Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Independent component model for cognitive functions of multiple subjects using [15O]H2O PET images

An independent component model of multiple subjects' positron emission tomography (PET) images is proposed to explore the overall functional components involved in a task and to explain subject specific variations of metabolic activities under altered experimental conditions utilizing the Independent component analysis (ICA) concept. As PET images represent time‐compressed activities of several cognitive components, we derived a mathematical model to decompose functional components from cross‐sectional images based on two fundamental hypotheses: (1) all subjects share basic functional components that are common to subjects and spatially independent of each other in relation to the given experimental task, and (2) all subjects share common functional components throughout tasks which are also spatially independent. The variations of hemodynamic activities according to subjects or tasks can be explained by the variations in the usage weight of the functional components. We investigated the plausibility of the model using serial cognitive experiments of simple object perception, object recognition, two‐back working memory, and divided attention of a syntactic process. We found that the independent component model satisfactorily explained the functional components involved in the task and discuss here the application of ICA in multiple subjects' PET images to explore the functional association of brain activations. Hum. Brain Mapping 18:284–295, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ASAM v2.7: a compressible atmospheric model with a Cartesian cut cell approach

Abstract. In this work, the fully compressible, three-dimensional, nonhydrostatic atmospheric model called All Scale Atmospheric Model (ASAM) is presented. A cut cell approach is used to include obstacles and orography into the Cartesian grid. Discretization is realized by a mixture of finite differences and finite volumes and a state limiting is applied. Necessary shifting and interpolation techniques are outlined. The method can be generalized to any other orthogonal grids, e.g., a lat–long grid. A linear implicit Rosenbrock time integration scheme ensures numerical stability in the presence of fast sound waves and around small cells. Analyses of five two-dimensional benchmark test cases from the literature are carried out to show that the described method produces meaningful results with respect to conservation properties and model accuracy. The test cases are partly modified in a way that the flow field or scalars interact with cut cells. To make the model applicable for atmospheric problems, physical parameterizations like a Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model, a two-moment bulk microphysics scheme, and precipitation and surface fluxes using a sophisticated multi-layer soil model are implemented and described. Results of an idealized three-dimensional simulation are shown, where the flow field around an idealized mountain with subsequent gravity wave generation, latent heat release, orographic clouds and precipitation are modeled.
Validity of the self-report version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Yemen.

OBJECTIVE The main objective of the study was to determine the validity of the Arabic version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Self-Report version in Yemen. METHODS Following translation and back translation of the scale into the Arabic language by a panel of experts, psychometric properties were assessed using 600 students from schools (low risk group) and 57 patients attending the Mental Health Hospital in Sana'a, Republic of Yemen (high risk group) from January through to April 2002. The age range of the 2 groups was from 12-17-years-old. Discriminative validity, concurrent validity and factorial validity were studied. RESULTS The difference between the means of the "total difficulties"scores in both groups was highly significant (p<0.001); the area under the curve (AUC) of the total scores and subscales scores were ranged from 0.77-0.89. The chance corrected agreements between the clinical diagnosis and SRQ subscales' prediction were significant. The sensitivity and specificity were 72% and 55%. Factor analysis yielded 5 dimensions of emotional symptoms, conduct disorders, hyperactivity, peer problems, and pro-social items. CONCLUSION Results of this validation study suggest that the Arabic version of the SRQ of SDQ is valid in Yemen; and it can be a useful tool for investigating childhood behavioral and emotional disorders at clinical settings.
Een exploratieve studie naar de multidimensionaliteit van de nederlandse vertaling van Ryffs schalen van psychologisch welbevinden - Een psychometrisch proces

Purpose: This study focuses on examining the psychometric quality of the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (PWB), translated into Dutch - 54 items. Background: Psychological well-being is part of a complete state of mental health. Debate has arisen about the multidimensionality of the PWB model, in which the six dimensions of ‘self-acceptance’, ‘positive relationships with others’, ‘autonomy’, ‘environmental mastery’, ‘purpose in life’ and ‘personal growth’ comprise psychological well-being. Several studies indicate that the six factors model cannot be confirmed. Both the methodological and statistical limitations of previous research have led to explorative research in this study. Methodology: A group of middle-aged and older adults (n = 386), mostly women (54.4%) of middle age (62%), are included in this study. Using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) with oblique rotation methodology, an assessment is made whether the dimensional level as well as the item level are sufficiently represented. In addition, the discriminatory validity of the PWB is researched in relation to personality traits and experiential avoidance. Results: After integrating the research data, five dimensions appear to be distinct from each other. In this study the ‘purpose in life’ dimension is determined not to be distinct from the other PWB dimensions. Furthermore, several items do not sufficiently represent the original dimensions and provide insufficient distinction between the dimensions. In addition, the number of valid items per dimension varies. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, the conclusion that can be drawn with regard to the validity - and hence the reliability - of the 54 item version is that it is not optimal. Additional research should prove whether the PWB dimensions are hierarchical in nature and whether the ‘purpose in life’ dimension contributes to the PWB model. Issues of a high correlation between the PWB dimensions should be solved at item level with respect to age, sex and possible cultural differences. The latter because meaning connected to the word of items is affected by subjectivity. Both validity and reliability of the model would benefit from replicating research.
Eugene Jamot (1879–1937)

Objectives: To investigate the use of whole brain voxel based morphometry (VBM) and stereological analysis to study brain morphology in patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy; and to determine the relation between side, duration, and age of onset of temporal lobe epilepsy, history of childhood febrile convulsions, and grey matter structure. Methods: Three dimensional magnetic resonance images were obtained from 58 patients with left sided seizure onset (LSSO) and 58 patients with right sided seizure onset (RSSO), defined using EEG and foramen ovale recordings in the course of presurgical evaluation for temporal lobectomy. Fifty eight normal controls formed a comparison group. VBM was used to characterise whole brain grey matter concentration, while the Cavalieri method of modern design stereology in conjunction with point counting was used to estimate hippocampal and amygdala volume. Age and sex were used as confounding covariates in analyses. Results: LSSO and RSSO patients showed significant reductions in volume (using stereology) and grey matter concentration (using VBM) of the hippocampus, but not of the amygdala, in the presumed epileptogenic zone when compared with controls, but hippocampal (and amygdala) volume and grey matter concentration were not related to duration or age of onset of epilepsy. LSSO and RSSO patients with a history of childhood febrile convulsions had reduced hippocampal volumes in the presumed epileptogenic zone compared with patients without such a history. Left amygdala volume was also reduced in LSSO patients with a history of childhood convulsions. VBM results indicated bilateral thalamic, prefrontal, and cerebellar GMC reduction in patients, which correlated with duration and age of onset of epilepsy. Conclusions: Hippocampal sclerosis is not necessarily the consequence of recurrent temporal lobe seizures. A major cause of hippocampal sclerosis appears to be an early aberrant neurological insult, such as childhood febrile seizures. Secondary brain abnormalities exist in regions outside the presumed epileptogenic zone and may result from recurrent seizures.
Extension of a didactic media competence model by privacy risk

Six and Gimmler have identified concrete capabilities that enable users to use the Internet in a competent way [4]. Their media competence model can be used for the didactical design of media usage in secondary schools. However, the special challenge of security awareness is not addressed by the model. In this paper, the important dimension of risk and risk assessment will be introduced into the model. This is especially relevant for the risk of the protection of personal data and privacy. This paper will apply the method of IT risk analysis in order to select those dimensions of the Six/Gimmler media competence model that are appropriate to describe privacy aware Internet usage. Privacy risk aware decisions for or against the Internet usage is made visible by the trust model of Mayer et al. [3]. The privacy extension of the competence model will lead to a measurement of the existing privacy awareness in secondary schools, which, in turn, can serve as a didactically well-reasoned design of Informatics modules in secondary schools.
Optimality of Diagonalization of Multicarrier Multi-Hop Linear Non-Regenerative MIMO Relays

In this paper, a multicarrier multi-hop multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay system is investigated. A linear non-regenerative strategy is applied at each relay node. We show that for Schur-concave objective functions, the optimal source precoding matrix, the optimal relay amplifying matrices and the optimal receiving matrix jointly diagonalize the multicarrier multi-hop MIMO relay channel. And for Schur-convex objectives, such joint diagonalization along with a rotation of the source precoding matrix is also shown to be optimal. Using the optimal structure of the source and relay matrices, the multi-hop relay design problem boils down to the issue of power loading among the resulting parallel multi-hop single-input single-output (SISO) relay channels. This paper provides additional details of the multicarrier version of some of our recent results.
Apotransferrin promotes the differentiation of two oligodendroglial cell lines

We have previously shown that addition of apotransferrin (aTf) accelerates maturation of oligodendroglial cells (OLGcs) in primary cultures. In this work, we examined the effect of aTf on two conditionally immortalized cell lines: N19 and N20.1. These cells proliferate at 34°C and differentiate into mature OLGcs at 39°C. In vitro addition of aTf to both cell lines at the differentiation temperature for 7 days showed increased expression of galactocerebroside, O4, and myelin basic protein (MBP) and a drop in the percentage of BrdU+ cells. The effect on MBP expression was particularly interesting in the less mature N19 cells. These cells do not express either MBP mRNAs or proteins, so aTf induced, rather than modulated, MBP expression in this cell line. In addition, even though MBP mRNAs for all four isoforms were induced, only the 17 and 21.5 kDa appeared to be translated. OLGc differentiation has been shown to be stimulated by the cAMP‐CREB pathway. In N19 cells, following a pulse of aTf, there was a 10‐fold increase in cAMP levels accompanied by elevated levels of pCREB. In the more mature N20.1 cells, there were no changes in cAMP levels. We conclude that addition of aTf to immature OLGc lines can enhance their expression of differentiated markers, such as MBP. The action of aTf on MBP gene expression in the least mature line is likely to be mediated by the cAMP pathway. In the N20.1 cells, it appears that different signals and/or mechanisms are involved in modulating myelin lipid and MBP expression. The results suggest that aTf can influence OLGc gene expression and differentiation through multiple mechanisms depending on the maturation of the cell. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
LeCTR2, a CTR1-like protein kinase from tomato, plays a role in ethylene signalling, development and defence

Arabidopsis AtCTR1 is a Raf-like protein kinase that interacts with ETR1 and ERS and negatively regulates ethylene responses. In tomato, several CTR1-like proteins could perform this role. We have characterized LeCTR2, which has similarity to AtCTR1 and also to EDR1, a CTR1-like Arabidopsis protein involved in defence and stress responses. Protein–protein interactions between LeCTR2 and six tomato ethylene receptors indicated that LeCTR2 interacts preferentially with the subfamily I ETR1-type ethylene receptors LeETR1 and LeETR2, but not the NR receptor or the subfamily II receptors LeETR4, LeETR5 and LeETR6. The C-terminus of LeCTR2 possesses serine/threonine kinase activity and is capable of auto-phosphorylation and phosphorylation of myelin basic protein in vitro. Overexpression of the LeCTR2 N-terminus in tomato resulted in altered growth habit, including reduced stature, loss of apical dominance, highly branched inflorescences and fruit trusses, indeterminate shoots in place of determinate flowers, and prolific adventitious shoot development from the rachis or rachillae of the leaves. Expression of the ethylene-responsive genes E4 and chitinase B was upregulated in transgenic plants, but ethylene production and the level of mRNA for the ethylene biosynthetic gene ACO1 was unaffected. The leaves and fruit of transgenic plants also displayed enhanced susceptibility to infection by the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea, which was associated with much stronger induction of pathogenesis-related genes such as PR1b1 and chitinase B compared with the wild-type. The results suggest that LeCTR2 plays a role in ethylene signalling, development and defence, probably through its interactions with the ETR1-type ethylene receptors of subfamily I.
Sub-Nyquist Sampling

In this article, we review sampling strategies that target reduction of the ADC rate below Nyquist. Our survey covers classic works from the early 1950s through recent publications from the past several years. The prime focus is bridging theory and practice, that is, to pinpoint the potential of sub-Nyquist strategies to emerge from the math to the hardware. In this spirit, we integrate contemporary theoretical viewpoints, which study signal modeling in a union of subspaces, together with a taste of practical aspects, more specifically how the avant-garde modalities boil down to concrete signal processing systems. Our hope is that this presentation style will attract the interest of both researchers and engineers with the aim of promoting the sub-Nyquist premise into practical applications while encouraging further research into this exciting new frontier.
Role of gelatinases in disuse‐induced skeletal muscle atrophy

Gelatinases are a subgroup of the family of matrix metalloproteinases, which contains two members—gelatinase A and B. These enzymes play an important role in basement membrane homeostasis. Previous studies have associated basement membrane degradation with skeletal muscle atrophy. However, the specific contribution of gelatinases to the pathobiology of muscle atrophy remains unknown. In this study we examined the specific roles of gelatinase A and B in disuse‐induced skeletal muscle atrophy using knockout mice. Although both gelatinase A and B are highly upregulated in disused muscle, only gelatinase A null mice had significantly reduced muscle atrophy as compared to wildtype littermates. Type IV collagen and laminin, two major components of basement membrane, were relatively well‐preserved in disused muscle in gelatinase A null mice, but not in gelatinase B null mice. These findings suggest that gelatinase A, and not gelatinase B, plays a critical role in disuse‐induced skeletal muscle atrophy. Muscle Nerve, 2010
Autonomous Movement Predicts Children's Moral Regard and Prosocial Behavior Towards a Social Robot Dog

Young children are remarkably prosocial towards humans. However, it is less clear what drives children’s prosociality towards non-human others. Here we explore the possibility that children’s moral regard stems from their understanding of others as autonomous beings. To investigate this possibility, we asked five and seven-yearold children to interact with a robot dog that appeared to be either moving autonomously (displaying self-generated movement), or appeared remote-controlled by the experimenter. Compared with controlled robot, the autonomous robot caused children to ascribe higher emotional and physical sentience to the robot, to reference the robot as having desires and physiological states, and to reference moral concerns as applying to the robot. Children who owned a dog at home were also more likely to behave prosocially towards the autonomous robot. Results imply a potential role of technology on children’s developing social cognition and prosocial behavior.
Intrusion-Tolerant Group Management for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

This paper presents PICO, a distributed protocol that manages group membership and keying in mobile adhoc networks (MANETs). PICO tolerates a limited number of Byzantine nodes and an additional limited number of crashed nodes. It allows clients to join or leave a dynamically chang ing group and provides group members with a dynamically updated group encryption key. Since MANETs are characterized by relatively high message loss and frequent network partitions, PICO is built around a new Byzantine fault-tolerant agreement protocol designed to cope with these conditions. The agreem ent protocol leverages weak (commutative) semantics to allow m ultiple partitions to continue operating in parallel without sacrificing correctness; it also copes well with unreilable communicat ion links because it uses cumulative messages instead of needin g the retransmission of prior lost messages.
Comparative Performance Measurements of Two Helicopter Blade Profiles in Hovering Flight

Abstract : A new blade profile, RAE(NPL) 9615, has been developed for the Lynx helicopter using two-dimensional aerofoil tests. The complex nature of the rotor environment makes it essential to confirm that the designed improvements are realised in flight. The present tests, planned before the Lynx first flew, have simultaneously compared the new profile with the NACA 0012 profile in hovering flight. Each profile took the form of a fairing or 'glove' on a pair of opposing blades of the Wessex helicopter and both local surface pressures and wake pitot pressures were measured. The flight results confirm the comparative reduction in local supersonic velocity and in shock-induced profile drag for the new profile. However, differences between flight and tunnel attributable to three-dimensional effects are evident. The results also indicate the complex nature of the flow due to blade vortex interaction and small translational velocities. (Author)
The Lack Of An Empirical Rationale For A Revival Of Discretionary Fiscal Policy

A decade ago in a paper, “Reassessing Discretionary Fiscal Policy,” published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, I concluded that “in the current context of the US economy, it seems best to let fiscal policy have its main countercyclical impact through the automatic stabilizers. It would be appropriate in the current circumstances for discretionary fiscal policy to be saved explicitly for longer term issues, requiring less frequent changes. ” This was not an unusual conclusion at the time. As Martin Eichenbaum (1997) put it, “There is now widespread agreement that countercyclical discretionary fiscal policy is neither desirable nor politically feasible,” or, according to Martin Feldstein (2002), “There is now widespread agreement in the economics profession that deliberate ‘countercyclical’ discretionary policy has not contributed to economic stability and may have actually been destabilizing in the past. ” Despite this widespread agreement of a decade ago, there has recently been a dramatic revival of interest in discretionary fiscal policy. The purpose of this short paper is to review the empirical evidence during the past decade and determine whether it calls for such a revival. I find that it does not.
On the Impact of Integration of Non-Image Forming (NIF) Effect of Light on Electrical Lighting Control in Non-Residential Buildings

Lighting has an impact on the visual as well as cognitive performance of people in non-residential buildings. Light is the most powerful time cue for resetting the circadian pacemaker and ensuring correct synchronization of the internal clock with the environment: these effects are called “Non-Image Forming” (NIF) functions. The expected neuroendocrine and neurobehavioral responses of subjects to light exposure can be summarized in four principal categories: alertness, sleep quality, mood and performance. The properties of light such as intensity, timing, pattern and light history influences neurobehavioral responses. These significant effects of light are currently not considered in building automation mainly due to the unknown and complicated nature of NIF effects as well as lack of proper technology. This leads likely to a considerable loss of productive time and momentum for the office occupants. This paper explores the existing knowledge of NIF effects of light on human beings and consequently proposes a novel dynamic lighting pattern, which is used as a set point for an integrated daylighting and electric lighting system. In other words, the existing scientific knowledge of NIF effect of light is introduced into the lighting engineering and automation domain. This user-centric approach allows for a system level study of the suggested variable lighting set points. A novel High Dynamic Range (HDR) vision sensor installed next to the office user allows for an ‘on-the-fly’ evaluation of the light flux received by the human eyes during daytime: it also offers a personalized, refined control of an integrated electric lighting and sun shading system.
Improving evolutionary solutions to the game of mastermind using an entropy-based scoring method

Solving the MasterMind puzzle, that is, finding out a hidden combination by using hints that tell you how close some strings are to that one is a combinatorial optimization problem that becomes increasingly difficult with string size and the number of symbols used in it. Since it does not have an exact solution, heuristic methods have been traditionally used to solve it; these methods scored each combination using a heuristic function that depends on comparing all possible solutions with each other. In this paper we first optimize the implementation of previous evolutionary methods used for the game of mastermind, obtaining up to a 40% speed improvement over them. Then we study the behavior of an entropy-based score, which has previously been used but not checked exhaustively and compared with previous solutions. The combination of these two strategies obtain solutions to the game of Mastermind that are competitive, and in some cases beat, the best solutions obtained so far. All data and programs have also been published under an open source license.