Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reorganization of the Connectivity of Cortical Field DZ in Congenitally Deaf Cat

Psychophysics and brain imaging studies in deaf patients have revealed a functional crossmodal reorganization that affects the remaining sensory modalities. Similarly, the congenital deaf cat (CDC) shows supra-normal visual skills that are supported by specific auditory fields (DZ-dorsal zone and P-posterior auditory cortex) but not the primary auditory cortex (A1). To assess the functional reorganization observed in deafness we analyzed the connectivity pattern of the auditory cortex by means of injections of anatomical tracers in DZ and A1 in both congenital deaf and normally hearing cats. A quantitative analysis of the distribution of the projecting neurons revealed the presence of non-auditory inputs to both A1 and DZ of the CDC which were not observed in the hearing cats. Firstly, some visual (areas 19/20) and somatosensory (SIV) areas were projecting toward DZ of the CDC but not in the control. Secondly, A1 of the deaf cat received a weak projection from the visual lateral posterior nuclei (LP). Most of these abnormal projections to A1 and DZ represent only a small fraction of the normal inputs to these areas. In addition, most of the afferents to DZ and A1 appeared normal in terms of areal specificity and strength of projection, with preserved but smeared nucleotopic gradient of A1 in CDCs. In conclusion, while the abnormal projections revealed in the CDC can participate in the crossmodal compensatory mechanisms, the observation of a limited reorganization of the connectivity pattern of the CDC implies that functional reorganization in congenital deafness is further supported also by normal cortico-cortical connectivity.
An Example of Dynamical Physical Agents

This paper shows the benefits obtained when the dynamic behaviour of the agent’s physical body is taken into account. The agent oriented language Agent0, highlighted the need of declaring the capacities of agents in their reasoning. An example of convoying two controlled autonomous mobile robots as agents is shown. The responsibilit y of avoiding colli sions is for the rear agent, but the reliabilit y of sure decisions based on dynamics is of both of them. The deliberative co-operative decisions based on dynamics provide the controllers with safer set points. Finally, some experimental results using the RoboCup real robots are shown.
Akt Mediates Ras Downregulation of RhoB, a Suppressor of Transformation, Invasion, and Metastasis

ABSTRACT Although recent evidence supports a tumor-suppressive role for the GTPase RhoB, little is known about its regulation by signal transduction pathways. Here we demonstrate that Ras downregulates RhoB expression by a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)- and Akt- but not Mek-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, genetic and pharmacological blockade of PI3K/Akt results in upregulation of RhoB expression. We also provide evidence for the importance of the downregulation of RhoB in oncogenesis by demonstrating that RhoB antagonizes Ras/PI3K/Akt malignancy. Ectopic expression of RhoB, but not the close relative RhoA, inhibits Ras, PI3K, and Akt induction of transformation, migration, and invasion and induces apoptosis and anoikis. Finally, RhoB inhibits melanoma metastasis to the lung in a mouse model. These studies identify suppression of RhoB as a mechanism by which the Ras/PI3K/Akt pathway induces tumor survival, transformation, invasion, and metastasis.
Relay Selection for Secure Successive AF Relaying Networks With Untrusted Nodes

In this paper, the security aspect of an amplify-and-forward relaying network with untrusted relay nodes is considered. The untrusted nodes can help to forward the received signal and they may also try to decode such information, which can be regarded as potential eavesdroppers (Eves). To deal with such a challenging issue, a successive relaying scheme is adopted, where the multi-antenna source transmits to two selected nodes alternately, and the conventional detrimental inter-relay interference is used to jam the untrusted nodes without external helpers. Considering different complexity requirements, several relay selection schemes are proposed, and the closed-form expressions of the lower bound of secrecy outage probability are derived accordingly. To obtain some insights for the network design, an asymptotic analysis is also given, which shows that the maximum secrecy diversity order of N-1 can be achieved, where N is the number of the untrusted relays. Moreover, the spectral efficiency is improved dramatically with the successive relaying scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed max-min scheme has almost the same performance as that of the optimal one, and the theoretical results match well with the simulation results.
“ Loudness ” : On priors over preference relations ( Brief technical note )

This is a quick writeup of a problem discussed at the May 2014 MIRI workshop: how to formally deal with uncertainty about preferences. We assume that the true preferences satisfy the von Neumann-Morgenstern (VNM) axioms, and can therefore be represented by a utility function. It may seem that we should then simply maximize the expectation of this function. However, in the absence of more information, this is not welldefined; in this setting, different choices of utility functions representing the same VNM preferences can lead the agent to make different choices. We give a formalization of this problem and show that the choice of a prior probability distribution over VNM preference relations together with the choice of a representative for each of these distributions is in a certain sense equivalent to the choice of a single number for every preference relation, which we call its “loudness”. (Mathematically, a “loudness prior” can be seen as a probability distribution over preference relations, but this object does not have an epistemic interpretation.)
On the unequal bandwidth share in LonWorks control networks

In the paper, the problem of unequal bandwidth share among the devices introduced by the random scheme of LonTalk Media Access Control protocol is discussed. It is shown that the unfair allocation of communication resources is an unavoidable part of LonTalk operation in most load scenarios. Unfairness in accessing the channel results in a reduction of the bandwidth available to particular nodes. On the other hand, the channel access unfairness increases the mean channel utilization. There is a tradeoff between the access unfairness level and fairness recovery time: the possible inequality in sharing the bandwidth is greater for the light channel load but the fairness recovery time is then faster. Fortunately, the predictive p-CSMA unfairness has not tendency to escalate but is stabilized by the mechanism of a negative feedback.
Brucellosis as an Emerging Threat in Developing Economies: Lessons from Nigeria

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, has a large proportion of the world's poor livestock keepers, and is a hotspot for neglected zoonoses. A review of the 127 accessible publications on brucellosis in Nigeria reveals only scant and fragmented evidence on its spatial and temporal distribution in different epidemiological contexts. The few bacteriological studies conducted demonstrate the existence of Brucella abortus in cattle and sheep, but evidence for B. melitensis in small ruminants is dated and unclear. The bulk of the evidence consists of seroprevalence studies, but test standardization and validation are not always adequately described, and misinterpretations exist with regard to sensitivity and/or specificity and ability to identify the infecting Brucella species. Despite this, early studies suggest that although brucellosis was endemic in extensive nomadic systems, seroprevalence was low, and brucellosis was not perceived as a real burden; recent studies, however, may reflect a changing trend. Concerning human brucellosis, no studies have identified the Brucella species and most reports provide only serological evidence of contact with Brucella in the classical risk groups; some suggest brucellosis misdiagnoses as malaria or other febrile conditions. The investigation of a severe outbreak that occurred in the late 1970s describes the emergence of animal and human disease caused by the settling of previously nomadic populations during the Sahelian drought. There appears to be an increasing risk of re-emergence of brucellosis in sub-Saharan Africa, as a result of the co-existence of pastoralist movements and the increase of intensive management resulting from growing urbanization and food demand. Highly contagious zoonoses like brucellosis pose a threat with far-reaching social and political consequences.
The Interplay of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Political Activity in Emerging Markets: The Role of Strategic Flexibility in Non‐Market Strategies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate political activities are complementary, and the coordinated management of corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities may lead to better firm performance. However, corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities should be aligned carefully to utilize this complementarity. Strategic flexibility, which is the ability of a firm to adapt to changes in the external environment and make necessary organizational modifications quickly, can help firms to align their corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities. This paper empirically investigates the political dimension and the interactive dimension which describes interactions between corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities together with strategic flexibility and their effects on firm performance through a study of 142 firms in Turkey using moderated multiple regression methods. The results show that, while the political dimension had an inverted U&#8208;shaped effect on firm performance, indicating that only a moderate level of corporate political activities may improve financial performance, the interactive dimension had positive but limited implications for performance. Finally, it was found strategic flexibility plays a positive moderating role on the relationships between the interactive dimension and firm performance. It is concluded that complementarity between corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities which may result in better performance is contingent on strategic flexibility.
Centre De Referència En Economia Analítica Barcelona Economics Working Paper Series Codes of Best Practice in Competitive Markets for Managers Codes of Best Practice in Competitive Markets for Managers

We study …rms'corporate governance in environments where possibly heterogeneous shareholders compete for possibly heterogeneous managers. A …rm, formed by a shareholder and a manager, can sign either an incentive contract or a contract including a Code of Best Practice. A Code allows for a better manager's control but makes manager's decisions hard to react when market conditions change. It tends to be adopted in markets with low volatility and in low-competitive environments. The …rms with the best projects tend to adopt the Code when managers are not too heterogeneous while the best managers tend to be hired through incentive contracts when the projects are similar. Although the matching between shareholders and managers is often positively assortative, the shareholders with the best projects might be willing to renounce to hire the best managers, signing contracts including Codes with lower-ability managers.
An Evolutionary Algorithm with Double-Level Archives for Multiobjective Optimization

Existing multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) tackle a multiobjective problem either as a whole or as several decomposed single-objective sub-problems. Though the problem decomposition approach generally converges faster through optimizing all the sub-problems simultaneously, there are two issues not fully addressed, i.e., distribution of solutions often depends on a priori problem decomposition, and the lack of population diversity among sub-problems. In this paper, a MOEA with double-level archives is developed. The algorithm takes advantages of both the multiobjective-problem-level and the sub-problem-level approaches by introducing two types of archives, i.e., the global archive and the sub-archive. In each generation, self-reproduction with the global archive and cross-reproduction between the global archive and sub-archives both breed new individuals. The global archive and sub-archives communicate through cross-reproduction, and are updated using the reproduced individuals. Such a framework thus retains fast convergence, and at the same time handles solution distribution along Pareto front (PF) with scalability. To test the performance of the proposed algorithm, experiments are conducted on both the widely used benchmarks and a set of truly disconnected problems. The results verify that, compared with state-of-the-art MOEAs, the proposed algorithm offers competitive advantages in distance to the PF, solution coverage, and search speed.
A Novel Mutation of Human Liver Alanine:Glyoxylate Aminotransferase Causes Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1: Immunohistochemical Quantification and Subcellular Distribution

A novel alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT) mutation involved in primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1) was studied in Japanese patients. Two mutations in exon 7, c.751T>A and c.752G>A, lead to a W251K amino acid substitution. Proband 1 (patient 1) was homozygous for the W251K mutation allele (DDBJ Accession No. AB292648), and AGT-specific activity in the patient’s liver was very low. To reveal the cause of the low enzymatic activity, the intracellular localization of AGT (W251K) was studied using immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. The latter analysis showed that patient 2 had only one-fifth of the normal AGT expression per catalase, suggesting impairment of AGT (W251K) dependent transport into peroxisomes. Peroxisomal transport of human AGT is believed to be dependent on the presence of the type 1 peroxisomal targeting sequence. The C-terminal tripeptide of AGT, KKL is necessary for peroxisomal targeting. In cultured cells, EGFP-AGT (W251K) localized both in the peroxisome and cytosol. These results were consistent with the data obtained from liver analysis of patient 2. The subcellular distribution of AGT (W251K) and the results from a random mutagenesis study suggest that KKL is necessary for peroxisomal targeting of human AGT, but additional signal other than KKL may be necessary.
Some typical properties of large AND/OR Boolean formulas

In this paper typical properties of large random Boolean AND/OR formulas are investigated. Such formulas with n variables are viewed as rooted binary trees chosen from the uniform distribution of all rooted binary trees with m leaves, where n is fixed and m tends to infinity. The leaves are labeled by literals and the inner nodes by the connectives AND/OR, both uniformly at random. In extending the investigation to infinite trees, we obtain a close relation between the formula size complexity of an arbitrary Boolean function f and the probability of its occurrence under this distribution, i.e., the negative logarithm of this probability differs from the formula size complexity of f only by a polynomial factor.
A ROI Detection Model for Soccer Video on Small Display

With the proliferation of small-display mobile devices, the video sequences which are captured for normal size screen, may give small-display viewers uncomfortable experience, especially for some kinds of sports videos. We focus on soccer video, and propose to establish a saliency binary map and several character rules to detect the ball and decide the region-of-interest accordingly. Experimental results demonstrate that both the ball detection and the region-of-interest determination are effective.
GlnR Negatively Regulates the Transcription of the Alanine Dehydrogenase Encoding Gene ald in Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32 under Nitrogen Limited Conditions via Specific Binding to Its Major Transcription Initiation Site

Ammonium assimilation is catalyzed by two enzymatic pathways, i.e., glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase (GS/GOGAT) and alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) in Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32. Under nitrogen-rich conditions, the AlaDH pathway is the major route for ammonium assimilation, while the GS/GOGAT pathway takes over when the extracellular nitrogen supply is limited. The global nitrogen regulator GlnR was previously characterized to activate the transcription of the GS encoding gene glnA in response to nitrogen limitation and is demonstrated in this study as a repressor for the transcription of the AlaDH encoding gene ald, whose regulation is consistent with the switch of the ammonium assimilation pathways from AlaDH to GS/GOGAT responding to nitrogen limitation. Three transcription initiation sites (TISs) of ald were determined with primer extension assay, among which transcription from aldP2 contributed the major transcripts under nitrogen-rich conditions but was repressed to an undetectable level in response to nitrogen limitation. Through DNase I footprinting assay, two separate regions were found to be protected by GlnR within ald promoter, within which three GlnR binding sites (a1, b1 sites in region I and a2 site in region II) were defined. Interestingly, the major TIS aldP2 is located in the middle of a2 site within region II. Therefore, one may easily conclude that GlnR represses the transcription of ald via specific binding to the GlnR binding sites, which obviously blocks the transcription initiation from aldP2 and therefore reduces ald transcripts.
Why Racial Categories Make No Sense--and Why the Census Bureau is Right not to Care

“Why Racial Categories Make No Sense --and Why the Census Bureau is Right not to Care” Andrew Sabl UCLA Department of Policy Studies 3250 Public Policy Bldg. Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656 sabl@ucla.edu Prepared for the Comparative Social Analysis Workshop of the UCLA Department of Sociology, 13 November 2003. Draft version: Please do not cite without permission. Comments are welcome.
Explaining the social gradient in long-term sickness absence: a prospective study of Danish employees

Objectives: To identify differences in risk of sickness absence between socioeconomic groups, and to examine to what extent these differences can be explained by health behaviour and work environment factors. Design, setting and participants: A cohort of 5221 employees in Denmark interviewed in 2000 regarding health behaviours and work environment were followed for 18 months in order to assess their rate of sickness absence exceeding eight consecutive weeks. Based on employment grade, job title and education respondents were classified into five socioeconomic position (SEP) groups. Executive managers and academics were the reference group. Results: For both genders a social gradient in long-term sickness absence rates was evident. In men, controlling for health behaviours and physical work environment factors reduced rate ratios by 22–57%. Controlling for health behaviours alone reduced rate ratios by 6–13%. In women, controlling for health behaviour reduced rate ratios by 5–18%, and controlling for both health behaviours and physical work environment factors reduced rate ratios by 21–44%. Introducing psychosocial factors reduced the rate ratios further, yielding a reduction of 22–53% in the fully adjusted model. In both genders, the largest reductions were seen in skilled blue-collar workers and for semi-skilled or unskilled workers (by 58–59% in men and by 41–53% in women). Conclusion: A social gradient in long-term sickness absence was found. Physical work environment explained more of this gradient than health behaviour. Also including psychosocial work environment in the model had no effect in men but a small effect among women.
Caste-specific visual adaptations to distinct daily activity schedules in Australian Myrmecia ants

Animals are active at different times of the day and their activity schedules are shaped by competition, time-limited food resources and predators. Different temporal niches provide different light conditions, which affect the quality of visual information available to animals, in particular for navigation. We analysed caste-specific differences in compound eyes and ocelli in four congeneric sympatric species of Myrmecia ants, with emphasis on within-species adaptive flexibility and daily activity rhythms. Each caste has its own lifestyle: workers are exclusively pedestrian; alate females lead a brief life on the wing before becoming pedestrian; alate males lead a life exclusively on the wing. While workers of the four species range from diurnal, diurnal-crepuscular, crepuscular-nocturnal to nocturnal, the activity times of conspecific alates do not match in all cases. Even within a single species, we found eye area, facet numbers, facet sizes, rhabdom diameters and ocelli size to be tuned to the distinct temporal niche each caste occupies. We discuss these visual adaptations in relation to ambient light levels, visual tasks and mode of locomotion.
Difficulties in Skill Acquisition and Pervasive Environments

Pervasive computing implies new application opportunity as a result of technology integrated into everday environments. Whether considering the sophistication of emerging mobile platforms, or the automation of routine tasks in service provision, technology mediated interaction is woven into the time between home, work and leisure. Two recently emerging areas of innovation regarding mobile and pervasive applications pertain to health and learning. However, where recent findings in these areas seem to indicate the potential for ubiquitous applications in everyday environments, there are caveats presented by the nature of interactions between traditional work, home and leisure environments. The paper introduces the opportunities, challenges and potential solutions to integrating robust health and training applications into automated journeys.
An adaptive server-based scheduling framework with capacity reclaiming and borrowing

In this paper, we present a new reservation based scheduling framework for soft real-time systems using EDF algorithm (called CARB-EDF). This framework has the features of Capacity Adaptation, Reclaiming and Borrowing. This framework can simplify the initial configuration of the system, where the system designer does not need to provide any estimations of task execution times. We also present a Chebyshev's inequality based predictor to estimate task execution times. A number of simulation-based experiments have been implemented. According to the results compared with some related works, our scheduling framework can provide a better performance with acceptable extra scheduling overhead.
Experimentally evaluating an automatic approach for generating safety-critical software with respect to transient errors

This paper deals with a software modification strategy allowing on-line detection of transient errors. Being based on a set of rules for introducing redundancy in the high-level code, the method can be completely automated, and is therefore particularly suited for low-cost safety-critical microprocessor-based applications. Experimental results are presented and discussed, demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach in terms of fault detection capabilities.