Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Should we expand the toolbox of psychiatric treatment methods to include Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)? A meta-analysis of the efficacy of rTMS in psychiatric disorders.

OBJECTIVE Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a safe treatment method with few side effects. However, efficacy for various psychiatric disorders is currently not clear. DATA SOURCES A literature search was performed from 1966 through October 2008 using PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase Psychiatry, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, and PsycINFO. The following search terms were used: transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, repetitive TMS, psychiatry, mental disorder, psychiatric disorder, anxiety disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, catatonia, mania, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, Tourette's syndrome, bulimia nervosa, and addiction. STUDY SELECTION Data were obtained from randomized, sham-controlled studies of rTMS treatment for depression (34 studies), auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH, 7 studies), negative symptoms in schizophrenia (7 studies), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, 3 studies). Studies of rTMS versus electroconvulsive treatment (ECT, 6 studies) for depression were meta-analyzed. DATA EXTRACTION Standardized mean effect sizes of rTMS versus sham were computed based on pretreatment-posttreatment comparisons. DATA SYNTHESIS The mean weighted effect size of rTMS versus sham for depression was 0.55 (P < .001). Monotherapy with rTMS was more effective than rTMS as adjunctive to antidepressant medication. ECT was superior to rTMS in the treatment of depression (mean weighted effect size -0.47, P = .004). In the treatment of AVH, rTMS was superior to sham treatment, with a mean weighted effect size of 0.54 (P < .001). The mean weighted effect size for rTMS versus sham in the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia was 0.39 (P = .11) and for OCD, 0.15 (P = .52). Side effects were mild, yet more prevalent with high-frequency rTMS at frontal locations. CONCLUSIONS It is time to provide rTMS as a clinical treatment method for depression, for auditory verbal hallucinations, and possibly for negative symptoms. We do not recommend rTMS for the treatment of OCD.
A Cost/ Speed/ Reliability Trade-off in Erasing a Bit

We present a KL-control treatment of the fundamental problem of erasing a bit. We introduce notions of \textbf{reliability} of information storage via a reliability timescale $\tau_r$, and speed of erasing via an erasing timescale $\tau_e$. Our problem formulation captures the tradeoff between speed, reliability, and the Kullback-Leibler (KL) cost required to erase a bit. We show that erasing a reliable bit fast costs at least $\log 2 - \log\left(1 - \operatorname{e}^{-\frac{\tau_e}{\tau_r}}\right) > \log 2$, which goes to $\frac{1}{2} \log\frac{2\tau_r}{\tau_e}$ when $\tau_r>>\tau_e$.
PARKER/BUOYANCY INSTABILITIES WITH ANISOTROPIC THERMAL CONDUCTION, COSMIC RAYS, AND ARBITRARY MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH

We report the results of local stability analysis for magnetized, gravitationally stratified plasma-containing cosmic rays. We account for cosmic-ray diffusion and thermal conduction parallel to the magnetic field and allow β = 8πp/B2 to take any value, where p is the plasma pressure and B is the magnetic field strength. We take the gravitational acceleration to be in the −z-direction and the equilibrium magnetic field to be in the y-direction, and derive the dispersion relation for small-amplitude instabilities and waves in the large-|kx| limit. We use the Routh–Hurwitz criterion to show analytically that the necessary and sufficient criterion for stability in this limit is nkBdT/dz + dpcr/dz + (1/8π) dB2/dz > 0, where T is the temperature, n is the number density of thermal particles, and pcr is the cosmic-ray pressure. We present approximate analytical solutions for the normal modes in the low- and high-diffusivity limits, show that they are consistent with the derived stability criterion, and compare them to numerical results obtained from the full, unapproximated, dispersion relation. Our results extend earlier analyses of buoyancy instabilities in galaxy-cluster plasmas to the β ≲ 1 regime. Our results also extend earlier analyses of the Parker instability to account for anisotropic thermal conduction, and show that the interstellar medium is more unstable to the Parker instability than was predicted by previous studies in which the thermal plasma was treated as adiabatic.
Lhx1 in the proximal region of the optic vesicle permits neural retina development in the chicken

Summary How the eye forms has been one of the fundamental issues in developmental biology. The retinal anlage first appears as the optic vesicle (OV) evaginating from the forebrain. Subsequently, its distal portion invaginates to form the two-walled optic cup, which develops into the outer pigmented and inner neurosensory layers of the retina. Recent work has shown that this optic-cup morphogenesis proceeds as a self-organizing activity without any extrinsic molecules. However, intrinsic factors that regulate this process have not been elucidated. Here we show that a LIM-homeobox gene, Lhx1, normally expressed in the proximal region of the nascent OV, induces a second neurosensory retina formation from the outer pigmented retina when overexpressed in the chicken OV. Lhx2, another LIM-homeobox gene supposed to be involved in early OV formation, could not substitute this function of Lhx1, while Lhx5, closely related to Lhx1, could replace it. Conversely, knockdown of Lhx1 expression by RNA interference resulted in the formation of a small or pigmented vesicle. These results suggest that the proximal region demarcated by Lhx1 expression permits OV development, eventually dividing the two retinal domains.
Iterative Unsupervised GMM Training for Speaker Indexing

The paper addresses a novel algorithm for speaker searching and indexation based on unsupervised GMM training. The proposed method doesn’t require a predefined set of generic background models, and the GMM speaker models are trained only from test samples. The constrain of the method is that the number of the speakers has to be known in advance. The results of initial experiments show that the proposed training method enables to create precise GMM speaker models from only a small amount of training data.
Applications of a theory of biological pattern formation based on lateral inhibition.

Model calculations are presented for various problems of development on the basis of a theory of primary pattern formation which we previously proposed. The theory involves short-range autocatalytic activation and longer-range inhibition (lateral inhibition). When a certain criterion is satisfied, self-regulating patterns are generated. The autocatalytic features of the theory are demonstrated by simulations of the determination of polarity in the Xenopus retina. General conditions for marginal and internal activation, and corresponding effects of symmetry are discussed. Special molecular mechanisms of pattern formation are proposed in which activator is chemically converted into inhibitor, or an activator precursor is depleted by conversion into activator. The (slow) effects of primary patterns on differentiation can be included into the formalism in a straightforward manner. In conjunction with growth, this can lead to asymmetric steady states of cell types, cell differentiation and proliferation as found, for instance, in growing and budding hydra. In 2 dimensions, 2 different types of patterns can be obtained. Under some assumptions, a single pattern-forming system produces a ‘bristle’ type pattern of peaks of activity with rather regular spacings on a surface. Budding of hydra is treated on this basis. If, however, gradients develop under the influence of a weak external or marginal asymmetry, a monotonic gradient can be formed across the entire field, and 2 such gradient-forming systems can specify ‘positional information’ in 2 dimensions. If inhibitor equilibrates slowly, a spatial pattern may oscillate, as observed with regard to the intracellular activation of cellular slime moulds. The applications are intended to demonstrate the ability of the proposed theory to explain properties frequently encountered in developing systems.
Too Engaged? A Study of Student Involvement and Academic Success

This study details findings from a survey of 2006 and 2007 graduates, with a focus on student activities and involvement. There was a negative correlation between hours of student activities per week and final grade point average (GPA), with students participating in 40 or more hours per week of student activities having a statistically significant lower degree GPA. “Hyperinvolved” students with 40 or more hours of activity were statistically more likely to be involved with minority student groups and political issue groups. These students also reported higher scores for aspects of general education preparation, awareness of global issues, and satisfaction with major department. Mixed results suggest that hyper-involvement in student activities has some positive outcomes, but may impact academics negatively.
Economics, Politics, and the Social Structure; an analysis of their interplay in the realm of Mercosur

The Mercosur case study represents a theoretical challenge for academics in the field of political science. After all, how can one make sense of the regional project that is characterized by institutional and implementational looseness? Elaborations on this distinct regional project will benefit studies in the field of theorizing regional integration, a field of study that should not rely for a great part on the European experience. The point that is intended to bring to light is that a multitude of variables are operating at different levels in a process such as regional cooperation. When analyzing regional cooperation beyond the European experience, the importance of including both rationalism and constructivism into a single theoretical framework becomes apparent.
Extending Hardware Transactional Memory to Support Non-busy Waiting and Non-transactional Actions

Transactional Memory (TM) is a compelling alternative to locks as a general-purpose concurrency control mechanism, but it is yet unclear whether TM should be implemented as a software or hardware construct. While hardware approaches offer higher performance and can be used in conjunction with legacy languages/code, software approaches are more flexible and currently offer more functionality. In this paper, we try to bridge, in part, the functionality gap between software and hardware TMs by demonstrating how two software TM ideas can be adapted to work in a hardware TM system. Specifically, we demonstrate: 1) a process to efficiently support transaction waiting — both intentional waiting and waiting for a conflicting transaction to complete — by de-scheduling the transacting thread, and 2) the concept of pausing and an implementation of compensation to allow non-idempotent system calls, I/O, and access to high contention data within a long-running transaction. Both mechanisms can be implemented with minimal extensions to an existing hardware TM proposal.
Duration Tuning across Vertebrates

Signal duration is important for identifying sound sources and determining signal meaning. Duration-tuned neurons (DTNs) respond preferentially to a range of stimulus durations and maximally to a best duration (BD). Duration-tuned neurons are found in the auditory midbrain of many vertebrates, although studied most extensively in bats. Studies of DTNs across vertebrates have identified cells with BDs and temporal response bandwidths that mirror the range of species-specific vocalizations. Neural tuning to stimulus duration appears to be universal among hearing vertebrates. Herein, we test the hypothesis that neural mechanisms underlying duration selectivity may be similar across vertebrates. We instantiated theoretical mechanisms of duration tuning in computational models to systematically explore the roles of excitatory and inhibitory receptor strengths, input latencies, and membrane time constant on duration tuning response profiles. We demonstrate that models of duration tuning with similar neural circuitry can be tuned with species-specific parameters to reproduce the responses of in vivo DTNs from the auditory midbrain. To relate and validate model output to in vivo responses, we collected electrophysiological data from the inferior colliculus of the awake big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, and present similar in vivo data from the published literature on DTNs in rats, mice, and frogs. Our results support the hypothesis that neural mechanisms of duration tuning may be shared across vertebrates despite species-specific differences in duration selectivity. Finally, we discuss how the underlying mechanisms of duration selectivity relate to other auditory feature detectors arising from the interaction of neural excitation and inhibition.
Stem Cell Therapy with Overexpressed VEGF and PDGF Genes Improves Cardiac Function in a Rat Infarct Model

Background Therapeutic potential was evaluated in a rat model of myocardial infarction using nanofiber-expanded human cord blood derived hematopoietic stem cells (CD133+/CD34+) genetically modified with VEGF plus PDGF genes (VIP). Methods and Findings Myocardial function was monitored every two weeks up to six weeks after therapy. Echocardiography revealed time dependent improvement of left ventricular function evaluated by M-mode, fractional shortening, anterior wall tissue velocity, wall motion score index, strain and strain rate in animals treated with VEGF plus PDGF overexpressed stem cells (VIP) compared to nanofiber expanded cells (Exp), freshly isolated cells (FCB) or media control (Media). Improvement observed was as follows: VIP>Exp> FCB>media. Similar trend was noticed in the exercise capacity of rats on a treadmill. These findings correlated with significantly increased neovascularization in ischemic tissue and markedly reduced infarct area in animals in the VIP group. Stem cells in addition to their usual homing sites such as lung, spleen, bone marrow and liver, also migrated to sites of myocardial ischemia. The improvement of cardiac function correlated with expression of heart tissue connexin 43, a gap junctional protein, and heart tissue angiogenesis related protein molecules like VEGF, pNOS3, NOS2 and GSK3. There was no evidence of upregulation in the molecules of oncogenic potential in genetically modified or other stem cell therapy groups. Conclusion Regenerative therapy using nanofiber-expanded hematopoietic stem cells with overexpression of VEGF and PDGF has a favorable impact on the improvement of rat myocardial function accompanied by upregulation of tissue connexin 43 and pro-angiogenic molecules after infarction.
Modelling interaction to inform information requirements in virtual environments

There is a lack of understanding about the informat ion and usability needs of users interacting with virtu al environments. Therefore, interaction modelling was used to define a set of design properties required to support stages of interaction, through either infor mation provision or basic interaction support. The design properties were evaluated in a controlled study comparing interaction success with and without thei r implementation. Various implementation styles were tested, such as manipulating the level of realism a nd the use of speech. Results showed a major reduction in interaction problems with the design properties pre sent. Following work involves research on how to select a n implementation style for the design properties and translating the properties into design guidance.
Extending the Reliability of Wireless Sensor Networks through Informed Periodic Redeployment

This paper investigates the reliability of wireless sensor networks, deployed over a square area, in regards to two aspects: network connectivity and node failures. Analyzing the phenomenon known as the border effects on the connectivity of such networks, we derive exact expressions for the expected effective connectivity degree of border nodes. We show that the relative average number of neighbors for nodes in the borders is independent of the node transmission range and of the overall network node density. Assuming a network composed of N uniformly distributed nodes over a square area of side L, our simulation experiments demonstrate that the connectivity of the overall network is dominated by the average node degree in the corner borders of the square network area. Using this result, and considering sensor node failure rates, we derive analytical expressions for the mean time to disconnect (MTTD) and the mean number of sensors remaining (MNSR) upon disconnection for a given network. For precise reliability estimates we also calculate the sensor redeployment period ΔT and the number of sensors per redeployment ΔN, that should be effected in order to keep the network continuously connected with probability higher than 99%. We then run additional simulations for a network subject to sensors failures to obtain experimental MTTD and MNSR values which we found to be very close to the analytically derived ones. These experiments also ratified that periodic sensor redeployments characterized by the pair (ΔN, ΔT), resulting from our analysis, can continuously extend the reliability of wireless sensor networks.
Text Editor based on Google Trigram and its Usability

This paper contains contents about a text editor based on Google trigram and its performance. Google has constructed n-gram data from uni- to 5-gram through analyzing huge document set. The n-gram data is a representative type of collective intelligence. Especially, big grams such as 4 and 5-gram contain more detail semantic context (semantics). However, 4 and 5-grams are hard to deal in computer due to enormous size. Therefore, in this paper, we apply only trigram to the text editor and evaluate its usability. In the experiment, we evaluate how much this text editor efficient according to the typing speed of people. Usability of the Google trigram was estimated by time cost which is required to type into the text editor. Keywords-component; N-Gram; Text Editor; Word Recommendation; Performance Evaluation
Conflict within and between groups of cooperative banded mongooses

37 Introduction . 38 Methods . 43 Results . 48 Discussion . 56 Chapter 3: When should animals discriminate against kin? Forced eviction of relatives in the banded mongoose . 59 Abstract . 6
French TimeBank: An ISO-TimeML Annotated Reference Corpus

This article presents the main points in the creation of the French TimeBank (Bittar, 2010), a reference corpus annotated according to the ISO-TimeML standard for temporal annotation. A number of improvements were made to the markup language to deal with linguistic phenomena not yet covered by ISO-TimeML, including cross-language modifications and others specific to French. An automatic pre-annotation system was used to speed up the annotation process. A preliminary evaluation of the methodology adopted for this project yields positive results in terms of data quality and annotation time.
Attack graphs representations

Attack graphs have been widely used to represent and analyze security attacks. More specifically, they show all ways of how an attacker violets a security policy. Most attack graphs are constructed from nodes (vertices) and edges (arcs). Since there are so many research papers, each has a different representation of attack graphs. This paper discuses attack graph representations in terms of its nodes and edges interpretations. Other factors are addressed such the attack graph constructions and scalability.
GATEWAY ABSTRACTION FOR FOOLING THE SPAMMERS

Unsolicited commercial email or “spam” flood mailboxes, causing frustration, wasting bandwidth, and exposing minors to unsuitable content. This paper uses intelligent gatekeepers to interact with spam messages and system referenced in spam. The goal of this paper is to consume spam senders’ resources by engaging the spammer in appropriate gatekeepers. There are four gatekeepers have been implemented: Phishing gatekeeper, medicine gatekeeper, bank scam gatekeeper, and web form gatekeeper. This technique provides better results and it cannot deal with the image spam. Keywordsspam, Phishing gatekeeper, medicine gatekeeper, bank scam gatekeeper, and web form gatekeeper.
An improvement of unsupervised design method for weighted median filters using GA

Design of both a suitable window shape and appropriate weights in weighted median filters is one of important problems. Hitherto, unsupervised design methods of the filters by using Simulated Annealing (SA) or Genetic Algorithm (GA) have been proposed for texture images corrupted by impulse noise. These techniques estimate the optimal window shape and the optimal filter weights separately, and they have been shown to perform as well as a supervised method. In this paper, we propose a new approach which optimize both the window shape and the weight at the same time to design more sophisticated filters. We apply GA and adopt Rank-Ordered Logarithmic Difference (ROLD) statistics as objective function to design a weighted median filter. Through experiments, it was shown that our new approach outperformed compared to conventional methods.
iPlag: Intelligent Plagiarism Reasoner in scientific publications

Existing anti-plagiarism tools are, in fact, text matching systems but do not make accurate judgments about plagiarism. Texts that are acceptable to be redundant and texts that are cited properly are all highlighted as plagiarism, and the real decision of plagiarism is left up to the user. To reduce the human input and to give more reliance to automatic plagiarism detectors, we propose an Intelligent Plagiarism Reasoner (iPlag), which works by combining several analytical procedures. Scholarly documents under investigation are segmented into logical tree-structured representation using a procedure called D-SEGMENT. Statistical methods are utilised to assign numerical weights to structural components under a technique called C-WEIGHT. Relevance ranking (R-RANK) and plagiarism screening approaches (P-SCREEN) are adjusted to incorporate structural weights, citation evidences, syntax-based and semantic-based methods into plagiarism detection results. We encourage current plagiarism detection systems to adapt the proposed framework.
Characterization of Football Supporters from Twitter Conversations

Football (aka Soccer) is the most popular sport in the world. The popularity of the sport leads to several stories (some perhaps anecdotal) about supporters behaviors and to the emergence of rivalries such as the famous Barcelona-Real Madrid (in Spain). Little however has been done to characterize/profile online users' behaviors as football supporters and use them as an aggregate measure to club characterization. Today, the availability of data enable us to understand at a much greater scale if rivalries exist and if there are signatures that can be used to characterize supporting behavior. In this paper we use techniques from Data Science to characterize football supporters according to their activity on Twitter and to characterize clubs according to the behavior of their supporters. We show that it is possible to: (i) rank football clubs by their popularity and fans' dislike, (ii) identify the rivalries that exist between clubs and their supporters, and (iii) find specific signatures that repeat themselves across different clubs and in different countries. The results are evaluated on a large dataset of tweets relevant to major football leagues in Brazil and in the United Kingdom.