Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Have We Forgotten Auditory Sensory Memory? Retention Intervals in Studies of Nonverbal Auditory Working Memory

Researchers have shown increased interest in mechanisms of working memory for nonverbal sounds such as music and environmental sounds. These studies often have used two-stimulus comparison tasks: two sounds separated by a brief retention interval (often 3–5 s) are compared, and a “same” or “different” judgment is recorded. Researchers seem to have assumed that sensory memory has a negligible impact on performance in auditory two-stimulus comparison tasks. This assumption is examined in detail in this comment. According to seminal texts and recent research reports, sensory memory persists in parallel with working memory for a period of time following hearing a stimulus and can influence behavioral responses on memory tasks. Unlike verbal working memory studies that use serial recall tasks, research paradigms for exploring nonverbal working memory—especially two-stimulus comparison tasks—may not be differentiating working memory from sensory memory processes in analyses of behavioral responses, because retention interval durations have not excluded the possibility that the sensory memory trace drives task performance. This conflation of different constructs may be one contributor to discrepant research findings and the resulting proliferation of theoretical conjectures regarding mechanisms of working memory for nonverbal sounds.
On State Merging in Grammatical Inference: A Statistical Approach for Dealing with Noisy Data

In front of modern databases, noise tolerance has become today one of the most studied topics in machine learning. Many algorithms have been suggested for dealing with noisy data in the case of numerical instances, either by filtering them during a preprocess, or by treating them during the induction. However, this research subject remains widely open when one learns from unbounded symbolic sequences, which is the aim in grammatical inference. In this paper, we propose a statistical approach for dealing with noisy data during the inference of automata, by the state merging algorithm RPNI. Our approach is based on a proportion comparison test, which relaxes the merging rule of RPNI without endangering the generalization error. Beyond this relevant framework, we provide some useful theoretical properties about the behavior of our new version of RPNI, called RPNI*. Finally, we describe a large comparative study on several datasets.
An agile verification framework for traffic sign classification algorithms in heavy vehicles

This paper presents an agile approach to facilitate the rapid development of traffic sign classification algorithms in heavy vehicles under a wide range of visibility conditions. A vision-based traffic sign recognition system makes a significant contribution to improving the transportation safety by enhancing the driver's awareness on important road signs in an automotive cockpit environment. It has therefore been conducive to the ongoing innovation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which paves the way to autonomous driving. The paper introduces a real-time framework which can benchmark the performance of the image processing and machine learning algorithms at the electronic system level using an open-loop hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulation. The presented research provides a generative model with real-world datasets to improve the classification performance of machine learning algorithms. A driving scenario considering speed limit traffic signs describes an automatic parameter selection to find the best separating hyperplane for the support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. The framework supports an evolutionary verification process for the traffic sign classification algorithms on the electronic control unit (ECU) in the laboratory.
3D reconstruction from web harvested images using a forensic quality metric

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) algorithms have recently been employed to reconstruct 3D scenes or environments from large sets of unordered images which were harvested from the web. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the reconstruction is significantly affected by the quality and the amount of editing operated on the processed images. Indeed, 3D modelling can significantly benefit from including forensic analysis strategies that are able to reconstruct the processing history of the processed images and select the most reliable pieces of visual information. The current paper presents an SfM strategy that orders the different views/images of the scene in the reconstruction process according to a processing age metric, i.e., a metric parameterizing the amount of processing stages operated on each image. Experimental results show that the proposed solution can improve the estimation accuracy of both 3D points and camera parameters with respect to state-of-the-art solutions.
Immigration—a New Social Factor in Obstetrics

In the past, immigrants into Britain generally came to escape political or religious persecution in Europe, though more recently they have come in search of employment. The influx of Irish labour into industrial Britain began in the late eighteenth century (Jackson, 1963) and is now accepted without comment, but the past 10 years has seen an increase in the entry of nonEuropean immigrants from the Commonwealth. Ever since the abolition of slavery in 1834 West Indians have gone in search of work to the United States, but in 1952 the MacCarronWalter Act limited entry into that country from the British islands (Bertram, 1962). As a result increasing numbers of West Indians have come to Britain.
Incorporating the Motivation-Hygiene Theory as a means of Evaluating b-Learning Environments in Higher Education

An infrared imager, wherein a transparent gate is separated from a very narrow bandgap semiconductor (such as HgCdTe) by a thin dielectric. The gate is biased to create a depletion well in a semiconductor, and photo-generated carriers are collected in the well. The gate voltage is sensed to measure the accumulated charge. Preferably the accumulated charge is not sensed directly from the gate, but the gate output is repeatedly averaged with another capacitor, so that the output of the imager is sensed as an average over a number of read cycles, which provides a greatly improved signal-to-noise ratio. Preferably an array of the MIS detection devices is formed in a thin layer of HgCdTe, which is bonded to a silicon substrate containing a corresponding array of the averaging capacitors with addressing and output connections, and via holes through the HgCdTe are used to connect each detection device to its corresponding averaging capacitor.
Jumping the Barrier: Modeling Drug Penetration across the Blood–Brain Barrier

Determining the penetration of drugs across the blood–brain barrier is a significant challenge in central nervous system drug development. The use of a mechanistic physiologically based pharmacokinetic model can predict drug exposures in the brain without needing in situ drug measurements. Clin Cancer Res; 23(24); 7437–9. ©2017 AACR. See related article by Li et al., p. 7454
An Evidence-Based Incentive System for Medicare’s End-Stage Renal Disease Program

Recent legislations directed Medicare to revamp its decades-old system for reimbursing dialysis treatments, with focus on the risk adjustment of payments and on the transition toward a pay-for-compliance system. To design an optimal payment system that incorporates these features, we develop an empirical method to estimate the structural parameters of the principal--agent model underlying Medicare's dialysis payment system. We use the model and parameter estimates to answer the following questions: Can a pay-for-compliance system based only on the intermediate performance measures currently identified by Medicare achieve first-best? How should patient outcomes be risk adjusted, and what welfare gains can be achieved by doing so? Our main findings are as follows: (1) the current set of intermediate measures identified by Medicare are not comprehensive enough for use alone in a pay-for-compliance system; (2) paying for risk-adjusted downstream outcomes instead of raw downstream outcomes can lengthen the hospital-free life of admitted patients by two weeks per patient per year without increasing Medicare expenditures. This paper was accepted by Christian Terwiesch, operations management.
The Pharmacokinetics, Metabolism, and Clearance Mechanisms of Tofacitinib, a Janus Kinase Inhibitor, in Humans

Tofacitinib is a novel, oral Janus kinase inhibitor. The objectives of this study were to summarize the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of tofacitinib in humans, including clearance mechanisms. Following administration of a single 50-mg 14C-labeled tofacitinib dose to healthy male subjects, the mean (standard deviation) total percentage of administered radioactive dose recovered was 93.9% (±3.6), with 80.1% (±3.6) in the urine (28.8% parent), and 13.8% (±1.9) in feces (0.9% parent). Tofacitinib was rapidly absorbed, with plasma concentrations and total radioactivity peaking at around 1 hour after oral administration. The mean terminal phase half-life was approximately 3.2 hours for both parent drug and total radioactivity. Most (69.4%) circulating radioactivity in plasma was parent drug, with all metabolites representing less than 10% each of total circulating radioactivity. Hepatic clearance made up around 70% of total clearance, while renal clearance made up the remaining 30%. The predominant metabolic pathways of tofacitinib included oxidation of the pyrrolopyrimidine and piperidine rings, oxidation of the piperidine ring side-chain, N-demethylation and glucuronidation. Cytochrome P450 (P450) profiling indicated that tofacitinib was mainly metabolized by CYP3A4, with a smaller contribution from CYP2C19. This pharmacokinetic characterization of tofacitinib has been consistent with its clinical experience in drug-drug interaction studies.
The Asymmetrical Contributions of Pleasure and Pain to Animal Welfare

Abstract: Recent results from the neurosciences demonstrate that pleasure and pain are not two symmetrical poles of a single scale of experience but in fact two different types of experiences altogether, with dramatically different contributions to well-being. These differences between pleasure and pain and the general finding that “the bad is stronger than the good” have important implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals. In particular, whereas animal experimentation that causes suffering might be justified if it leads to the prevention of more suffering, it can never by justified merely by leading to increased levels of happiness.
The Effect of Nanoemulsion as a Carrier of Hydrophilic Compound for Transdermal Delivery

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of nanoemulsions as a carrier vehicle of hydrophilic drug for transdermal delivery. The response surface methodology with a mixture design was used to evaluate the effect of ingredient levels of nanoemulsion formulations including cosurfactant (isopropyl alcohol, 20∼30%), surfactant (mixed of Brij 30 and Brij 35, 20∼30%), and distilled-water (34.5∼50.0%) on properties of the drug-loaded nanoemulsions including physicochemical characters and drug permeability through rat skin. The result showed that the hydrophilic drug in aqueous solution with or without penetration enhancer could not transport across rat skin after 12 h of application. Used nanoemulsions as carrier vehicle, the permeation rate of drug was significantly increased from 0 to 63.23 µg/cm2/h and the lag time was shortened from more than 12 h to about 2.7∼4.0 h. Moreover, the drug-loaded nanoemulsion formulation also showed physicochemical stability after 3 month storage at 25°C and 40°C.
Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplant Survival in the Injured Rodent Spinal Cord

Transplantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a promising therapy for spinal cord repair. Its potential, however, is limited by poor survival of the cells in the damaged nervous tissue. A number of studies have tried to improve MSC transplant survival, yet often with limited or short-term effects. Survival enhancing strategies include optimizing timing of transplantation, suppressing the immune response, transplantation within a scaffold to limit anoikis, reducing reactive oxygen species and/or macrophages, genetically modifying MSCs, and electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. This review provides an overview of studies that have investigated MSC survival after transplantation into animal models of spinal cord injury.
Thalamocortical Mechanisms for the Anteriorization of Alpha Rhythms during Propofol-Induced Unconsciousness

As humans are induced into a state of general anesthesia via propofol, the normal alpha rhythm (8–13 Hz) in the occipital cortex disappears and a frontal alpha rhythm emerges. This spatial shift in alpha activity is called anteriorization. We present a thalamocortical model that suggests mechanisms underlying anteriorization. Our model captures the neural dynamics of anteriorization when we adjust it to reflect two key actions of propofol: its potentiation of GABA and its reduction of the hyperpolarization-activated current Ih. The reduction in Ih abolishes the occipital alpha by silencing a specialized subset of thalamocortical cells, thought to generate occipital alpha at depolarized membrane potentials (>−60 mV). The increase in GABA inhibition imposes an alpha timescale on both the cortical and thalamic portions of the frontal component that are reinforced by reciprocal thalamocortical feedback. Anteriorization can thus be understood as a differential effect of anesthetic drugs on thalamic nuclei with disparate spatial projections, i.e.: (1) they disrupt the normal, depolarized alpha in posterior-projecting thalamic nuclei while (2) they engage a new, hyperpolarized alpha in frontothalamic nuclei. Our model generalizes to other anesthetics that include GABA as a target, since the molecular targets of many such anesthetics alter the model dynamics in a manner similar to that of propofol.
Circle of Willis in adults.

OBJECTIVE This study was carried out to describe the main variations of the Circle of Willis and to clarify the clinical importance of these variations, so that practitioners and the students are more alert when dealing with this subject. METHODS This work is based on the study of 50 Circles of Willis from adult Jordanians who died from diverse causes without signs of cerebrovascular diseases. The arteries of these circles are drawn and measured with the aid of a stereoscopic microscope provided with a drawing tube. RESULTS Fourteen types of Willis polygonals have been identified among which 13 would be assimilated to polygonals already described in previous studies. The 14th is original and seems proper to our series. We have described wide diversity of variations found within these 14 types of Willis polygonals. We presented the frequency of the different variations and discussed the clinical significance of these variations. CONCLUSION The variations of the Circle of Willis are very common and they may have important influence on the manifestations and treatment of some diseases that are caused by obstruction of one of the arteries that supply the brain.
Face Alignment Using K-Cluster Regression Forests With Weighted Splitting

In this letter, we present a face alignment pipeline based on two novel methods: weighted splitting for K-cluster Regression Forests (KRF) and three-dimensional Affine Pose Regression (3D-APR) for face shape initialization. Our face alignment method is based on the Local Binary Feature (LBF) framework, where instead of standard regression forests and pixel difference features used in the original method, we use our K-Cluster Regression Forests with Weighted Splitting (KRFWS) and Pyramid Histogram of Oriented Gradients (PHOG) features. We also use KRFWS to perform APR and 3D-APR, which intend to improve the face shape initialization. APR applies a rigid 2-D transform to the initial face shape that compensates for inaccuracy in the initial face location, size, and in-plane rotation. 3D-APR estimates the parameters of a 3-D transform that additionally compensates for out-of-plane rotation. The resulting pipeline, consisting of APR and 3D-APR followed by face alignment, shows an improvement of 20% over standard LBF on the challenging Intelligent Behaviour Understanding Group (IBUG) dataset, and state-of-the-art accuracy on the entire 300-W dataset.
Brain-Compatible Learning.

Page 7 AS YOU read the latest findings in brain research in education journals, you may well find yourself wondering, “Is this just another fad to dance across the education landscape? ” But understanding the workings of the human brain can be the catalyst for dramatic and needed changes in classrooms. While scientists caution that they are only beginning to unravel the secrets of how humans learn, what they have already uncovered provides groundbreaking insights for educational practice. For the first time in the history of formal schooling, we have the opportunity and challenge to understand and act on the biology of learning rather than simply following traditional practices. The current explosion of new knowledge about the brain is an invitation to examine our practice, commit ourselves to drop what is ineffective, and embrace promising new approaches that are braincompatible rather than brain-antagonistic. I believe that environmental educators are uniquely poised to act on the findings of brain research, and in this article I invite you to take up the challenge yourself. Since students’ mastery of the school curriculum happens primarily in the brain, it stands to reason that educators should be experts on the workings of that amazing organ. But just what do educators need to know from brain research findings? And what are examples of brain-compatible practices? Starting with a brief history of the influence of neuroscience on education, I will provide a summary of key brain research findings and their implications for your own approaches as an educator. Brain-Compatible Learning
Epidemiological Consequences of Imperfect Vaccines for Immunizing Infections

The control of some childhood diseases has proven to be difficult even in countries that maintain high vaccination coverage. This may be due to the use of imperfect vaccines and there has been much discussion on the different modes by which vaccines might fail. To understand the epidemiological implications of some of these different modes, we performed a systematic analysis of a model based on the standard SIR equations with a vaccinated component that permits vaccine failure in degree ("leakiness"), take ("all-or-nothingness") and duration (waning of vaccine-derived immunity). The model was first considered as a system of ordinary differential equations, then extended to a system of partial differential equations to accommodate age structure. We derived analytic expressions for the steady states of the system and the final age distributions in the case of homogenous contact rates. The stability of these equilibria are determined by a threshold parameter Rp , a function of the vaccine failure parameters and the coverage p. The value of p for which Rp = 1 yields the critical vaccination ratio, a measure of herd immunity. Using this concept we can compare vaccines that confer the same level of herd immunity to the population but may fail at the individual level in different ways. For any fixed Rp > 1, the leaky model results in the highest prevalence of infection, while the all-or-nothing and waning models have the same steady state prevalence. The actual composition of a vaccine cannot be determined on the basis of steady state levels alone, however the distinctions can be made by looking at transient dynamics (such as after the onset of vaccination), the mean age of infection, the age distributions at steady state of the infected class, and the effect of age-specific contact rates.
Pharmacogenomics of Human ABC Transporter ABCC11 (MRP8): Potential Risk of Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy Failure

Some genetic polymorphisms of human ABC transporter genes are reportedly related to the risk of certain diseases and patients’ responses to medication. Human ABCC11 functions as an ATP-dependent efflux pump for amphipathic anions. One non-synonymous SNP 538G>A (Gly180Arg) has been found to greatly affect the function and stability of de novo synthesized ABCC11 (Arg180) variant protein. The SNP variant lacking N-linked glycosylation is recognized as a misfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and readily undergoes proteasomal degradation. This ER-associated degradation of ABCC11 protein underlies the molecular mechanism of affecting the function of apocrine glands. On the other hand, the wild type (Gly180) of ABCC11 is associated with wettype earwax, axillary osmidrosis, colostrum secretion from the mammary gland, and the potential susceptibility of breast cancer. Furthermore, the wild type of ABCC11 reportedly has ability to efflux cyclic nucleotides and nucleoside-based anticancer drugs. The SNP (538G>A) of the ABCC11 gene is suggested to be a clinical biomarker for prediction of chemotherapeutic efficacy. Major obstacle to the successful chemotherapy of human cancer is development of resistance, and nucleoside-based chemotherapy is often characterized by inter-individual variability. This review provides an overview about the discovery and the genetic polymorphisms in human ABCC11. Furthermore, we focus on the impact of ABCC11 538G>A on the apocrine phenotype, patients’ response to nucleoside-based chemotherapy, and the potential risk of breast cancer.
Opposing Roles of the Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Cascades in Ras-Mediated Downregulation of Tropomyosin

ABSTRACT We showed previously that activated Ras, but not Raf, causes transformation of RIE-1 epithelial cells, demonstrating the importance of Raf-independent pathways in mediating Ras transformation. To assess the mechanism by which Raf-independent effector signaling pathways contribute to Ras-mediated transformation, we recently utilized representational difference analysis to identify genes expressed in a deregulated fashion by activated Ras but not Raf. One gene identified in these analyses encodes for α-tropomyosin. Therefore, we evaluated the mechanism by which Ras causes the downregulation of tropomyosin expression. By using RIE-1 cells that harbor inducible expression of activated H-Ras(12V), we determined that the downregulation of tropomyosin expression correlated with the onset of morphological transformation. We found that the reversal of Ras transformation caused by inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation corresponded to a restoration of tropomyosin expression. Inhibition of p38 activity in Raf-expressing RIE-1 cells caused both morphological transformation and loss of tropomyosin expression. Thus, a reduction in tropomyosin expression correlated strictly with morphological transformation of RIE-1 cells. However, forced overexpression of tropomyosin in Ras-transformed cells did not reverse morphological or growth transformation, a finding consistent with the possibility that multiple changes in gene expression contribute to Ras transformation. We also determined that tropomyosin expression was low in two human tumor cell lines, DLD-1 and HT1080, that harbor endogenous mutated alleles of ras, but high in transformation-impaired, derivative cell lines in which the mutant ras allele has been genetically deleted. Finally, treatment with azadeoxycytidine restored tropomyosin expression in Ras-transformed RIE-1, HT1080, and DLD-1 cells, suggesting a role for DNA methylation in downregulating tropomyosin expression.