Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Two Forms of Visuo-Spatial Perspective Taking are Differently Embodied and Subserve Different Spatial Prepositions

We set out to distinguish level 1 (VPT-1) and level 2 (VPT-2) perspective taking with respect to the embodied nature of the underlying processes as well as to investigate their dependence or independence of response modality (motor vs. verbal). While VPT-1 reflects understanding of what lies within someone else's line of sight, VPT-2 involves mentally adopting someone else's spatial point of view. Perspective taking is a high-level conscious and deliberate mental transformation that is crucially placed at the convergence of perception, mental imagery, communication, and even theory of mind in the case of VPT-2. The differences between VPT-1 and VPT-2 mark a qualitative boundary between humans and apes, with the latter being capable of VPT-1 but not of VPT-2. However, our recent data showed that VPT-2 is best conceptualized as the deliberate simulation or emulation of a movement, thus underpinning its embodied origins. In the work presented here we compared VPT-2 to VPT-1 and found that VPT-1 is not at all, or very differently embodied. In a second experiment we replicated the qualitatively different patterns for VPT-1 and VPT-2 with verbal responses that employed spatial prepositions. We conclude that VPT-1 is the cognitive process that subserves verbal localizations using “in front” and “behind,” while VPT-2 subserves “left” and “right” from a perspective other than the egocentric. We further conclude that both processes are grounded and situated, but only VPT-2 is embodied in the form of a deliberate movement simulation that increases in mental effort with distance and incongruent proprioception. The differences in cognitive effort predict differences in the use of the associated prepositions. Our findings, therefore, shed light on the situated, grounded and embodied basis of spatial localizations and on the psychology of their use.
Temperature compensation using least mean squares for fast settling all-digital phase-locked loop

This paper presents a temperature compensation technique for a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) using least means square (LMS) filtering. The proposed scheme contributes to reduction of the start-up settling time of all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL). The proposed method estimates the temperature using the output frequency of DCO because it is affected by temperature fluctuation. An optimal value of oscillation tuning word (OTW) for DCO can be estimated using the LMS algorithm because a linear relation exists between the output frequency of maximum OTW and the output frequency of other OTWs. These characteristics are confirmed using measurement results of the DCO, which is fabricated in 65-nm CMOS process. We modeled the ADPLL with the proposed temperature compensator in MATLAB using the measurement results of DCO. The simulation results show that the ADPLL with proposed temperature compensator achieves more than 53% settling time reduction and less than 10-MHz frequency error.
Enabling Access to the Confined Optical Field to Achieve High-Quality Plasmon Sensing

We predict a unique way to achieve high-quality plasmon sensing via enabling access to the originally confined optical field to efficiently interact with the surrounding medium. Refractive index sensing with high sensitivity (690 nm/RIU) and figure of merit (3391) is achieved in the optical region, which are twice larger than those of the original metal-insulator-metal structure. This sensing scheme is based on the purpose of making utmost use of the confined optical field to spatially overlap with the targets and, therefore, improving the sensing performance, which offers new perspectives for achieving high-sensitive chip-based plasmon sensors and integrated devices.
Does a true knowledge of dental crowding affect orthodontic treatment decisions?

OBJECTIVES To assess whether a true knowledge of crowding alters treatment decisions compared with estimates of crowding. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-six orthodontists were asked to estimate crowding using visualization on eight mandibular arch study models and to indicate possible extraction choices. For each model, the intermolar widths, intercanine widths, and clinical scenarios were identical, but the true crowding varied from 0.2 to 8.4mm as to a lesser extent did the curve of Spee. Eleven orthodontists repeated the visualization exercise after 2 weeks to assess reliability. All 36 of the orthodontists were asked to repeat the treatment planning exercise on the same models, but this time was provided with the true amount of crowding in each case. RESULTS When the 36 orthodontists used direct visualization of the models to assess crowding, the range of their estimates of crowding increased as the crowding increased. As might be expected, they also tended to move towards extraction treatments as the crowding increased (P = 0.013, odds ratio = 3). Although the reliability of the repeat estimates of crowding were moderate, the mean estimates were greater than the true crowding for each model. When orthodontists were presented with the true amount of crowding, rather than their estimate of crowding, it had a significant effect on the decision to extract, with fewer orthodontists recommending extractions. LIMITATIONS The principal limitation of this study is that it was a laboratory-based study and utilized just the mandibular arch model for estimation and treatment planning. CONCLUSIONS Direct visualization may overestimate the amount of crowding present. When the true amount of crowding is known, it can lead to more consistent treatment planning, with the decision to extract fewer teeth in the borderline cases. A formal space analysis is likely to assist with treatment planning.
Acute withdrawal from repeated cocaine treatment enhances latent inhibition of a conditioned fear response

Psychostimulant‐induced locomotor sensitization and disrupted latent inhibition (LI) of a classically conditioned association are two paradigms that have been widely studied as animal behavioural models of psychosis. In this study we assessed the effects of withdrawal from the repeated intermittent administration of cocaine on LI of a conditioned fear response. Animals which were either preexposed (PE) to a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) or naive to the tone (i.e. non‐preexposed: NPE) subsequently experienced 10 pairings of the tone CS with footshock. Afterwards, both groups received five daily injections of cocaine (20 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline. After 3 days of withdrawal from drug treatment, animals were tested for conditioned freezing to the context of the footshock chamber, and 1 day later, for conditioned freezing to the tone CS. Cocaine‐sensitized animals exhibited markedly enhanced LI compared to saline‐treated animals, due to the fact that NPE–cocaine animals spent more time freezing during the tone CS than NPE–saline animals, whereas PE–cocaine animals showed a tendency toward reduced freezing compared to the saline groups. While these results suggest the presence of increased anxiety in cocaine‐withdrawn NPE animals, the absence of this effect in cocaine‐withdrawn PE rats indicates that cocaine withdrawal also influences the retrieval of previously learned information.
Mesoscale modeling of dynamic fracture and shock compression in quartzite and sandstone

This doctoral thesis is part of the MEMIN (Multidisciplinary Experimental and Modeling Impact Research Network) project, which experimentally and numerically investigates the effects of meteorite impact on geological materials on a laboratory scale up to a natural scale. The objective of this thesis is the development of mesoscale simulation models that represent the material behavior of quartzite and sandstone at load conditions typical for rocks in the vicinity of meteorite impacts. From these models, macroscale material properties are derived via homogenization. The latter are intended to provide a basis for the development of predictive macroscale material models that can be used to simulate impact cratering scenarios. The multitude and complexity of the physical phenomena occurring in meteorite impact scenarios necessitate the partitioning of all mechanisms into sub-processes that can be replicated in a mesoscale model. Two main mechanisms are modeled in this work, namely shock compression and dynamic fracture. Shock compression is, in the case of meteorite impact, characterized by a primary shock wave that radially propagates from the impact point. This process is responsible for irreversible pore collapse and shock metamorphic effects in the quartz matrix. Two numerical models are proposed and investigated in order to build a comprehensive mesoscale model of compressive shock loading. Simulations with idealized geometries in planar symmetry are carried out using the meshfree Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) formulation. Using this approach, modeling aspects such as the choice for Equations of State and strength model are evaluated, as well as physical aspects such as the degree of water saturation. The effects of these different aspects on shock wave propagation and pore collapse mechanisms are investigated. The second model presented is a more detailed, three dimensional Finite Element (FE) model. With this model, the effects of grain anisotropy and different types of strength on the macroscopic shock response are investigated. For both SPH and FE formulations, a parameter study is carried out in which the influence of the aforementioned parameters on macroscopic shock Hugoniots is quantified. In particular, relationships between particle velocity and shock velocity, as well as between particle velocity and stress amplitude, are built up. Results from the models are compared to experimental reference literature. The FE model describes the low velocity regime (up to approximately 1000 m/s) well, while the SPH model is better-suited for higher velocities. A concept for a new mesoscale model is presented, in which features of the different modeling variants might be combined and a macroscale Equation of State might be derived from a series of simulations with one single model. Dynamic fracture in impact cratering scenarios is characterized by crack patterns developing in the target that may induce spallation, i.e. the detachment and ejection of plates of the target material in the…
Harnessing the wisdom of the crowds for accurate web page clipping

Clipping Web pages, namely extracting the informative clips (areas) from Web pages, has many applications, such as Web printing and e-reading on small handheld devices. Although many existing methods attempt to address this task, most of them can either work only on certain types of Web pages (e.g., news- and blog-like web pages), or perform semi-automatically where extra user efforts are required in adjusting the outputs. The problem of clipping any types of Web pages accurately in a totally automatic way remains pretty much open. To this end in this study we harness the wisdom of the crowds to provide accurate recommendation of informative clips on any given Web pages. Specifically, we leverage the knowledge on how previous users clip similar Web pages, and this knowledge repository can be represented as a transaction database where each transaction contains the clips selected by a user on a certain Web page. Then, we formulate a new pattern mining problem, mining top-1 qualified pattern, on transaction database for this recommendation. Here, the recommendation considers not only the pattern support but also the pattern occupancy (proposed in this work). High support requires that patterns appear frequently in the database, while high occupancy requires that patterns occupy a large portion of the transactions they appear in. Thus, it leads to both precise and complete recommendation. Additionally, we explore the properties on occupancy to further prune the search space for high-efficient pattern mining. Finally, we show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm on a human-labeled ground truth dataset consisting of 2000 web pages from 100 major Web sites, and demonstrate its efficiency on large synthetic datasets.
Molecular Architecture of Strictosidine Glucosidase: The Gateway to the Biosynthesis of the Monoterpenoid Indole Alkaloid Family[W]

Strictosidine β-d-glucosidase (SG) follows strictosidine synthase (STR1) in the production of the reactive intermediate required for the formation of the large family of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids in plants. This family is composed of ∼2000 structurally diverse compounds. SG plays an important role in the plant cell by activating the glucoside strictosidine and allowing it to enter the multiple indole alkaloid pathways. Here, we report detailed three-dimensional information describing both native SG and the complex of its inactive mutant Glu207Gln with the substrate strictosidine, thus providing a structural characterization of substrate binding and identifying the amino acids that occupy the active site surface of the enzyme. Structural analysis and site-directed mutagenesis experiments demonstrate the essential role of Glu-207, Glu-416, His-161, and Trp-388 in catalysis. Comparison of the catalytic pocket of SG with that of other plant glucosidases demonstrates the structural importance of Trp-388. Compared with all other glucosidases of plant, bacterial, and archaeal origin, SG's residue Trp-388 is present in a unique structural conformation that is specific to the SG enzyme. In addition to STR1 and vinorine synthase, SG represents the third structural example of enzymes participating in the biosynthetic pathway of the Rauvolfia alkaloid ajmaline. The data presented here will contribute to deciphering the structure and reaction mechanism of other higher plant glucosidases.
Influence of Palm Oil Fuel Ash on Sulfate Resistance of Mortar and Concrete

Pozzolanic materials, either natural or artificial, have long demonstrated their effectiveness in producing high-performance concrete. Artificial pozzolans, such as fly ash and rice husk ash have gained acceptance as supplementary cementing materials in many parts of the world. Perhaps the latest addition to the pozzolanic ash family is palm oil fuel ash, a waste material obtained on burning of palm oil husk and shell in the palm oil milling industry. This paper presents laboratory test results on the performance of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in mortar and concrete containing the ash as a partial replacement of normal portland cement against sulfate attack. Mortar bars having dimensions of 25 x 25 x 250 mm, and 100 mm concrete cube specimens were cast with a fixed water-cementitious material ratio of 0.5 where normal portland cement was replaced by 30% POFA by mass. After 28 days of moist curing, the specimens were put into 10% sodium sulfate solution with alternate wetting and drying cycles. During the test period of over one year, the mortar bar specimens were periodically subjected to expansion measurements while the concrete cube specimens were tested for change in mass. Finally, examination of the deteriorated materials through X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out to elucidate the mechanism of deterioration. It has been observed that the specimens with POFA, in general, exhibited significantly higher resistance to the sulfate attack than those prepared with normal portland cement alone.
Resource Management for Software-Defined Radio Clouds

Software-defined radio (SDR) clouds combine SDR concepts with cloud computing technology for designing and managing future base stations. They provide a scalable solution for the evolution of wireless communications. The authors focus on the resource management implications and propose a hierarchical approach for dynamically managing the real-time computing constraints of wireless communications systems that run on the SDR cloud.
Spectral albedo of arctic snow during intensive melt period

O. Meinander, S. Kazadzis, A. Arola, R. Kivi, A. Kontu, H. Suokanerva, V. Aaltonen, T. Manninen, J.-L. Roujean, and O. Hautecoeur Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, Greece Finnish Meteorological Institute, Kuopio Unit, P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland Finnish Meteorological Institute, Arctic Research Centre, Tahtelantie 62, 99600 Sodankyla, Finland Meteo-France/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Toulouse, France
Autonomous place naming system using opportunistic crowdsensing and knowledge from crowdsourcing

A user's location information is commonly used in diverse mobile services, yet providing the actual name or semantic meaning of a place is challenging. Previous works required manual user interventions for place naming, such as searching by additional keywords and/or selecting place in a list. We believe that applying mobile sensing techniques to this problem can greatly reduce user intervention. In this paper, we present an autonomous place naming system using opportunistic crowdsensing and knowledge from crowdsourcing. Our goal is to provide a place name from a person's perspective: that is, functional name (e.g., food place, shopping place), business name (e.g., Starbucks, Apple Store), or personal name (e.g., my home, my workplace). The main idea is to bridge the gap between crowdsensing data from smartphone users and location information in social network services. The proposed system automatically extracts a wide range of semantic features about the places from both crowdsensing data and social networks to model a place name. We then infer the place name by linking the crowdsensing data with knowledge in social networks. Extensive evaluations with real deployments show that the proposed system outperforms the related approaches and greatly reduces user intervention for place naming.
The E2F2 Transcription Factor Sustains Hepatic Glycerophospholipid Homeostasis in Mice

Increasing evidence links metabolic signals to cell proliferation, but the molecular wiring that connects the two core machineries remains largely unknown. E2Fs are master regulators of cellular proliferation. We have recently shown that E2F2 activity facilitates the completion of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH) by regulating the expression of genes required for S-phase entry. Our study also revealed that E2F2 determines the duration of hepatectomy-induced hepatic steatosis. A transcriptomic analysis of normal adult liver identified “lipid metabolism regulation” as a major E2F2 functional target, suggesting that E2F2 has a role in lipid homeostasis. Here we use wild-type (E2F2+/+) and E2F2 deficient (E2F2−/−) mice to investigate the in vivo role of E2F2 in the composition of liver lipids and fatty acids in two metabolically different contexts: quiescence and 48-h post-PH, when cellular proliferation and anabolic demands are maximal. We show that liver regeneration is accompanied by large triglyceride and protein increases without changes in total phospholipids both in E2F2+/+ and E2F2−/− mice. Remarkably, we found that the phenotype of quiescent liver tissue from E2F2−/− mice resembles the phenotype of proliferating E2F2+/+ liver tissue, characterized by a decreased phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidylethanolamine ratio and a reprogramming of genes involved in generation of choline and ethanolamine derivatives. The diversity of fatty acids in total lipid, triglycerides and phospholipids was essentially preserved on E2F2 loss both in proliferating and non-proliferating liver tissue, although notable exceptions in inflammation-related fatty acids of defined phospholipid classes were detected. Overall, our results indicate that E2F2 activity sustains the hepatic homeostasis of major membrane glycerolipid components while it is dispensable for storage glycerolipid balance.
Loss of Function in Mlo Orthologs Reduces Susceptibility of Pepper and Tomato to Powdery Mildew Disease Caused by Leveillula taurica

Powdery mildew disease caused by Leveillula taurica is a serious fungal threat to greenhouse tomato and pepper production. In contrast to most powdery mildew species which are epiphytic, L. taurica is an endophytic fungus colonizing the mesophyll tissues of the leaf. In barley, Arabidopsis, tomato and pea, the correct functioning of specific homologues of the plant Mlo gene family has been found to be required for pathogenesis of epiphytic powdery mildew fungi. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of the Mlo genes in susceptibility to the endophytic fungus L. taurica. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), a loss-of-function mutation in the SlMlo1 gene results in resistance to powdery mildew disease caused by Oidium neolycopersici. When the tomato Slmlo1 mutant was inoculated with L. taurica in this study, it proved to be less susceptible compared to the control, S. lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker. Further, overexpression of SlMlo1 in the tomato Slmlo1 mutant enhanced susceptibility to L. taurica. In pepper, the CaMlo2 gene was isolated by applying a homology-based cloning approach. Compared to the previously identified CaMlo1 gene, the CaMlo2 gene is more similar to SlMlo1 as shown by phylogenetic analysis, and the expression of CaMlo2 is up-regulated at an earlier time point upon L. taurica infection. However, results of virus-induced gene silencing suggest that both CaMlo1 and CaMlo2 may be involved in the susceptibility of pepper to L. taurica. The fact that overexpression of CaMlo2 restored the susceptibility of the tomato Slmlo1 mutant to O. neolycopersici and increased its susceptibility to L. taurica confirmed the role of CaMlo2 acting as a susceptibility factor to different powdery mildews, though the role of CaMlo1 as a co-factor for susceptibility cannot be excluded.
Network algorithms and protocol for multimedia servers

We present a network service specifically designed for multimedia servers. It uses a histogram based traffic characterization and an overload control protocol to the eliminate packet losses in the network while providing heterogeneous statistical QoS. The key contribution of our protocol lies in combining open-loop and feedback-based control to: (1) provide heterogeneous QoS to clients in networking environments consisting of switches that may not have any scheduling support; and (2) migrate the functionality of discarding packets, in the event of congestion, to the sources which understand the semantics of the data. The protocol is efficient, makes very few assumptions about the underlying network, is realizable on current switching hardware (supporting FCFS scheduling), and is completely integrated with the architecture of a multimedia server.
EGF induces the expression of matrilysin in the human prostate adenocarcinoma cell line, LNCaP

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are regulated both positively and negatively at the transcriptional level by a variety of growth factors, oncogenes, and tumor promoters. Induction of the MMP, matrilysin, by epidermal growth factor (EGF) was investigated in a human prostate cancer cell line.