Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual word processing and experiential origins of functional selectivity in human extrastriate cortex

How do category-selective regions arise in human extrastriate cortex? Visually presented words provide an ideal test of the role of experience: Although individuals have extensive experience with visual words, our species has only been reading for a few thousand years, a period not thought to be long enough for natural selection to produce a genetically specified mechanism dedicated to visual word recognition per se. Using relatively high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (1.4 × 1.4 × 2-mm voxels), we identified a small region of extrastriate cortex in most participants that responds selectively to both visually presented words and consonant strings, compared with line drawings, digit strings, and Chinese characters. Critically, we show that this pattern of selectivity is dependent on experience with specific orthographies: The same region responds more strongly to Hebrew words in Hebrew readers than in nonreaders of Hebrew. These results indicate that extensive experience with a given visual category can produce strong selectivity for that category in discrete cortical regions.
Critical Theory in the Age of Knowledge Capitalism: Elusive Exploitation, Affects, and New Political Economies

abstract:After decades of largely avoiding engagements with political economy, discussions of speculative capitalism, neoliberalism, and the information society have become central again to critical theory. However, often when information capitalism is discussed, the more radical political potentials of the critiques remain subdued because the analyses of emergent patterns of knowledge creation and dissemination are largely understood in the context of (a) traditional categories of work and (b) political progress by increased communication and participation. This article argues that instead a focus on immaterial labor helps to grasp the constitutive difficulties in grappling with the political implications of this new economic paradigm. To make its case, the article will offer a rereading of Marx's commodity fetishism as practices of translation, transposition, and metamorphosis and elaborate how we might come to grips with the current political impasses and resist the desire for nostalgic returns to a time before speculative knowledge capitalism.
LANGUAGE INTERPRETER FOR THE DEAF CORE USING A VIRTUAL REALITY DATA-GLOVE

This project paper addresses the suitability of a low cost Data-Glove for virtual reality as a tool for reading the hand movements as help for translating sign language for deaf people. The objective is the development and programming of a software interface capable of reading the data provided by the DataGlove in USB interface for interpretation of the letters of the alphabet in sign language and presentation of its corresponding letter on the computer screen. This is the first stage, the development and test for the Data-Glove communication function, and the test with few alphabet letters.
Apolipoprotein CIII Links Hyperlipidemia With Vascular Endothelial Cell Dysfunction

Background— Apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII) is a component of some triglyceride-rich very-low-density and low-density lipoprotein and is elevated in dyslipidemia with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. We previously reported that apoCIII directly activates proinflammatory and atherogenic signaling in vascular endothelial cells through protein kinase C-&bgr; (PKC&bgr;). Because PKC&bgr; impairs the response of vascular endothelial cells to insulin, we tested the hypothesis that apoCIII affects insulin signaling in vascular endothelial cells and its function in vitro and in vivo. Methods and Results— ApoCIII inhibited insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), decreasing phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt activation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. These effects of apoCIII led to reduced endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activation and NO release into the media. ApoCIII activated PKC&bgr; in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, resulting in IRS-1 dysfunction via serine phosphorylation. ApoCIII also activated mitogen-activated protein kinase through PKC&bgr;. The impaired insulin signaling was restored by PKC&bgr; inhibitor or MEK1 inhibitor. ApoCIII-rich very-low-density lipoprotein and apoCIII impaired insulin signaling in the aorta of C57BL/6J mice and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, which was recovered by PKC&bgr; inhibitor. They also inhibited endothelium-dependent relaxation of the aortas of C57BL/6J mice. In summary, apoCIII in very-low-density lipoprotein impaired insulin stimulation of NO production by vascular endothelium and induced endothelial dysfunction in vivo. This adverse effect of apoCIII was mediated by its activation of PKC&bgr;, which inhibits the IRS-1/PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway. Conclusion— Our results suggest that apoCIII is a crucial link between dyslipidemia and insulin resistance in vascular endothelial cells with consequential deleterious effects on their atheroprotective functions.
TAK1 is required for the survival of hematopoietic cells and hepatocytes in mice

Transforming growth factor β–activated kinase 1 (TAK1), a member of the MAPKKK family, is a key mediator of proinflammatory and stress signals. Activation of TAK1 by proinflammatory cytokines and T and B cell receptors induces the nuclear localization of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/AP1 and P38, which play important roles in mediating inflammation, immune responses, T and B cell activation, and epithelial cell survival. Here, we report that TAK1 is critical for the survival of both hematopoietic cells and hepatocytes. Deletion of TAK1 results in bone marrow (BM) and liver failure in mice due to the massive apoptotic death of hematopoietic cells and hepatocytes. Hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors were among those hematopoietic cells affected by TAK1 deletion–induced cell death. This apoptotic cell death is autonomous, as demonstrated by reciprocal BM transplantation. Deletion of TAK1 resulted in the inactivation of both JNK and NF-κB signaling, as well as the down-regulation of expression of prosurvival genes.
Topology design for optimal network coherence

We consider a network topology design problem in which an initial undirected graph underlying the network is given and the objective is to select a set of edges to add to the graph to optimize the coherence of the resulting network. We show that network coherence is a submodular function of the network topology. As a consequence, a simple greedy algorithm is guaranteed to produce near optimal edge set selections. We also show that fast rank one updates of the Laplacian pseudoinverse using generalizations of the Sherman-Morrison formula and an accelerated variant of the greedy algorithm can speed up the algorithm by several orders of magnitude in practice. These allow our algorithms to scale to network sizes far beyond those that can be handled by convex relaxation heuristics.
Mindfulness and acceptance approaches to sporting performance enhancement: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Background: Mindfulness and experiential acceptance approaches have been suggested as a method of promoting athletic performance by optimally managing the interplay among attention, cognition, and emotion. Our aim was to systematically review the evidence for these approaches in the sporting domain. Method: Studies of any design exploring mindfulness and acceptance in athletic populations were eligible for inclusion. We completed searches of PsycINFO, Scopus, MEDLINE, and SPORTDiscus in May 2016. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, and we synthesised the evidence using the GRADE criteria. Results: Sixty-six studies (n = 3908) met inclusion criteria. None of the included studies were rated as having a low risk of bias. Compared to no treatment in randomised trials, large effect sizes were found for improving mindfulness, flow, and performance, and lower competitive anxiety. Evidence was graded to be low quality, meaning further research is very likely to have an important impact on confidence in these effects. Conclusions: A number of studies found positive effects for mindfulness and acceptance interventions; however, with limited internal validity across studies, it is difficult to make strong causal claims about the benefits these strategies offer for athletes.
A Meta-Analysis of Studies Evaluating Visual and Anatomical Outcomes in Patients with Treatment Resistant Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration following Switching to Treatment with Aflibercept

With the introduction of aflibercept, eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) not responding well to injections of ranibizumab or bevacizumab can be switched to treatment with aflibercept. We carried out a meta-analysis to analyze all available evidence of visual and anatomical outcomes of eyes with resistant neovascular AMD switched to aflibercept at six months. Data from seven retrospective and prospective studies looking at change in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central retinal thickness (CRT) were included. Weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% CI were estimated using the standardized mean change method. The overall results of the meta-analysis showed a small but statistically significant improvement in BCVA six months following treatment switch to aflibercept (WMD 0.142, 95% CI 0.006 to 0.28; p = 0.04), and the effect was more significant in data gathered from prospective studies (WMD 0.407, 95% CI 0.023 to 0.791, p = 0.038). There was a significant improvement in CRT following treatment switch to aflibercept (WMD −0.36, 95% CI −0.485 to −0.235; p < 0.0001). Our meta-analysis indicates that following treatment switch to aflibercept patients may have a significant improvement in CRT with stabilization or even some improvement in their visual acuity.
The EM/MPM algorithm for segmentation of textured images: analysis and further experimental results

In this paper we present new results relative to the "expectation-maximization/maximization of the posterior marginals" (EM/MPM) algorithm for simultaneous parameter estimation and segmentation of textured images. The goal of the EM/MPM algorithm is to minimize the expected value of the number of misclassified pixels. We present new theoretical results in this paper which show that the algorithm can be expected to achieve this goal, to the extent that the EM estimates of the model parameters are close to the true values of the model parameters. We also present new experimental results demonstrating the performance of the algorithm.
Industry professionals’ perceptions of sustainability in meeting and event education

ABSTRACT The size of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events/Exhibitions (MICE) industry, and its popularity as a career choice are growing, along with the number of MICE college programs. Although the industry has begun to recognize its impact on sustainability, and is increasing efforts to improve sustainability-related practices, there is a lack of research on MICE education about sustainability. This study examines MICE professionals’ perceptions about sustainability in meeting and event education in order to help MICE educators equip students with the knowledge that is pertinent to their future. In-depth interviews with 10 MICE professionals show that they think students should learn about sustainability not only as a general concept but also as a business case for meeting and events. Measuring and tracking impacts were also important. The interviewees had mixed views about the industry’s current sustainability practices. Several practical recommendations for MICE educators, and future research topics are discussed.
Disjunctive Defaults

A generalization of Reiter's default logic is proposed that provides an improved treatment of default reasoning with disjunctive information. The new system | the disjunctive default logic | is used in the paper to reexamine the \broken-hand" example of Poole. We also compare the expressive power of this approach with two other approaches which interpret disjunctive information within the standard default logic. Finally, we show that our semantics of disjunctive default logic is a generalization of the semantics of disjunctive and extended disjunctive databases.
Application of finite geometry in file organization for records with multiple-valued attributes

The schemes for organizing binary-valued records using finite geometries have been extended to the situation in which the attributes of the records can take multiple values. Some new schemes for organizing records have been proposed which are based on deleted finite geometries. These new schemes permit the organization of records into buckets in such a manner that, by solving certain algebraic linear equations over a finite field, it is possible to determine the bucket in which records, pertaining to two given values of two different attributes, are stored. Since the bucket identification required for the storage of record accession numbers is based on the combination of attribute values, the file does not require any reorganization as new records are added. This is a definite advantage of the proposed schemes over many key-address transformation procedures wherein the addition of new records may lead to either a drastic revision of the file organization or significant reduction of retrieval effectiveness. The search time for the new schemes are very small in comparison to other existing methods.
Evaluation of regular expression match engines for DPI system

Because of its superior expressive power and flexibility, regular expression is now widely used in intrusion detection system and deep packet inspection system to define various patterns of virus or attacks in network traffic[1][2]. Excellent regular expression engine used in DPI system must be fast, accuracy and less memory usage to match a large volume of data streams, especially in realtime network. In this paper, four open source regular expression match engines are introduced, include Henry Spencer's regex library, PCRE, RE2, and TRE. An evaluation of the four libraries on expressive power, data structure, memory usage and performance is proposed. The evaluation is based on analysis of their source code and black-box testing. Also a list of benchmarks is presented to do this evaluation. The results indicate that PCRE supports more features but has worse performance than other libraries, RE2 performs well on both time and memory usage but does not support backreferences. Both of them are more suitable for DPI system than TRE and Spency's library.
Measuring the impact of professional development for student-centred pedagogies: a mixed-methods study

Abstract Shifts towards student-centred pedagogies require high-quality professional development to support teacher learning. Although many characteristics of effective professional development have been identified, such programmes still struggle to demonstrate successful results. This mixed-methods study investigated the development of student-centred practices in middle-school teachers in the USA in response to a programme of professional development. Participants engaged in individualized programmes of professional development built around personal action research projects. Quantitative results showed a significant decline in student-centred practices, and explanatory qualitative data indicated differences in the perception of the focus of the professional development and engagement with dissemination. Mixed analyses indicated previously unobserved similarities across participants, highlighting the difficulty of measuring the impact of professional development using only quantitative or qualitative approaches. The impact of this professional development and implications for the study of similar programmes are discussed.
Third-order intermodulation distortion in capacitively-driven VHF micromechanical resonators

Substantial increases by more than 22 dB in the third-order input intercept points (IIP3) of capacitively trans- duced MEMS-based vibrating micromechanical resonators have been attained by using contour-mode disk geometries to replace previous clamped-clamped beam versions. Specifically, a 156-MHz contour-mode disk resonator with Q = 20,500 exhibits a measured IIP3 = 19.49 dBm, which is substantially better than the -3 dBm previously measured for a 10-MHz clamped-clamped beam resonator, and which now erases any lingering skepticism regarding the linearity of micro-scale mechanical resonators. Indeed, with IIP3's about 20 dBm, high Q communication filters using the micromechanical resonators of this work should now be able to replace present-day receive path filters with little degra- dation (only 0.11 dB) in cumulative receiver IIP3.
Analysis of students’ environmental behavior in the Agriculture College of Tarbiat Modares University, Iran (application of Planned Behavior Theory)

ABSTRACT Increased environmental issues and crises in the world and long-term consequences of environmental issues in human life are the main reasons for the increased importance of discussion regarding environmental issues. The most effective step to protect the environment is an evaluation of people’s behavior and performance to achieve primary principles of permanent life. This means that people must evaluate their behavior with regard to the environment. This study aimed to assess environmental behavior of students in the Agriculture College of Tarbiat Modares University based on Planned Behavior Theory. This descriptive research has been conducted using the survey method and a questionnaire. The study population consisted of 254 MSc and PhD students (second year), with 153 students selected as a sample based on the Krejcie and Morgan table. Required data were collected. The questionnaire validity was confirmed by faculty members and experts in the field, and its reliability was confirmed through a pilot test and Cronbach’s alpha calculation. Used path analysis showed that environmental attitude, perceived behavioral control, and environmental behavior intention have been significant effects in Planned Behavior Theory. We conclude that perceived behavioral control, intention, environmental attitude, and subjective norms had the most impact on the students’ environmental behavior.
Novel Frequency and DOA Estimation with Sub-Nyquist Spatio-temporal Sampling ⋆

In this paper, we firstly construct a wide-band undersampling array, then present a novel frequency and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method for a very wide frequency band (2-18GHz). Choosing a set of appropriate sampling frequencies and antenna spacing, the method can provide unambiguous frequency and DOA estimation under the sub-Nyquist spatio-temporal sampling. The proposed method can reduce the computational complexity as it does not need the 2-D spectral peak search and high-dimensional eigen decomposition. In addition, the proposed method uses the temporal filtering to cascade the frequency estimation and DOA estimation so that the DOA estimation results are automatically paired with corresponding frequency. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the novel method.
Optimal Price Indices for Targeting Inflation Under Incomplete Markets

In models with complete markets, targeting core inflation enables monetary policy to maximize welfare by replicating the flexible price equilibrium. In this paper, we develop a two-sector two-good closed economy new Keynesian model to study the optimal choice of price index in markets with financial frictions. Financial frictions that limit credit-constrained consumers' access to financial markets make demand insensitive to interest rate fluctuations. The demand of credit-constrained consumers is determined by their real wage, which depends on prices in the flexible price sector. Thus, prices in the flexible price sector influence aggregate demand and, for monetary policy to have its desired effect, the central bank has to stabilize price movements in the flexible price sector. Also, in the presence of financial frictions, stabilizing core inflation is no longer equivalent to stabilizing output fluctuations. Our analysis suggests that in the presence of financial frictions a welfare-maximizing central bank should adopt flexible headline inflation targeting--a target based on headline rather than core inflation, and with some weight on the output gap. We discuss why these results are particularly relevant for emerging markets, where the share of food expenditures in total consumption expenditures is high and a large proportion of consumers are credit-constrained.
Distance delivery and technology-enhanced learning in information technology and programming courses at RIT Croatia

In today's modern education, distance learning methods and tools provide an effective way to offer instructions remotely, particularly when instructions in person cannot be provided. Delivering technology-rich courses that engage students in different group activities such as working on group projects, as well as laboratory and in-class exercises, create new challenges that need to be addressed. This paper discusses the authors' experiences with distance delivery and technology-enhanced learning in several information technology and programming related courses in the Information Technology program of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), at the Croatian campuses in Dubrovnik and Zagreb. The learning environment and the remote course delivery platform include a video conferencing system, a course management system, a remote desktop, and different online services and tools. Various usage scenarios and their impact on classroom learning experience are described. A report on students' feedback and perceptions of real time interactive distance learning is also provided and forms a basis for improving the remote course delivery.
Immunoglobulin A1 Protease, an Exoenzyme of Pathogenic Neisseriae, Is a Potent Inducer of Proinflammatory Cytokines

A characteristic of human pathogenic Neisseriae is the production and secretion of an immunoglobulin (Ig)A1-specific serine protease (IgA1 protease) that cleaves preferentially human IgA1 and other target proteins. Here we show a novel function for native IgA1 protease, i.e., the induction of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The capacity of IgA1 protease to elicit such cytokine responses in monocytes was enhanced in the presence of T lymphocytes. IgA1 protease did not induce the regulatory cytokine IL-10, which was, however, found in response to lipopolysaccharide and phytohemagglutinin. The immunomodulatory effects caused by IgA1 protease require a native form of the enzyme, and denaturation abolished cytokine induction. However, the proteolytic activity is not required for the cytokine induction by IgA1 protease. Our results indicate that IgA1 protease exhibits important immunostimulatory properties and may contribute substantially to the pathogenesis of neisserial infections by inducing large amounts of TNF-α and other proinflammatory cytokines. In particular, IgA1 protease may represent a key virulence determinant of bacterial meningitis.