formulation and present a technique for the robust extraction of a polygonal mesh representing the outer boundary, i.e. it makes no general position assumptions and always yields a manifold, watertight mesh. It is exact for Minkowski sums and approximates swept volumes polygonally. By using plane‐based geometry in conjunction with hierarchical arrangement computations we avoid the necessity of arbitrary precision arithmetics and extensive special case handling. By restricting operations to regions containing pieces of the boundary, we significantly enhance the performance of the algorithm.
Brahma is essential for Drosophila intestinal stem cell proliferation and regulated by Hippo signaling

Chromatin remodeling processes are among the most important regulatory mechanisms in controlling cell proliferation and regeneration. Drosophila intestinal stem cells (ISCs) exhibit self-renewal potentials, maintain tissue homeostasis, and serve as an excellent model for studying cell growth and regeneration. In this study, we show that Brahma (Brm) chromatin-remodeling complex is required for ISC proliferation and damage-induced midgut regeneration in a lineage-specific manner. ISCs and enteroblasts exhibit high levels of Brm proteins; and without Brm, ISC proliferation and differentiation are impaired. Importantly, the Brm complex participates in ISC proliferation induced by the Scalloped–Yorkie transcriptional complex and that the Hippo (Hpo) signaling pathway directly restricted ISC proliferation by regulating Brm protein levels by inducing caspase-dependent cleavage of Brm. The cleavage resistant form of Brm protein promoted ISC proliferation. Our findings highlighted the importance of Hpo signaling in regulating epigenetic components such as Brm to control downstream transcription and hence ISC proliferation. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.00999. 001
Neurogenetics and the "fly-stampede": dissecting neural circuits involved in visual behaviors

A central goal of systems neuroscience is to understand how neural circuits represent quantitative aspects of the outside world and transform these signals into the motor code for behavior. By contrast to olfactory perception in which odors are encoded by a population of ligand-binding receptors at the input stage, the visual system extracts complex information about color, form and movement from just a few types of photoreceptor inputs. The algorithms for many of these transformations are poorly understood. We designed a high throughput real-time quantitative testing system, the "fly-stampede", to evaluate behavioral responses to light and motion cues in Drosophila. With this system, we identified a neural circuit that does not participate in sensing light but is crucial for computing visual motion. When neurons of this circuit are genetically inactivated, the flies show normal walking phototaxis, but are completely motion blind. Using neurogenetics to study the circuits mediating sophisticated animal behaviors is currently a field of intense study. This extra view attempts to summarize our work within historical background of fly biocybernetics and other recent advances.
Serologic assay based on gliadin-related nonapeptides as a highly sensitive and specific diagnostic aid in celiac disease.

BACKGROUND Celiac disease (CD) is induced by wheat gliadins and related cereal proteins. Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGAs) are present in the serum of CD patients, but these antibodies have lower diagnostic specificity and sensitivity than autoantibodies [anti-endomysium antibodies (AEmAs) and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (AtTGAs)]. Recently, AGAs from CD patients were found to recognize deamidated gliadin peptides, probably formed by the action of tissue transglutaminase. METHODS We synthesized several gliadin peptides and their glutamine-glutamic acid-substituted counterparts on cellulose membranes and tested their recognition by IgA in sera of 52 AEmA-positive CD patients and 76 AEmA-negative controls in a luminescence assay. For comparison, we assayed IgA concentrations of AGAs, AtTGAs, and AEmAs. For measurement of AtTGAs, we used the human recombinant antigen. RESULTS We identified several nonapeptides that were detected with high specificity by IgA in CD patients. Diagnostic accuracy of the peptide antibody assay was highest when peptide PLQPEQPFP was used in combination with peptide PEQLPQFEE within one assay. AGAs were above the cutoff in 14 of the controls, but only 5 of the controls were positive for peptide antibodies. For comparison, 82% and 94% of samples were correctly classified by AGAs and the combination nonapeptide assay, respectively (P = 0.007), and the AtTGAs correctly classified 98%. CONCLUSION The peptide antibody assay has higher diagnostic accuracy than AGAs for distinguishing patients with CD from controls, and has diagnostic accuracy similar to that of AtTGAs.
The development of economic selection indices for the Simmentaler breeds in South Africa

1. The purpose of the first chapter was to give a short introduction to the study. Although there were exponential increases in knowledge, there are still fields of study where there is little understanding and enormous gaps relating to information. A short history of the development of cattle was presented, with special reference to the Simmentaler breed. The objectives of this study were then stated. These objectives were: the definition of breeding objectives, derivation of economic values and development of economic selection indices for the Simmentaler breed in South Africa. 2. In Chapter 2 the development of breeding objectives and the derivation of economic values were reviewed. There seems to be general consensus that definition of breeding objectives should be the primary step in the design of structured breeding programs. Development of the breeding objective can be described in terms of the following phases: specific ation of the breeding, production and marketing system, identification of sources of income and expense in commercial herds, determination of biological traits that influence income and expense, derivation of economic values, choice of selection criteria, and estimation of phenotypic and genetic parameters. The modeling methods to derive economic values can be divided into simulation, dynamic programming and profit functions. 3. In Chapter 3 the important traits, which should be considered for the development of breeding objectives, as well as the criteria to be included in the selection index were reviewed. Traits were classified as fitness-, production-, product-, input-, typeand behavioural traits. The decision whether or not to include a trait in the breeding objective depends on the relative economic value of the trait, the potential for genetic improvement and the possibility of accurate and cheap measurement. Several traits determine economic efficiency, and the required balance of these traits is likely to differ between different production systems.
Depressive Symptoms in Younger Women and Men With Acute Myocardial Infarction: Insights From the VIRGO Study

Background Depression was recently recognized as a risk factor for adverse medical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The degree to which depression is present among younger patients with an AMI, the patient profile associated with being a young AMI patient with depressive symptoms, and whether relevant sex differences exist are currently unknown. Methods and Results The Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) study enrolled 3572 patients with AMI (67.1% women; 2:1 ratio for women to men) between 2008 and 2012 (at 103 hospitals in the United States, 24 in Spain, and 3 in Australia). Information about lifetime history of depression and depressive symptoms experienced over the past 2 weeks (Patient Health Questionnaire; a cutoff score ≥10 was used for depression screening) was collected during index AMI admission. Information on demographics, socioeconomic status, cardiovascular risk, AMI severity, perceived stress (14‐item Perceived Stress Scale), and health status (Seattle Angina Questionnaire, EuroQoL 5D) was obtained through interviews and chart abstraction. Nearly half (48%) of the women reported a lifetime history of depression versus 1 in 4 in men (24%; P<0.0001). At the time of admission for AMI, more women than men experienced depressive symptoms (39% versus 22%, P<0.0001; adjusted odds ratio 1.64; 95% CI 1.36 to 1.98). Patients with more depressive symptoms had higher levels of stress and worse quality of life (P<0.001). Depressive symptoms were more prevalent among patients with lower socioeconomic profiles (eg, lower education, uninsured) and with more cardiovascular risk factors (eg, diabetes, smoking). Conclusions A high rate of lifetime history of depression and depressive symptoms at the time of an AMI was observed among younger women compared with men. Depressive symptoms affected those with more vulnerable socioeconomic and clinical profiles.
Adaptation of focus to lexical tone and phrasing in Kammu

Recently it has been proposed to base intonational typology on the way languages convey focus (pragmatic prominence). Generally, languages can enhance, add or delete phrase boundary tones (phrase languages) or add an extra pitch accent (intonation languages) to mark focus. Tone languages are somewhat problematic for this typology as it is difficult to make direct observations on their sentence intonation. Generally, tone languages are supposed to have a suppressed use of intonation on the sentence level. As a consequence, tone languages are usually described as a separate prosodic type. We investigate Kammu, an Austroasiatic language spoken mainly in Laos. Kammu has two main dialects, one with lexical tones and one without tones; other phonological differences are minimal. In our previous studies we concentrated on elicited and controlled speech to explore the role of F0 in focusing and phrasing. We concluded that both dialects belong to the phrase language type. In the present study we use spontaneous material and investigate both F 0 and duration for phrasing and focusing. We show that both F 0 and duration are used for focusing in the two dialects. However, the prosodic realization of focus is restricted to the rightmost edge of the prosodic phrase, which coincides with the phrase boundary. The main conclusion is that the prevalence for edge marking influences the realization of focus, in accordance with prosodic typology. Further, the occurrence of lexical tones can still be combined with the phrasing pattern, and the tonal dialect shows the same strategies for focusing and phrasing as a phrase language.
Effects of soil surface roughness on soil processes and remote sensing data interpretation and its measuring techniques - a review

Surface roughness is a very important physical feature of soil, affecting various soil processes and accuracy of remote sensing data interpretation. Thus, there is a need to describe it quantitatively. The main aim of the paper was to show needs and benefits of collecting quantitative information about soil surface roughness which is the most relevant parameter used as an index to predict water and wind erosion. Surface roughness can reduce soil erosion and soil losses even by up to 31%. Thereby, it increases the development of fauna and flora and improves the structure of soil and its biological quality. In the first section of the paper there are presented definitions of soil roughness proposed by different authors. The next section explains how various factors influence soil surface roughness. Then, the categorization of soil surface roughness discussed in literature is presented. The next part of the paper includes information about a role of soil roughness in agricultural, soil science and a hydrology research. Moreover, soil surface roughness plays an important role in a remote sensing of soils. The knowledge of quantitative soil surface roughness allows more accurate interpretation of the soil properties from remote sensing data, because this soil feature can decrease soil spectra even over 70% and makes their analysis difficult. In addition, deepening knowledge about soil roughness will allow more precise conclusions about the amount of reflected shortwave solar radiation indirectly shaping the Earth’s climate. In the final section, the techniques for measuring and indices for describing soil roughness are shown. However, the authors prefer a photogrammetry technique for collecting these data, because it is quick and easy to use, ensuring high resolution and accuracy of data (about 1 mm) and the image processing is currently simplifid as software to process is absolutely affordable.
Vuvuzela: scalable private messaging resistant to traffic analysis

Private messaging over the Internet has proven challenging to implement, because even if message data is encrypted, it is difficult to hide metadata about who is communicating in the face of traffic analysis. Systems that offer strong privacy guarantees, such as Dissent [36], scale to only several thousand clients, because they use techniques with superlinear cost in the number of clients (e.g., each client broadcasts their message to all other clients). On the other hand, scalable systems, such as Tor, do not protect against traffic analysis, making them ineffective in an era of pervasive network monitoring. Vuvuzela is a new scalable messaging system that offers strong privacy guarantees, hiding both message data and metadata. Vuvuzela is secure against adversaries that observe and tamper with all network traffic, and that control all nodes except for one server. Vuvuzela's key insight is to minimize the number of variables observable by an attacker, and to use differential privacy techniques to add noise to all observable variables in a way that provably hides information about which users are communicating. Vuvuzela has a linear cost in the number of clients, and experiments show that it can achieve a throughput of 68,000 messages per second for 1 million users with a 37-second end-to-end latency on commodity servers.
The effects of phenological mismatches on demography

Climate change is altering the phenology of species across the world, but what are the consequences of these phenological changes for the demography and population dynamics of species? Time-sensitive relationships, such as migration, breeding and predation, may be disrupted or altered, which may in turn alter the rates of reproduction and survival, leading some populations to decline and others to increase in abundance. However, finding evidence for disrupted relationships, or lack thereof, and their demographic effects, is difficult because the necessary detailed observational data are rare. Moreover, we do not know how sensitive species will generally be to phenological mismatches when they occur. Existing long-term studies provide preliminary data for analysing the phenology and demography of species in several locations. In many instances, though, observational protocols may need to be optimized to characterize timing-based multi-trophic interactions. As a basis for future research, we outline some of the key questions and approaches to improving our understanding of the relationships among phenology, demography and climate in a multi-trophic context. There are many challenges associated with this line of research, not the least of which is the need for detailed, long-term data on many organisms in a single system. However, we identify key questions that can be addressed with data that already exist and propose approaches that could guide future research.
Continuous-time estimation for dynamic obstacle tracking

This paper reports on a system for dynamic obstacle tracking for autonomous vehicles. In this work, we seek to simultaneously estimate both the trajectory of the obstacle and the obstacle's shape. These two tasks are inherently coupled-given only noisy partial views, one cannot accurately estimate the trajectory of an obstacle if its shape is unknown, nor can one estimate its shape without knowing its trajectory. To address this challenge, we note that simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), where a robot must build a map of the environment while localizing itself within the map, presents similar challenges. By treating the obstacle's shape as a “map” in the obstacle's moving reference frame, we can formulate the obstacle tracking and shape estimation similarly to SLAM. Additionally, we use a continuous time estimation framework to incorporate sensor data that is collected at a fast rate (e.g., light detection and ranging (LIDAR)). Using these methods, we are able to obtain smooth trajectories and crisp point clouds for tracked obstacles. We test our proposed tracker on real-world data collected by our autonomous vehicle platform and demonstrate that it produces improved results when compared to a standard centroid-based extended Kalman filter (EKF) tracker.
AUTHORS' RESPONSE: Toward an Integrative Understanding of Evoked and Transmitted Culture: The Importance of Specialized Psychological Design

Nearly all commentators agree on several fundamental arguments of our target article: (a) Cultural and evolutionary views of behavior are complementary and integratable, not necessarily opposing, explanations; (b) cultural phenomena are produced by psychological adaptations; and (c) cultural variation results from an evolved psychology interacting with environments that humans both encounter and actively create. Our response strives toward a comprehensive, integrative, evolutionary perspective on cultural phenomena and emphasizes several themes also noted by commentators: (a) Psychological adaptations that underlie culture must be rigorously specified; (b) theories about these adaptations must be consistent with the fundamental tenets of modern evolutionary theory; (c) adaptations underlying culture will be many in number; (d) adaptations should be explored at multiple levels of analysis; (e) contemporaneous transmission processes are crucial for a complete understanding of culture; and (f) progress in understanding both evoked and transmitted culture, as well as the ways in which they interact, will hinge on increasingly specific scientific descriptions of "culture. "
A simple inductive synthesis methodology and its applications

Given a high-level specification and a low-level programming language, our goal is to automatically synthesize an efficient program that meets the specification. In this paper, we present a new algorithmic methodology for inductive synthesis that allows us to do this. We use Second Order logic as our generic high level specification logic. For our low-level languages we choose small application-specific logics that can be immediately translated into code that runs in expected linear time in the worst case. We explain our methodology and provide examples of the synthesis of several graph classifiers, e.g, linear-time tests of whether the input graph is connected, acyclic, etc. In another set of applications we automatically derive many finite differencing expressions equivalent to ones that Paige built by hand in his thesis [Pai81]. Finally we describe directions for automatically combining such automatically generated building blocks to synthesize efficient code implementing more complicated specifications. The methods in this paper have been implemented in Python using the SMT solver Z3 [dMB].