Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurotrophin-3 Administration Attenuates Deficits of Pyridoxine-Induced Large-Fiber Sensory Neuropathy

Chronic treatment of adult rats for 2–3 weeks with high doses of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) produced a profound proprioceptive loss, similar to that found in humans overdosed with this vitamin or treated with the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Pyridoxine toxicity was manifest as deficits in simple and precise locomotion and sensory nerve function and as degeneration of large-diameter/large-fiber spinal sensory neurons. As assessed quantitatively in a beam-walking task and by EMG recording of H waves evoked by peripheral nerve stimulation, coadministration of the neurotrophic factor neurotrophin-3 (NT-3; 5–20 mg · kg−1 · d−1, s.c.) during chronic pyridoxine treatment largely attenuated the behavioral and electrophysiological sequelae associated with pyridoxine toxicity. Furthermore, NT-3 administration prevented degeneration of sensory fibers in the dorsal column of the spinal cord. These data are consistent with the evidence that NT-3 is a target-derived neurotrophic factor for muscle sensory afferents and suggest that pharmacological doses of NT-3 may be beneficial in the treatment of large-fiber sensory neuropathies.
A new interpretation on fuzzy differential equations: Linguistic concepts evolving over time

Fuzzy differential equations have been explored in many different ways, including theoretical aspects and in applications. The interpretation that is given to the fuzziness is a uncertainty due to fluctuations accumulated in the measurement process or due to partial information. This has much to do with a probabilistic interpretation. We propose to interpret the fuzziness as Zadeh first stated: membership to a non-sharp concept. As example we solve a fuzzy initial value problem whose independent variable is the time and the unknown variable is regarded as a single concept (the word “tall”) whose compatibility (membership) function varies over time. In summary, the main novelty is that the fuzzy differential equation models a concept evolving over time.
How Secure is Your Smart Watch

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of devices, vehicles, buildings and other items which are able to collect and exchange data. IoT devices are furnished with technologies such as electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity in order to function as desired. A smart watch can be considered as an IoT device as they are equipped by almost all necessary technologies. In essence, smart watches are effectively wearable computers with communications and sensing capabilities. Many mobile apps run over smart watches using a mobile operating system. However, as the other IoT devices they are subject to security issues. In this paper, by surveying and reporting the security concerns and issues at smart watches, we aim to raise awareness on this matter. We also propose a road map for a more secure smart watch platform by defining the responsible actors and their responsibilities.
Auditory Spatial Tuning in Late-onset Blindness in Humans

Blind individuals who lost their sight as older children or adults were compared with normally sighted controls in their ability to focus auditory spatial attention and to localize sounds in a noisy acoustic environment. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants attended to sounds presented in free field from either central or peripheral arrays of speakers with the task of detecting infrequent targets at the attended location. When attending to the central array of speakers, the two groups detected targets equally well, and their spatial tuning curves for both ERPs and target detections were highly similar. By contrast, late blind participants were significantly more accurate than sighted participants at localizing sounds in the periphery. For both groups, the early N1 amplitude to peripheral standard stimuli displayed no significant spatial tuning. In contrast, the amplitude of the later P3 elicited by targets/deviants displayed a more sharply tuned spatial gradient during peripheral attention in the late blind than in the sighted group. These findings were compared with those of a previous study of congenitally blind individuals in the same task Rder, B. , Teder-Slejrvi, W. , Sterr, A. , Rsler, F. , Hillyard, S. A. , & Neville, H. J. Improved auditory spatial tuning in blind humans. Nature, 400, 162166, 1999. It was concluded that both late blind and congenitally blind individuals demonstrate an enhanced capability for focusing auditory attention in the periphery, but they do so via different mechanisms: whereas congenitally blind persons demonstrate a more sharply tuned early attentional filtering, manifested in the N1, late blind individuals show superiority in a later stage of target discrimination and recognition, indexed by the P3.
Fitness of Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson in the Cilantro Phyllosphere

ABSTRACT The epiphytic fitness of Salmonella enterica was assessed on cilantro plants by using a strain of S. enterica serovar Thompson that was linked to an outbreak resulting from cilantro. Salmonella serovar Thompson had the ability to colonize the surface of cilantro leaves, where it was detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) at high densities on the veins and in natural lesions. The population sizes of two common colonizers of plant surfaces, Pantoea agglomerans and Pseudomonas chlororaphis, were 10-fold higher than that of the human pathogen on cilantro incubated at 22°C. However, Salmonella serovar Thompson achieved significantly higher population levels and accounted for a higher proportion of the total culturable bacterial flora on cilantro leaves when the plants were incubated at warm temperatures, such as 30°C, after inoculation, indicating that the higher growth rates exhibited by Salmonella serovar Thompson at warm temperatures may increase the competitiveness of this organism in the phyllosphere. The tolerance of Salmonella serovar Thompson to dry conditions on plants at 60% relative humidity was at least equal to that of P. agglomerans and P. chlororaphis. Moreover, after exposure to low humidity on cilantro, Salmonella serovar Thompson recovered under high humidity to achieve its maximum population size in the cilantro phyllosphere. Visualization by CLSM of green fluorescent protein-tagged Salmonella serovar Thompson and dsRed-tagged P. agglomerans inoculated onto cilantro revealed that the human pathogen and the bacterial epiphyte formed large heterogeneous aggregates on the leaf surface. Our studies support the hypothesis that preharvest contamination of crops by S. enterica plays a role in outbreaks linked to fresh fruits and vegetables.
Mixed load balance strategy to improve performance efficacy for three tiers Peer-to-Peer network topology

Nowadays, due to the advantage of technology and the Internet popularization, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) computing technology has been gradually becoming the mainstream on the distributed system applications. However, the main purpose of P2P computing technology is to process the large-scale task through the distributed system computer cooperatively. Therefore, how to efficiently assign tasks to every nodes and how to make tasks to achieve the load balance on each node of the system are a worthy discussion issue. In this research paper, we proposed the Load Balance Min-Min (LBMM) schedule algorithm to process the task assignment in the three tiers of P2P network topology architecture. Through setting up the threshold value, every task which needs to be executed can be quickly assigned on the suitable nodes. In this method, it can not only improve the task loading on each node but also choose the most suitable node by the task characteristic in order to provide the Quality Assurance (QA) on the three tiers of P2P network topology of the load balance and the performance efficacy.
Integral field spectroscopy of extended Lyα emission from the DLA galaxy in Q2233+131

This paper presents observations of an extended Lyman- α emission nebula surrounding the galaxy responsible for the Damped Lyman- α Absorption (DLA) line in the spectrum of the quasar Q2233+131. With the Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) we measure the properties of the extended Ly α emission in an area of $3\arcsec$ $\times$ $5\arcsec$ having a total line flux of (2.8 ± 0.3) $\times$ 10 -16 erg cm -2 s -1 , which at redshift $z=3.15$ corresponds to a luminosity of ($2.4_{-0.2}^{+0.3})\times10^{43}$ erg s -1 and a size of 23 $\times$ 38 kpc. The location of the emission is spatially coincident with the previously detected DLA galaxy, but extends significantly beyond its limb. We argue that the Ly α emission is likely to be caused by an outflow from the DLA galaxy, presumably powered by star formation. In the case of negligible dust extinction, the Ly α luminosity indicates a star-formation rate of 19 ± $10~M_{\odot}$ yr -1 consistent with that derived from the UV continuum flux from the parent galaxy. The wind velocity indicated by the integral field spectra is of the order of several hundred km s -1 . We find no indication of emission originating in a rotating disk.
Detecting and Preventing Program Inconsistencies under Database Schema Evolution

Nowadays, data-intensive applications tend to access their underlying database in an increasingly dynamic way. The queries that they send to the database server are usually built at runtime, through String concatenation, or Object-Relational-Mapping (ORM) frameworks. This level of dynamicity significantly complicates the task of adapting application programs to database schema changes. Failing to correctly adapt programs to an evolving database schema results in program inconsistencies, which in turn may cause program failures. In this paper, we present a tool-supported approach, that allows developers to (1) analyze how the source code and database schema co-evolved in the past and (2) simulate a database schema change and automatically determine the set of source code locations that would be impacted by this change. Developers are then provided with recommendations about what they should modify at those source code locations in order to avoid inconsistencies. The approach has been designed to deal with Java systems that use dynamic data access frameworks such as JDBC, Hibernate and JPA. We motivate and evaluate the proposed approach, based on three real-life systems of different size and nature.
State-Related Inhibition by GABA and Glycine of Transmission in Clarke's Column

During the state of active sleep (AS), Clarke's column dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DSCT) neurons undergo a marked reduction in their spontaneous and excitatory amino acid (EAA)-evoked responses. The present study was performed to examine the magnitude, consistency of AS-specific suppression, and potential role of classical inhibitory amino acids GABA and glycine (GLY) in mediating this phenomenon. AS-specific suppression of DSCT neurons, expressed as the reduction in mean spontaneous firing rate during AS versus the preceding episode of wakefulness, was compared across three consecutive sleep cycles (SC), each consisting of wakefulness (W), AS, and awakening from AS (RW). Spontaneous spike rate did not differ during W or RW between SC1, SC2, and SC3. AS-specific suppression of spontaneous firing rate was found to be consistent and measured 40.3, 31.5, and 41.6% in SC1, SC2, and SC3, respectively, indicating that such inhibition is marked and stable for pharmacological analyses. Microiontophoretic experiments were performed in which the magnitude of AS-specific suppression of spontaneous spike activity was measured over three consecutive SCs: SC1-control (no drug), SC2-test (drug), and SC3-recovery (no drug). The magnitude of AS-specific suppression during SC2-test measured only 11.7 or 14.6% in the presence of GABAA antagonist bicuculline (BIC) or GLY antagonist strychnine (STY), respectively. Coadministration of BIC and STY abolished AS-specific suppression. AS-specific suppression of EAA-evoked DSCT spike activity was also abolished in SC2-test after BIC or STY, respectively. We conclude that GABA and GLY mediate behavioral state-specific inhibition of ascending sensory transmission via Clarke's column DSCT neurons.
Interfacial Roughening During Solid Phase Epitaxy: Interaction of Dopant, Stress, and Anisotropy Effects

The effects of externally applied stress and rate-enhancing dopants on interfacial roughness during the solid phase epitaxial growth of ion-implantation-doped Si are investigated using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and time-resolved reflectivity. We find long-wavelength roughness in the absence of an applied stress that arises solely from the dopant-gradient. With the addition of a compressive stress, the interface roughens further with an enhanced magnitude and a dramatically reduced wavelength. We discuss the experimental results in the context of a simulation that includes our current understanding of stress, dopant-gradient, and interface anisotropy effects. We find a rich interplay between these effects in determining growth morphology evolution, and demonstrate the successes and current limitations of the model.
A Simple Taxonomy of Search Reduction in Direct Combination

Direct Combination (DC) is a new interaction principle with the capacity to reduce users' search, particularly when interactions involve more than one object or device. The principle applies to arbitrary combinations of physical objects, virtual objects, remote objects, and subparts of objects. In this paper we distinguish between several different ways in which Direct Combination can be used to reduce search, as identified in a preliminary evaluation of a prototype DC interface.
Directed-simulation assisted formal verification of serial protocol and bridge

Robust verification of protocol conversion and arbitration schemes of SoC bridges forms a significant component of the overall SoC verification. Formal verification provides a way to achieve this, but a naive approach often leads to explosion of the state space, and is impractical for most of today's protocols and bridges. This problem is further complicated in the presence of serial protocols, where control and data are mixed together and transactions continue for very great depths. White-box verification is not a feasible solution, since these bridges are often imported or generated from other sources, and internal information is not readily available. In this paper, we propose a black-box and hybrid approach to this problem, by judiciously mixing simulation and formal verification. We illustrate our approach by applying it to two dual stage bridges that perform serial to parallel protocol conversion and vice versa
Internal Regulatory Variables and the Design of Human Motivation: A Computational and Evolutionary Approach

Internal regulatory variables and the design of human motivation: A computational and evolutionary approach. Cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology both offer compelling visions of what the brain does, but there is a radical disconnect between them. Evolutionary biology tells us that we are beings whose brains evolved to pursue utilitarian goals, goals that promoted survival and reproduction in ancestral environments. Cognitive psychology tells us that our brains contain mechanisms of perception, 250 Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation attention, memory, reasoning, and learning that, while not infallible, produce knowledge that tracks at least some aspects of reality. Fodor goes even further: he says that the function of cognition is " the fi xation of true beliefs " (Fodor, 2000, p. 68). This sounds fi ne, until you realize the problem. True beliefs, by themselves, contain no information about how to behave—what to value, what to approach, what to avoid. Encyclopedias have no motivations. Value is not a property of the world, there to be discovered. Dung is not disgusting—it is disgusting to us, but attractive to dung fl ies. A man may be sexually attractive to many women, but sexually repulsive to his sister. Like beauty, value is in the adaptations of the beholder (Symons, 1995). The question we have been addressing in our research is how to incorporate the study of value and motivation into the framework of the cognitive sciences. There have been two strands to these explorations. The fi rst involves reasoning and concepts; the second is a new way of thinking about motivation that is both computational and grounded in evolutionary biology. A common view in cognitive psychology, most forcefully articulated by Fodor (2000), is that reasoning and concepts are designed for acquiring true beliefs, so their study can be walled off from the study of motivation—from so-called conative mechanisms, governing preferences, approach, and avoidance. In direct contrast to this view, our earliest research on reasoning was motivated by results from evolutionary game theory, which models conative (i.e., behavior-producing) mechanisms. Agents endowed with different behavior-producing mechanisms are allowed to interact, and the payoffs of these interactions determine how many copies of each (mechanism-bearing) agent appear in the next generation. This simulates how natural selection works, allowing one to see which mechanism types, which designs, will be retained over time and which will be eliminated from the population. One can then test to see whether mechanisms with …
In Situ Training of CMOL CrossNets

Hybrid semiconductor/nanodevice ("CMOL") technology may allow the implementation of digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits, including artificial neural networks ("CrossNets"), with unparalleled density and speed. However, previously suggested methods of CrossNet training may be impracticable for large-scale applications of these networks. In this work, we are describing two new methods of "in situ" training of CrossNets, based on either genuinely stochastic or pseudo-stochastic multiplication of analog signals, which may be readily implemented in CMOL circuits. The methods have been tested by numerical simulation of CrossNet-based perceptrons by error backpropagation on three problems of the Probenl benchmark dataset. The testing gave very encouraging results: CMOL CrossNets with their binary elementary synapses may provide, after the in situ training, classification performance at least on a par with the best results reported for software-based networks with continuous synaptic weights.
A convolutional neural network for steady state visual evoked potential classification under ambulatory environment

The robust analysis of neural signals is a challenging problem. Here, we contribute a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the robust classification of a steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) paradigm. We measure electroencephalogram (EEG)-based SSVEPs for a brain-controlled exoskeleton under ambulatory conditions in which numerous artifacts may deteriorate decoding. The proposed CNN is shown to achieve reliable performance under these challenging conditions. To validate the proposed method, we have acquired an SSVEP dataset under two conditions: 1) a static environment, in a standing position while fixated into a lower-limb exoskeleton and 2) an ambulatory environment, walking along a test course wearing the exoskeleton (here, artifacts are most challenging). The proposed CNN is compared to a standard neural network and other state-of-the-art methods for SSVEP decoding (i.e., a canonical correlation analysis (CCA)-based classifier, a multivariate synchronization index (MSI), a CCA combined with k-nearest neighbors (CCA-KNN) classifier) in an offline analysis. We found highly encouraging SSVEP decoding results for the CNN architecture, surpassing those of other methods with classification rates of 99.28% and 94.03% in the static and ambulatory conditions, respectively. A subsequent analysis inspects the representation found by the CNN at each layer and can thus contribute to a better understanding of the CNN’s robust, accurate decoding abilities.
Performance of a micro-fabricated Colloid thruster system

In order to fully characterize the performance of the colloid thruster system the electrospray (ES) beam must itself be fully characterized. This may be achieved by measuring various properties such as flow rate, current, droplet/ion charge to mass ratio and current profile. Beam properties of both standard electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS) emitters and arrays of custom made micro-fabricated emitters have been determined. By varying the geometries of the micro-fabricated emitters two basic modes of thruster operation have been identified a high Isp with lower thrust density and a lower Isp with higher thrust density. The versatility of this system allows for a thruster design that has a thrust range spanning two orders of magnitude from 5 to 500μN with highly competitive power requirements 0.05W/μN. The proposed thruster system is designed to meet the needs of future formation flying missions.
La participación infantil : concepto dimensional en pro de la autonomía ciudadana

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 170 970 Universidad de Salamanca 8 1 1191 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:ES;} Child participation is, at present, a key element in the environment of citizenship and education. It is based in solid legislative bases that recognize child participation, defend it, and promote it. But, it is imperative to turn from rhetoric into a reality that is part of everyday life where children reach the maximum self-governing exercise of their citizenship. To achieve this maximum, we must expand the concept of child participation and to recognize its complexity, by identifying the dimensions that feed each other and give meaning to the systematization of the responsible and autonomous practice of citizenship. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the main dimensions of the concept of child participation that reinforce their meaning and its concretization in everyday life, emphasizing the promotion and improvement of autonomous citizenship. To achieve this, we analyze the concept of participation by integrating its multiple dimensions: as a democratic value, educational content, methodology of work, educational experience, developmental principle, civic responsibility, political exercise, representing children, and finally as emotion and passion.
Piezoelectric energy harvesting from traffic-induced bridge vibrations

This paper focuses on energy harvesting from traffic-induced vibrations in bridges. Using a pre-stressed concrete highway bridge as a case study, in situ vibration measurements are presented and analysed. From these results, a prototype of a cantilever piezoelectric harvester is designed, tested and modelled. Even though the considered bridge vibrations are characterized by small amplitude and a low frequency (i.e. below 15 Hz), it is shown that mean power of the order of 0.03 mW can be produced, with a controlled voltage between 1.8 and 3.6 V. A simple model is proposed for theoretical prediction of the delivered power in terms of traffic intensity. This model shows good agreement with the experimental results and leads to a simple but effective design rule for piezoelectric harvesters to be used on bridges.