Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 regulate mouse columnar, divisional and motor pool identity of lumbar motoneurons

A central question in neural development is how the broad diversity of neurons is generated in the vertebrate CNS. We have investigated the function of Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 in mouse lumbar motoneuron development. We show that Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 are initially expressed in most newly generated lumbar motoneurons, but subsequently become restricted to the lateral division of the lateral motor column (lLMC). Disruption of Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 caused severe hindlimb locomotor defects. Motoneurons in rostral lumbar segments were found to adopt the phenotype of thoracic motoneurons. More caudally the lLMC and dorsal-projecting axons were missing, yet most hindlimb muscles were innervated. The loss of the lLMC was not due to decreased production of motoneuron precursors or increased apoptosis. Instead, presumptive lLMC neurons failed to migrate to their normal position, and did not differentiate into other motoneurons or interneurons. Together, these results show that Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 play key roles in establishing lumbar motoneuron columnar, divisional and motor pool identity.
Parametric Regression Through Genetic Programming

Parametric regression in genetic programming can substantially speed up the search for solutions. Paradoxically, the same technique has difficulty finding a true optimum solution. The parametric formulation of a problem results in a fitness landscape that looks like an inverted brush with many bristles of almost equal length (individuals of high fitness), but with only one bristle that is very slightly longer than the rest, the optimum solution. As such it is easy to find very good, even outstanding solutions, but very difficult to locate the optimum solution. In this paper parametric regression is applied to a minimum-time-to-target problem. The solution is equivalent to the classical brachistochrone. Two formulations were tried: a parametric regression and the classical symbolic regression formulation. The parametric approach was superior without exception. We speculate the parametric approach is more generally applicable to other problems and suggest areas for more research.
Journal of Central Nervous System Disease New and Emerging Disease-modifying Therapies for Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis: What Is New and What Is to Come

The therapeutic landscape for multiple sclerosis (MS) is rapidly changing. Currently, there are eight FDA approved disease modifying therapies for MS including: IFN-β-1a (Avonex, Rebif), IFN-β-1b (Betaseron, Extavia), glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), mitoxantrone (Novantrone), natalizumab (Tysabri), and fingolimod (Gilenya). This review will highlight the experience to date and key clinical trials of the newest FDA approved agents, natalizumab and fingolimod. It will also review available efficacy and safety data on several promising therapies under active investigation including four monoclonal antibody therapies: alemtuzumab, daclizumab, ocrelizumab and ofatumumab and three oral agents: BG12, laquinimod, and teriflunomide. To conclude, we will discuss where each of these new therapies may best fit into treatment algorithms.
GDBTrace : A Tool for Tracing Program Execution at the Statement Level

It is a well-recognized fact that debugging and tracking down the cause of a software failure are particularly difficult tasks in software development. The complexity of these processes increases with the size and age of the system. Often, it is possible to trace the cause of a failure to a certain routine or file; however, complex statements or convoluted logic may make finding the exact cause extremely difficult. This paper introduces GDBTrace, a statement-level tracing tool developed at the University of Ottawa. Although designed with statement level tracing in mind, this tool is also capable of keeping track of routine calls and variable modifications during program execution. GDBTrace has useful options that enable it to trace only selected parts of a system, thereby improving efficiency and reducing the amount of work required to analyse the trace.
Learning with proxy supervision for end-to-end visual learning

Learning with deep neural networks forms the state-of-the-art in many tasks such as image classification, image detection, speech recognition, text analysis. We here set out to gain understanding in learning in an ‘end-to-end’ manner for an autonomous vehicle, which refers to directly learning the decision which will result from the perception of the scene. For example, we consider learning a binary ‘stop’/‘go’ decision, with respect to pedestrians, given the input image. In this work we propose to use additional information, referred to as ‘proxy supervision’, for improved learning and study its effects on the overall performance. We show that the proxy labels significantly improve the robustness of learning, while achieving as good, or better, accuracy than in the original task of binary classification.
Endogenous and exogenous modulation of regulator of G-protein signaling 4

To my loving parents, Carmen and Carlos, and my sister, Candice, for always believing in me ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank several people for their help throughout my graduate career. First I would like to thank my lab mates Chris Bodle, for their supportive insight into my own work and the field we study. I would also like to thank the lab's technician Michelle Kroc for keeping and maintaining the lab. Outside my department I also had the benefit of receiving help in learning new techniques and methodologies to expand my research. Dr DJ Murry and Armando Colorado were both instrumental in my understanding of mass spectrometry. Additionally, I would like Dr Jon Houtman for training me in isothermal titration calorimetry. I thank The College of Pharmacy for accepting me to the program. And finally, I would like to thank Dr David Roman for accepting me into his lab and taking me on as his first graduate student.
Premature withdrawal: searching for satisfaction in the endings of Pushing Daisies and Carnivale

The commercial climate of contemporary television drama is a fiercely Darwinian environment. For every intelligently written, high-concept drama which amasses scores of episodes and a passionate following, there are dozens which fail at the pilot stage, or after a timid, half-length first season. For every The Sopranos, there is a Carnivale; for every Desperate Housewives, there is a Pushing Daisies. The commercial failure of so many new shows is the inevitable consequence of the industrial logic of TV3, in which “. today’s production circumstances, highly commercialised as they are, ironically appear to have yielded a context facilitating creativity and distinctive product, indeed “quality television”, at the “high end” of the industry, in TV drama. ” (Nelson, 2007: 161) The attempt to provide new and distinctive examples of “quality” programming encourages experimentation with the content and form of television drama, as program makers seek to attract and maintain a share of an ever more fragmented audience. However, the risk and expense involved in the production of high-end television drama also often leads to the abrupt cancellation of shows which fail to fulfill their economic imperative by attracting a diverse and lucrative audience. As early as 1995, J.T. Caldwell was already able to write that:
A Multiagent Planning Architecture

The Multiagent Planning Architecture (MPA) is a framework for integrating diverse technologies into a system capable of solving complex planning problems. Agents within MPA share well-defined, uniform interface specifications that facilitate integration of new technologies and experimentation with different problem-solving strategies. MPA provides a central repository for storing plan-related information in a shared plan representation, and metalevel agents that control and customize the interactions between other agents. The MPA framework has been validated through its use in developing several large-scale problem-solving systems for Air Campaign Planning.
Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A Acts through Nitric Oxide Synthase Mechanisms in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells To Stimulate Synthesis of Pyrogenic Cytokines

ABSTRACT The pyrogenic response to supernatant fluids obtained from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) was characteristic of a response to an endogenous pyrogen in that it was brief and monophasic and was destroyed by heating supernatant fluids at 70°C for 30 min. The febrile responses were in parallel with the levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IL-2, and IL-6 in supernatant fluids obtained from PBMC treated with SEA. Both the pyrogenicity and the levels of IL-1, TNF, IFN-γ, IL-2, and IL-6 in supernatant fluids started to rise at 6 to 18 h and reached their peak levels at 24 to 96 h after SEA incubation. Both the fever and the increased levels of IL-1, TNF, IFN-γ, IL-2, and IL-6 in supernatant fluids obtained from the SEA-stimulated PBMC were decreased by incubating SEA-PBMC with anisomycin (a protein synthesis inhibitor), aminoguanidine (an inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase [NOS]), or dexamethasone (an inhibitor of NOS). The febrile response to supernatant fluids obtained from the SEA-stimulated PBMC was attenuated by adding either anti-IL-1β, anti-TNF-α, or anti-IFN-γ monoclonal antibody (MAb) to supernatant fluids. The antipyretic effects exerted by anti-IL-1β MAb were greater than those exerted by anti-TNF-α or anti-IFN-γ MAb. The data suggest that SEA acts through the NOS mechanisms in PBMC to stimulate synthesis of pyrogenic cytokines (in particular, the IL-1β).
ULTRA HIGH SENSITIVITY GRAPHENE PIEZORESISTIVE PRESSURE SENSOR

We demonstrate the first-ever pressure sensor utilizing graphene piezoresistors demonstrating the sensitivity as high as 323 μV/V/mmHg. This sensitivity is two orders of magnitudes higher than the commercial Omega PX140x series and 36 times higher than that of the reported carbon nanotube based transducers [1]. Our sensor consists of a 400nm SixNy membrane on silicon substrate with 10nm/140nm thick Cr/Au electrodes on top where the graphene layer is transferred on top of this structure. Our pressure sensor highly nonlinear, but can still be useful for applications where ultra-high sensitivity is needed and table lookup can be used. INTRODUCTION Piezoresistive pressure sensors are common devices used in biomedical to industrial monitoring applications. The small gaugefactor of the piezoresistive resistors, which are placed in a Wheatstone bridge configuration, limits the sensitivity of a given sensor. The gauge-factor, the membrane thickness, and the required sensitivity for a given application determine the pressure sensor membrane length, width, and thickness. A much higher gauge-factor and transducer sensitivity would enable a smaller sensor for constant sensitivity, or would enable a much more sensitive sensor for constant membrane area (Figure 1). Calculations in this figure are based on the equation (1) [2] for circular membrane pressure sensors where a is the diameter, h is the thickness, G is the gauge-factor, ν is the Poisson’s ratio, and E is the Young’s modulus.
Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices

La participacion del psicologo forense en procedimientos judiciales de familia en disputa por la guarda y custodia, con objeto de asesorar al juez o tribunal en la recomendacion de la guarda y custodia de los menores, asi como para estimar la viabilidad de la custodia compartida, se ha convertido en habitual. Con el objetivo de conocer la practica, metodologia y criterios de decision de los psicologos forenses espanoles con experiencia en casos de familia, 66 psicologos forenses espanoles (margen de error ±.06) respondieron a una adaptacion espanola del cuestionario para evaluacion de las practicas en la evaluacion de la guarda y custodia de los hijos de Keilin y Bloom (1986) y Ackerman y Ackerman (1997). Los resultados mostraron que a los participantes les resultaba indiferente trabajar a peticion del juzgado o de un parte; que la evaluacion incluia la revision documental, la entrevista individual con cada progenitor, la entrevista individual con cada menor, la aplicacion de pruebas psicologicas a progenitores e hijos, la observacion de la interaccion progenitor-hijo y los informes de otros profesionales. En relacion a la modalidad de custodia optaron mayoritariamente por la custodia exclusiva. En lo referido a los criterios de decision sobre la guarda y custodia exclusiva los resultados mostraron que los psicologos forenses espanoles siguen un modelo de decision jerarquico empezando por aplicar, primeramente, criterios orientados a la proteccion del menor (p.ej., maltrato, negligencia, abuso), pasando posteriormente a las habilidades parentales. La decision sobre la custodia compartida tambien sigue un modelo de decision jerarquico con un primer nivel que deciden si es viable y, de ser el caso, toman una decision en funcion de la presencia de criterios vinculados al exito y fracaso de esta.
Reconnaître la différence : le défi de l’ethnopsychiatrie

La reconnaissance de la difference de l’Autre est le fondement de la legitimite de l’ethnopsychiatrie qui est donc necessairement multiple, changeante, et elle-meme porteuse de nuances et de differences. C’est a partir de leur pratique clinique au Service d’aide psychologique specialisee aux immigrants et refugies (SAPSIR), que les auteurs proposent un autre regard sur cette discipline prenant en compte, bien sur, la dimension culturelle et psychique de la personne ; ils s’appuient aussi sur des universaux existentiels et humanistes tels le besoin de sens, de continuite de soi et de coherence ainsi que sur les diverses dimensions de l’identite. Le dispositif clinique propose, respectueux des principes de l’ethnopsychiatrie, s’articule autour de trois axes : travail sur les liens, travail sur les differentes dimensions identitaires, travail sur la coherence et le sens des situations vecues. Cette demarche permet d’accompagner et de faciliter les elaborations essentielles impliquees dans le travail psychique des refugies et des personnes ayant ete exposes a des situations extremes telle la torture.
Relationships with father and mother, self-esteem and academic achievement amongst college students

The study investigates the quality of relationships between college students and their mothers and fathers, and its correlates with their self-esteem and academic achievement. A sample of 386 on-campus students of Universiti Putra Malaysia, who were identified via cluster sampling, completed a self-administered questionnaire. Results showed that generally the students had good quality relationships with their mothers(adjusted mean=3.78/5.00) and fathers (adjusted mean=3.67/5.00). Girls seemed to report better relationships with both parents compared to boys. The students rated themselves as having high level of self-esteem (adjusted mean=2.99/4.00) but, moderate in academic achievement (M=3.10/4.00). Female and male students did not show any significant difference in self-esteem; however females outperformed their male counterparts in academic. Further analysis showed that the quality of parent-students relationship was positively and significantly related to self-esteem and academic achievement. Students with good quality relationship with their parents evaluated themselves positively compared to others. Nonetheless, only those with good relationships with their mothers rather than their fathers showed good performance in school. The present study adds to the body of knowledge on the impacts of parental relationships on the adolescents’ outcomes.
Granulocytes Impose a Tight Bottleneck upon the Gut Luminal Pathogen Population during Salmonella Typhimurium Colitis

Topological, chemical and immunological barriers are thought to limit infection by enteropathogenic bacteria. However, in many cases these barriers and their consequences for the infection process remain incompletely understood. Here, we employed a mouse model for Salmonella colitis and a mixed inoculum approach to identify barriers limiting the gut luminal pathogen population. Mice were infected via the oral route with wild type S. Typhimurium (S. Tm) and/or mixtures of phenotypically identical but differentially tagged S. Tm strains (“WITS”, wild-type isogenic tagged strains), which can be individually tracked by quantitative real-time PCR. WITS dilution experiments identified a substantial loss in tag/genetic diversity within the gut luminal S. Tm population by days 2–4 post infection. The diversity-loss was not attributable to overgrowth by S. Tm mutants, but required inflammation, Gr-1+ cells (mainly neutrophilic granulocytes) and most likely NADPH-oxidase-mediated defense, but not iNOS. Mathematical modelling indicated that inflammation inflicts a bottleneck transiently restricting the gut luminal S. Tm population to approximately 6000 cells and plating experiments verified a transient, inflammation- and Gr-1+ cell-dependent dip in the gut luminal S. Tm population at day 2 post infection. We conclude that granulocytes, an important clinical hallmark of S. Tm-induced inflammation, impose a drastic bottleneck upon the pathogen population. This extends the current view of inflammation-fuelled gut-luminal Salmonella growth by establishing the host response in the intestinal lumen as a double-edged sword, fostering and diminishing colonization in a dynamic equilibrium. Our work identifies a potent immune defense against gut infection and reveals a potential Achilles' heel of the infection process which might be targeted for therapy.
Diagnostic concordance of DSM-III, DSM-III-R, DSM-IV and ICD-10 alcohol diagnoses in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the validity of diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) when applied to adolescents. This study examined the diagnostic concordance of DSM-III, DSM-III-R, DSM-IV and ICD-10 AUDs in a sample of adolescents with a broad range of alcohol problem severity. METHOD Participants were 413 adolescents (250 male), ages 13 to 19, drawn from clinical and community sources. AUDs were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM (SCID), modified to make diagnoses in the four nosological systems. Diagnostic agreement for lifetime diagnoses was quantified with the kappa statistic. RESULTS Agreement was fair to high across the three categories of alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse and no alcohol diagnosis (kappa = 0.51 to 0.76); for alcohol dependence (kappa = 0.51 to 0.83); and for the categories of any AUD versus no AUD (kappa = 0.55 to 0.96). Concordance was very low for alcohol abuse diagnoses (kappa = 0.10 to 0.23), with the exception of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV (kappa = 0.62). Dependence was superior to abuse in the degree of temporal overlap in diagnostic agreements. CONCLUSIONS Similar to findings with adults, diagnostic concordance among adolescents tended to be fair to high for alcohol dependence and very low for alcohol abuse. The data highlight the inconsistency across nosological systems in the conceptual framework and definition of the alcohol abuse category.
Performance of Proximity Loggers in Recording Intra- and Inter-Species Interactions: A Laboratory and Field-Based Validation Study

Knowledge of the way in which animals interact through social networks can help to address questions surrounding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of social organisation, and to understand and manage the spread of infectious diseases. Automated proximity loggers are increasingly being used to record interactions between animals, but the accuracy and reliability of the collected data remain largely un-assessed. Here we use laboratory and observational field data to assess the performance of these devices fitted to a herd of 32 beef cattle (Bos taurus) and nine groups of badgers (Meles meles, n = 77) living in the surrounding woods. The distances at which loggers detected each other were found to decrease over time, potentially related to diminishing battery power that may be a function of temperature. Loggers were highly accurate in recording the identification of contacted conspecifics, but less reliable at determining contact duration. There was a tendency for extended interactions to be recorded as a series of shorter contacts. We show how data can be manipulated to correct this discrepancy and accurately reflect observed interaction patterns by combining records between any two loggers that occur within a 1 to 2 minute amalgamation window, and then removing any remaining 1 second records. We make universally applicable recommendations for the effective use of proximity loggers, to improve the validity of data arising from future studies.
SpeeG: a multimodal speech- and gesture-based text input solution

We present SpeeG, a multimodal speech- and body gesture-based text input system targeting media centres, set-top boxes and game consoles. Our controller-free zoomable user interface combines speech input with a gesture-based real-time correction of the recognised voice input. While the open source CMU Sphinx voice recogniser transforms speech input into written text, Microsoft's Kinect sensor is used for the hand gesture tracking. A modified version of the zoomable Dasher interface combines the input from Sphinx and the Kinect sensor. In contrast to existing speech error correction solutions with a clear distinction between a detection and correction phase, our innovative SpeeG text input system enables continuous real-time error correction. An evaluation of the SpeeG prototype has revealed that low error rates for a text input speed of about six words per minute can be achieved after a minimal learning phase. Moreover, in a user study SpeeG has been perceived as the fastest of all evaluated user interfaces and therefore represents a promising candidate for future controller-free text input.
Temporal Learning and List-Level Proportion Congruency: Conflict Adaptation or Learning When to Respond?

The current report presents a temporal learning account as a potential alternative to the conflict adaptation account of list-level proportion congruent effects in the Stroop paradigm. Specifically, retrieval of information about response times on previous trials influences a participant's preparedness to respond at a similar time on following trials. First, an adaptation of the Parallel Episodic Processing (PEP) model is presented, and a list-level effect is produced with a temporal learning mechanism. Next, linear mixed effect model analyses show that temporal learning biases are present in list-level proportion congruent data. A non-conflict experiment is then presented in which a list-level effect is observed with a contrast, rather than congruency, manipulation. Analyses of the experimental and simulated data could not, however, provide a clear picture of whether temporal learning was the sole contributor to the list-level proportion congruent effect. These results do, however, demonstrate that caution is warranted when interpreting list-level proportion congruent effects.
Learning in strategic technology alliances

Abstract In this paper we examine the influence of strategic technology alliances on organisational learning. From an empirical perspective we examine the pre- and post-alliance knowledge bases of allying firms. We find that the pre-alliance knowledge base overlap of the allying firms has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the degree of learning taking place in the alliance. Alliances established for the purpose of learning also show a significantly greater increase in knowledge base overlap for the allying firms than for non-learning alliance or non-allying firms. This shows the particular importance of learning alliances as a vehicle for organisational learning and competence development. Contrary to what we expected we found that weak ties are more important than strong ties in organisational learning within strategic alliances.