Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTIGATING ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ON THEIR OWN TERMS : A PROPOSAL FOR THE CREATION OF STATE-SPECIFIC SCIENCES

Because various phenomena of consciousness have powerful effects on science, personal life, values and culture, they must be studied in their own right, especially the effects of altered states of consciousness (ASCs). After separating the methods of essential science from the more particularized methods of paradigmatic fields, often confused with science per se, I propose that the methods of essential science (observation, theorizing, prediction, communication/ consensual validation) can be applied from within various ASCs, using the state-specific perceptions and logics of these states to form a variety of state-specific, complementary sciences which will expand our understanding of both consciousness and world. Problems with and prospects for the development of such state-specific sciences (SSSs) are discussed.
Cognitive Therapy for Depression

Thirty-one community-residing older adults age 60 or over either received 16 sessions of individual cognitive psychotherapy (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) or read Feeling Good (Burns, 1980) for bibliotherapy. Posttreatment comparisons with the delayed-treatment control indicated that both treatments were superior to a delayed-treatment control. Individual psychotherapy was superior to bibliotherapy at posttreatment on self-reported depression, but there were no differences on clinician-rated depression. Further, bibliotherapy participants continued to improve after posttreatment, and there were no differences between treatments at 3-month follow-up. Results suggest that bibliotherapy and that individual psychotherapy are both viable treatment options for depression in older adults.
Parametric value function approximation: A unified view

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning answer to the optimal control problem. It consists of learning an optimal control policy through interactions with the system to be controlled, the quality of this policy being quantified by the so-called value function. An important RL subtopic is to approximate this function when the system is too large for an exact representation. This survey reviews and unifies state of the art methods for parametric value function approximation by grouping them into three main categories: bootstrapping, residuals and projected fixed-point approaches. Related algorithms are derived by considering one of the associated cost functions and a specific way to minimize it, almost always a stochastic gradient descent or a recursive least-squares approach.
Inhibition of in vivo glioma growth and invasion by PPARgamma agonist treatment Molecular

: The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR γ ), a member of the nuclear hormone receptor family, represents a possible new target in glioma therapy. Since PPAR γ plays a crucial role in regulation of insulin-sensitivity, synthetic agonists are already in clinical use for type II diabetes treatment. Beyond these metabolic effects, PPAR γ agonists exhibit antineoplastic effects. Here, we investigated the antineoplastic effects of the PPAR γ agonist pioglitazone in glioma cells. Pioglitazone reduced cellular viability of rat, human and PPAR γ overexpressing glioma cells in vitro in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. No antineoplastic effects were induced by pioglitazone in glioma cells overexpressing a PPAR γ mutant. Furthermore, proliferation was reduced by pioglitazone, measured by Ki-67 immunoreactivity, in vitro . Continuous intracerebral infusion of pioglitazone into gliomas induced by intrastriatal injection of C6 cells reduced tumor volumes by 83%. Oral administration of pioglitazone reduced tumor volumes by 76.9%. Subsequent brain tissue analysis revealed induction of apoptotic cell death. Ki-67-expression and BrdU-incorporation revealed a reduction of proliferation in vivo . Reduced invasion of C6 cells and lower MMP9 levels in vivo indicate pio-mediated reduction of invasion. Together, these data indicate that pioglitazone may be of potential use in treatment of malignant gliomas.
A mobile picture tagging system using tree-structured layered Bayesian networks

Advances in digital media technology have increased in multimedia content. Tagging is one of the most effective methods to manage a great volume of multimedia content. However, manual tagging has limitations such as human fatigue and subjective and ambiguous keywords. In this paper, we present an automatic tagging method to generate semantic annotation on a mobile phone. In order to overcome the constraints of the mobile environment, the method uses two layered Bayesian networks. In contrast to existing techniques, this approach attempts to design probabilistic models with fixed tree structures and intermediate nodes. To evaluate the performance of this method, an experiment is conducted with data collected over a month. The result shows the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed method. Furthermore, a simple graphic user interface is developed to visualize and evaluate recognized activities and probabilities.
Handheld scanning with ToF sensors and cameras

Novel real-time depth acquisition devices, like Time-OfFlight (ToF) cameras or Microsoft Kinect, allow a very fast and simple acquisition of 3D views. These sensors have been used in many applications but their employment for 3D scanning purposes is a very challenging task due to the limited accuracy and reliability of their data. In this paper we present a 3D acquisition pipeline explicitly targeted to ToF cameras. The proposed scheme aims at obtaining a reliable reconstruction that is not affected by the limiting issues of these cameras and is at the same time simple and fast in order to allow to use the ToF sensor as an handheld scanner. In order to achieve these targets an ad-hoc pre-processing stage is used together with a modified version of the ICP algorithm that is able to recognize the most reliable and relevant points and to use only them for registration purposes. Furthermore, ToF cameras have also been combined with standard color cameras in order to acquire colored 3D models. Experimental results show how the proposed approach is able to produce reliable 3D reconstructions from the ToF data.
A Novel Clamp Based ESD Protection Structure for High Power RF Ports in GaAs pHEMT Process

The article presents a novel method of protecting RF ports designed to handle high (>30dBm) power levels. An Enhancement mode (E-mode) pHEMT clamp consists of Field effect transistor (FET) with a resistor connected between gate and source. Our design consists of two such clamps connected in back to back configuration. The structure was connected to the Transmit (TX) port of a WiFi front end module (WiFi FEM). Transmission line pulsing (TLP) and Human Body Model (HBM) testing was used to characterize the clamp. The low capacitance (<100fF) along with high trigger voltage (±21V) makes this clamp a suitable candidate for protecting high power RF ports.
Methods for Simultaneous EEG-fMRI: An Introductory Review

The simultaneous recording and analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) and fMRI data in human systems, cognitive and clinical neurosciences is rapidly evolving and has received substantial attention. The significance of multimodal brain imaging is documented by a steadily increasing number of laboratories now using simultaneous EEG-fMRI aiming to achieve both high temporal and spatial resolution of human brain function. Due to recent developments in technical and algorithmic instrumentation, the rate-limiting step in multimodal studies has shifted from data acquisition to analytic aspects. Here, we introduce and compare different methods for data integration and identify the benefits that come with each approach, guiding the reader toward an understanding and informed selection of the integration approach most suitable for addressing a particular research question.
Anomaly Detection in Data with Extremely High Dimensional Space via Online Oversampling Principal Component Analysis

Anomaly detection is a crucial analysis topic in the field of data mining as well as machine learning. Several real-world applications like Intrusion or MasterCard fraud detection need a good and efficient framework to spot deviated data instances. A good anomaly detection methodology must be able to accurately establish many varieties of anomalies, robust, need comparatively very little resources, and perform detection in period of time. In this paper we proposed the idea of combining the two different algorithms i.e. Median Based Outlier Detection and Online Oversampling PCA for effective detection of anomaly in online updating mode. Median Based outlier detection uses the interquartile range which is a measure of statistical dispersion being equal to the difference between the upper and lower quartiles. Whereas oversampling PCA does not need to store the entire covariance matrix or data matrix and thus this approach is a more useful in online or large scale problem. Compared with other anomaly detection algorithm our experimental result verifies the feasibility of our proposed method.
Development and Control Method of Six-Wheel Robot with Rocker Structure

In our research group, the project, named "networked robotic system for disaster mitigation", has been carried out to perform robotic victim-search in disaster environment. In this project, we have developed a mobile robots' system which consists of small mobile robots (to search victims in collapsed buildings) and a large-mobile-robot (to convey small robots into it). In order to approach to the target buildings, the large robot is required to surmount some debris and bumpy terrain. For this purpose, the robot has six wheels, and two pairs of wheels in front are formed as actuated rocker structures. This wheel configuration can achieve "active load-equalizer" or other control methods by using load cell data. In this paper, the system description and control methods of the large robot are introduced. We also report a performance of the control methods using a "robot dynamics simulator" developed in our group and preliminary experiments using real robot to evaluate the feasibility of our approach.
Redesign with TSDEs Original Version Using the Approach for Dinner Now

Trust has been shown to be a major antecedent of technology acceptance and usage. Consequently, behavioral research has created vast insights on trust building. However, only a small fraction of the existing literature also shows ways of systematically including these insights into system design. Hence, the potential of most behavioral insights on trust for developing new systems often remains only partly realized. To alleviate this problem, we present a way to systematically derive trust-supporting design elements using trust theory. Using a laboratory experiment, we show that the trustrelated design elements derived from theory are regarded as being important by the participants, and significantly increased their trust in a restaurant recommendation system as well as in their intention to use it in the future. Author
Older Athletes' Perceived Benefits of Competition

Intense sport competition is typically associated with young people. Also, much of the literature on exercise for older adults focuses on benefits derived from regular physical activity, such as walking, dancing and fitness classes, and suggests that one should avoid extremely strenuous exercise. The rising phenomenon of older people competing in sport presents a challenge to these assumptions. In 2009, approximately 28,000 athletes from 95 countries gathered in Sydney, Australia to compete across 28 different sports at the World Masters Games. We interviewed 44 competitors (23 females, 21 males; aged 56-90 years; M=72) about what they gained from competing in sport that extended beyond non-competitive physical activity outcomes. Five key themes emerged from the data. The first theme, “I like a challenge”, depicts Masters sport as an ideal context to test one’s abilities. In particular, lifelong athletes (or those who had returned to sport after a long break) enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing they “can still do it”! On the other hand, Masters competitions provide space for older people to begin sport in later life, as the second theme highlights, “I discovered that at this age group I could win things”! Theme three, “I’m more motivated to work harder”, describes how regular competitions provided goals for participants which structured their training. Also, the act of competing brought out their best performances. The fourth theme, “You know where you stand”, shows how participants liked that competition enabled them to compare themselves with others of their own age cohort. The final theme, “Travel” and “companionship”, explains how the organized, competitive structure of Masters sport and its club system allowed for regular travel, the establishment of ongoing friendships and weekly social interaction. Our data suggest that sport provides unique benefits to participants above and beyond those gained from general physical activity.
Two-photon and three-photon blockades in driven nonlinear systems

Photon blockade, in analogy to Coulomb’s or phonon blockade s, is a phenomenon when a single photon in a nonlinear cavity blocks the transmission of a second photon. This effect can occur in Kerr-type systems driven by a laser due to strong nonlinear photon-photon interactions. We predict the occurrence of higher-order photon blockades where the transmission of more than two photons is effectively blocked by single- and two-photon states. This photon blockade can be achieved by tuning the frequency of the laser driving field to be equal to the sum of the Kerr nonlinearity and the cavity resonance frequency. We refer to this phenomenon as twophoton blockade or two-photon state truncation via nonlinear scissors, and can also be interpreted as photoninduced tunneling. We also show that, for a driving-field fre quency fulfilling another resonance condition and for higher strengths of the driving field, even a three-photo n blockade can occur but less clearly than in the case of single- and two-photon blockades. We demonstrate how various photon blockades can be identified by analyzing photon-number correlations, coherence and entropic properties, Wigner functions, and spectra of squeezing. We show that two- and three-photon blockades can, in principle, be observed in various cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamical systems for which the standard single-photon blockade was observed without the need of using higher-order driving interactions or Kerr media exhibiting higher-order nonlinear susceptibility.
Divergence in mating signals correlates with genetic distance and behavioural responses to playback

Animals use acoustic signals to defend resources against rivals and attract breeding partners. As with many biological traits, acoustic signals may reflect ancestry; closely related species often produce more similar signals than do distantly related species. Whether this similarity in acoustic signals is biologically relevant to animals is poorly understood. We conducted a playback experiment to measure the physical and vocal responses of male songbirds to the songs of both conspecific and allopatric‐congeneric animals that varied in their acoustic and genetic similarity. Our subjects were territorial males of four species of neotropical Troglodytes wrens: Brown‐throated Wrens (Troglodytes brunneicollis), Cozumel Wrens (T. beani), Clarion Wrens (T. tanneri) and Socorro Wrens (T. sissonii). Our results indicate that birds respond to playback of both conspecific and allopatric‐congeneric animals; that acoustic differences increase with genetic distance; and that genetic divergence predicts the strength of behavioural responses to playback, after removing the effects of acoustic similarity between subjects’ songs and playback stimuli. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the most distantly related species have the most divergent songs; that male wrens perceive divergence in fine structural characteristics of songs; and that perceptual differences between species reflect evolutionary history. This study offers novel insight into the importance of acoustic divergence of learned signals and receiver responses in species recognition.
New Schools for a New Millennium: Court-Mandated School Facilities Construction in New Jersey.

During a visit to schools in New Jersey, it is not uncommon for a principal to p int out the age and condition of th building. During one recent trip, the principal insisted on showing me the "Titanic Room," an unlocked room next to a prekindergarten class room, filled with antiquated boilers. Another school visited had been built entirely without windows. As part of New Jersey's School Construction Initiative, both of these schools are scheduled for demolition. Illustrations and depictions of aging and over crowded schools are now commonplace in New Jersey. As early as 1977, a study conducted by architects, engineers, and planners concluded that over $2 billion in facility needs ex isted.1 Another study illustrated that in the four-year period between 1995-1996 and 1999-2000 an increasing percentage of schools were exceeding their buildings' design capacity in terms of students housed. For the property-poor districts, the increase was 5 percent. In the 1999-2000 year, 49 percent of the urban schools were pre dicted to exceed design capacity, compared to 44 percent in 1995 1996. Sixty-seven percent of the urban schools were expected to exceed 90 percent of their design capacity in 1999-2000, compared to 62 percent in 1995-1996. For other districts, the percentages were dramatically lower, illustrating the substantial difference be tween urban and non-urban school facility adequacy. However, the percentage of schools in non-urban districts that exceeded their design capacity gained 7 percentage points during the same pe riod, from 15 to 22 percent, while the percentage that exceeded 90
Research Perspectives on the Public and Fire Management: A Synthesis of Current Social Science on Eight Essential Questions

As part of a Joint Fire Science Program project, a team of social scientists reviewed existing fire social science literature to develop a targeted synthesis of scientific knowledge on the following questions: 1. What is the public's understanding of fire's role in the ecosystem? 2. Who are trusted sources of information about fire? 3. What are the public's views of fuels reduction methods, and how do those views vary depending on citizens' location in the wildland-urban interface or elsewhere? 4. What is the public's understanding of smoke effects on human health, and what shapes the public's tolerance for smoke? 5. What are homeowners' views of their responsibilities for home and property protection and mitigation, e.g., defensible space measures? 6. What role does human health and safety play in the public's perceptions of fire and fire management? 7. What are the public's views on the role and importance of costs in wildfire incident response decisions? 8. To the extent that information is available, how do findings differ among ethnic and cultural groups, and across regions of the country?
The developmental cell biology of Trypanosoma brucei

Trypanosoma brucei provides an excellent system for studies of many aspects of cell biology, including cell structure and morphology, organelle positioning, cell division and protein trafficking. However, the trypanosome has a complex life cycle in which it must adapt either to the mammalian bloodstream or to different compartments within the tsetse fly. These differentiation events require stage-specific changes to basic cell biological processes and reflect responses to environmental stimuli and programmed differentiation events that must occur within a single cell. The organization of cell structure is fundamental to the trypanosome throughout its life cycle. Modulations of the overall cell morphology and positioning of the specialized mitochondrial genome, flagellum and associated basal body provide the classical descriptions of the different life cycle stages of the parasite. The dependency relationships that govern these morphological changes are now beginning to be understood and their molecular basis identified. The overall picture emerging is of a highly organized cell in which the rules established for cell division and morphogenesis in organisms such as yeast and mammalian cells do not necessarily apply. Therefore, understanding the developmental cell biology of the African trypanosome is providing insight into both fundamentally conserved and fundamentally different aspects of the organization of the eukaryotic cell.
A conditional mutual information based selectional association and word sense disambiguation

This paper presents a conditional mutual information based selectional association to measure the selectional preference between two words in the same sentence. This selectional association is integrated conditional mutual information and a syntactic knowledge called link grammar. The selectional association is applied to indicative words selection for target words disambiguation. The experimental results show that this conditional mutual information based selectional association is able to select the appropriate word to indicate the appropriate meaning to the target word in different context.
Bacterial Probiotic Modulation of Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Intestinal dendritic cells are continually exposed to ingested microorganisms and high concentrations of endogenous bacterial flora. These cells can be activated by infectious agents and other stimuli to induce T-cell responses and to produce chemokines which recruit other cells to the local environment. Bacterial probiotics are of increasing use against intestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease. They act as nonpathogenic stimuli within the gut to regain immunologic quiescence. This study was designed to determine the ability of a bacterial probiotic cocktail VSL#3 to alter cell surface antigen expression and cytokine production in bone marrow-derived dendritic cell-enriched populations. Cell surface phenotype was monitored by monoclonal fluorescent antibody staining, and cytokine levels were quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. High-dose probiotic upregulated the expression of C80, CD86, CD40, and major histocompatibility complex class II I-Ad. Neither B7-DC or B7RP-1 was augmented after low-dose probiotic or Lactobacillus casei treatment, but B7RP-1 showed increased expression on dendritic cells stimulated with the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli. Functional studies showed that probiotic did not enhance the ability of dendritic cells to induce allogeneic T-cell proliferation, as was observed for E. coli. Substantial enhancement of interleukin-10 release was observed in dendritic cell-enriched culture supernatants after 3 days of probiotic stimulation. These results demonstrate that probiotics possess the ability to modulate dendritic cell surface phenotype and cytokine release in granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-stimulated bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Regulation of dendritic cell cytokines by probiotics may contribute to the benefit of these molecules in treatment of intestinal diseases.