Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A theory for how sensorimotor skills are learned and retained in noisy and nonstationary neural circuits

Significance The synaptic trace theory of memory posits that the brain retains information through learning-induced changes in synaptic connections. Once consolidated, a memory is embodied through its fixed trace. For the case of motor memories, e.g., learning how to ride a bicycle, we propose a slight variation on this theme. Because there are so many different ways for the motor system to accomplish the same task goal, motor memories are defined not by fixed patterns of synaptic connections, but rather by nonstationary patterns that fluctuate coherently while still generating the same fixed input–output mapping. This mechanism provides a noisy sensorimotor system with enough flexibility so that motor learning can occur rapidly with respect to new memories without overwriting older memories. During the process of skill learning, synaptic connections in our brains are modified to form motor memories of learned sensorimotor acts. The more plastic the adult brain is, the easier it is to learn new skills or adapt to neurological injury. However, if the brain is too plastic and the pattern of synaptic connectivity is constantly changing, new memories will overwrite old memories, and learning becomes unstable. This trade-off is known as the stability–plasticity dilemma. Here a theory of sensorimotor learning and memory is developed whereby synaptic strengths are perpetually fluctuating without causing instability in motor memory recall, as long as the underlying neural networks are sufficiently noisy and massively redundant. The theory implies two distinct stages of learning—preasymptotic and postasymptotic—because once the error drops to a level comparable to that of the noise-induced error, further error reduction requires altered network dynamics. A key behavioral prediction derived from this analysis is tested in a visuomotor adaptation experiment, and the resultant learning curves are modeled with a nonstationary neural network. Next, the theory is used to model two-photon microscopy data that show, in animals, high rates of dendritic spine turnover, even in the absence of overt behavioral learning. Finally, the theory predicts enhanced task selectivity in the responses of individual motor cortical neurons as the level of task expertise increases. From these considerations, a unique interpretation of sensorimotor memory is proposed—memories are defined not by fixed patterns of synaptic weights but, rather, by nonstationary synaptic patterns that fluctuate coherently.
Effects of renal volume and single-kidney glomerular filtration rate on renal functional outcome in atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis.

BACKGROUND Renal functional outcome is unpredictable after revascularization of high-grade atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (RAS). 'Hibernating' parenchyma describes acute parenchymal injury where renal dysfunction is potentially reversible with treatment of the stenosis. We analysed renal parenchymal volume (PV) and single-kidney glomerular filtration rate (SK-GFR) characteristics to identify kidneys with hibernating parenchyma and hence determine renal functional outcome after revascularization. METHODS Fifty patients with > or =50% RAS underwent baseline analyses: (i) PV using magnetic resonance imaging; (ii) radioisotopic SK-GFR. Twenty-one patients (27 kidneys) underwent renal revascularization and 29 medical therapy alone. RESULTS Patients with revascularized kidneys manifesting high PV:SK-GFR showed improvement in global estimated GFR compared to conservatively managed counterparts at 6 months and 1 year (6 months: 6.2 +/- 2.9 versus -3.7 +/- 6.8, P = 0.038; 1 year: 3.5 +/- 3.0 versus -5.1 +/- 5.1 ml/min/1.73 m(2), P = 0.021). Twelve revascularized patients (16 kidneys) underwent repeat SK-GFR 4 months post-revascularization. Six of 16 revascularized kidneys had high baseline PV:SK-GFR and showed improved SK-GFR compared to kidneys with low or normal PV:SK-GFR (6.3 +/- 2.0 versus -0.9 +/- 4.2 ml/min, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that, after revascularization, GFR improvement is likely if there is a disproportionately higher baseline PV:SK-GFR in the RAS kidney. Analysing these parameters can potentially identify these 'hibernating' kidneys and aid determination of renal functional outcome in RAS.
An Algorithm for Parking Lot Occupation Detection

This paper presents unsupervised vision-based system for parking lot occupancy detection. The proposed method exhibit low computation complexity and use just a few frames per minute. Method is based on three main processing stages. In the first section, raw image acquired by camera system is preprocessed. Shadows in the image are significantly attenuated or completely removed. The image distortion is corrected subsequently. In the following step optimal correspondences between one or more stationary cameras and visible parking places are established. During this process occlusions are taken in account. Finally, a parking place status is evaluated. Acquired information about parking lot occupancy can be served to another system, e.g. intelligent transportation system. Experimental results from both artificial and real scenes show promising results even on quite challenging conditions. Nonetheless a scope for improvement of presented method is given.
Observer-based synchronization of networked Hindmarsh-Rose neurons

The main objective of this paper is to develop an observer-based synchronization scheme for networked Hindmarsh-Rose neuron models. Regarding synchronization as a state estimation problem, an observer design approach is used for estimating full state dynamics. Stability of the trajectories to be synchronized is determined by utilization of the contraction theory that provides an efficient tool for analyzing convergence of manifolds with respect to each other. Thereupon, a region where contraction of trajectories takes place is determined; therefore the corresponding error dynamics of the model remain in that contracting region. Consequent results are also supported by a numerical simulation example in the end demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach.
Community-Based Well Maintenance in Rural Haiti

The international community has pledged 11 billion dollars to Haiti, a country where non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide nearly all public goods and services. This raises at least two questions: How can NGOs most effectively perform their own work, and how can NGOs integrate their programs into broader efforts organized by public institutions? This paper addresses these questions by evaluating the community-based model of Haiti Outreach (HO) that focuses on training communities to manage wells after they have been constructed. The effect of this management training is identified by comparing the outcomes of HO’s wells with a control group of wells that were refurbished by HO in the aftermath of the January 12, 2010 earthquake but then subsequently managed by other groups. Wells managed under the community-based approach are 8.7 percentage points more likely to be functioning after only one year. We also propose a social planner’s problem to quantify the tradeoff between equity and efficiency created by user fees that may be applied to many development programs. A social planner indifferent between standard and community-based interventions has strong preferences for sporadically providing water to the poorest members of a community at the expense of sustainably providing water to the majority of community members. Policy-makers deciding between alternative interventions should also give consideration to the community-based approach for its ability to build political institutions.
Optimizing Cloud-Based Video Crowdsensing

Wearable and mobile devices are widely used for crowdsensing, as they come with many sensors and are carried everywhere. Among the sensing data, videos annotated with temporal-spatial metadata contain huge amount of information, but consume too much precious storage space. In this paper, we solve the problem of optimizing cloud-based video crowdsensing in three steps. First, we study the optimal transcoding problem on wearable and mobile cameras. We propose an algorithm to optimally select the coding parameters to fit more videos at higher quality on wearable and mobile cameras. Second, we empirically investigate the throughput of different file transfer protocols from wearable and mobile devices to cloud servers. We propose a real-time algorithm to select the best protocol under diverse network conditions, so as to leverage the intermittent WiFi access. Last, we look into the performance of cloud databases for sensor-annotated videos, and implement a practical algorithm to search videos overlapping with a target geographical region. Our measurement study on three popular opensource cloud databases reveals their pros and cons. The three proposed algorithms are evaluated via extensive simulations and experiments. The evaluation results show the practicality and efficiency of our algorithms and system. For example, our proposed transcoding algorithm outperforms existing approaches by 12 dB in video quality, 87% in energy saving, and one-quarter in delivery delay. Another example is, by intelligently choosing a proper cloud database, our system may reduce the insertion time by up to one-third, or the lookup time by up to one-fourth.
Beyond the Segment

Background. The phonological segment as a locus of independent phonological difference has played a central role in the last century of phonological theorising (Anderson 1985, Halliday 2000). Dissenting voices have been there throughout: Twaddell (1935) criticised the phoneme (more broadly, any type of segment) as pure fiction. Both Firth (1948) and Z. Harris (1944) argue that there are phonological phenomena larger than the segment, an idea taken up in Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith 1976) in the generative framework. (ii) illustrates why phonology must go beyond the segment. My theoretical framework is a further develop-GP subscribes to the non-arbitrariness principle, requiring a direct connection between a phonological event and its context. Analysis. While English or Italian make do with a distinction between short and long (1–2), Estonian (3) displays three degrees of length (short, long, over-long). Two comments are in order, though. Firstly, bisyllabic words (3a) are claimed to establish a three-way segmental ("phonemic") contrast. Such claims disregard differences in the final nucleus, which is longer in (3ai) and (3aii) than in (3aiii): Differences between individual words are not located in one single point. (They also disregard morphological structure, as forms of type (3aiii) always involve analytic (stem-level) morphology. ) Secondly, monosyllabic words (3b) show a trade-off similar to Italian: the more room is taken up by the consonant (C), the less remains for the preceding vowel (V) and vice versa. Such trade-offs again show that phonological differences can have multiple exponence, unlike what the notion of segment suggests. Close inspection of English reveals parallels to Estonian: (4) illustrates "pre-fortis clipping", known from the literature (cf. pioneering work by Peterson & Lehiste 1960), though usually disregarded as phonologically irrelevant because of its predictability (for arguments against such a position cf. Chomsky 1964 or Harris 1999, who I side with). Before voiceless consonants (bit, beat) the vowel is shorter than before neutral ("voiced") ones (bid, bead). Such a seemingly arbitrary interaction fails the non-arbitrariness principle, suggesting that the difference between English voiceless and neutral consonants should not be seen as melodic (qualitative), but rather as structural (quantitative): d, say, is the short version of t (5). As a result, the trade-off in (5) parallels (2) and (3b): The more room is needed by the consonant, the less remains for the preceding vowel (and vice versa). This shift in perspective allows for a non-arbitrary analysis: English does not display an arbitrary interaction of vowel length …
The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform

Introduction 1. An Era of Governance by Performance Management 2. Performance Management as Doctrine 3. The Partial Adoption of Performance Management Reforms in State Government 4. Explaining the Partial Adoption of Performance Management Reforms 5. Explaining the Implementation of Performance Management Reforms 6. The Interactive Dialogue Model of Performance Information Use 7. Performance Management under George W. Bush 8. PART and the Interactive Dialogue Model 9. Dialogue Routines and Learning Forums 10. Rethinking Performance Management Appendix A: Interview Protocol for State Interviews Appendix B: State Backgrounds -- Political Culture, Budgeting Practices, Performance Management History and Corrections Policies Appendix C: Program Assessment Rating Tool Bibligraphy Index
Rate-distoriton analysis for Compressive Sensing based coding

Compressive Sensing (CS) is an emerging technology which samples a sparse signal at a rate corresponding to its actual information content rather than to its bandwidth. Different from traditional coding schemes in which distortion mainly comes from quantizer, distortion are related to quantization and compressive sampling in compressive sensing based coding schemes. Since the total coding bits are often constrained in the practical application, it is a great challenge to balance the number of measurements and quantization parameter to minimization the distortion. In this paper, a source rate and distortion model is proposed. The accuracy of the proposed R-D model is verified through experiments. Based on the R-D model, the optimal number of measurements and quantization step size are determined according to the rate-distortion criteria. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves coding performances substantially.
Cilostazol Improves Proangiogenesis Functions in Human Early Endothelial Progenitor Cells through the Stromal Cell-Derived Factor System and Hybrid Therapy Provides a Synergistic Effect In Vivo

This study investigated the effect of cilostazol on proangiogenesis functions in human early endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in vitro and the therapeutic implication of hybrid therapy with cilostazol and human early EPCs in vivo. Cilostazol significantly increased colony-forming units and enhanced differentiation of EPCs toward endothelial lineage. Treatments resulted in antiapoptotic effects and stimulated proliferation and migration and in vitro vascular tube formation through activation of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4)/phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. Blood flow recovery and capillary density in murine ischemic hindlimbs were significantly improved in cilostazol-treated, human early EPCs-treated, and cotreatment groups. The effects were attenuated with SDF-1α inhibition. Plasma SDF-1α levels were significantly higher in 3 active treatment groups after surgery, with greatest effects observed in hybrid therapy. The angiogenic effects of transplanted EPCs pretreated with cilostazol ex vivo were superior to untreated EPCs using in vivo Matrigel assay. Implanted EPCs were incorporated into the capillary, with pretreatment or cotreatment with cilostazol resulting in enhanced effects. Taken together, cilostazol promotes a large number of proangiogenic functions in human early EPCs through activation of SDF-1/CXCR4/PI3K/Akt signaling, and hybrid therapy provides a synergistic effect in vivo. Cotreatment may be beneficial in ischemic disease.
Defensor: Lightweight and Efficient Security-Enhanced Framework for Android

Recently the market of Android has shown an explosive development. Unfortunately the increasing popularity turns the Android platform into the main target of malware. At the same time, the limited security protection built-in Android makes the situation much worse. In this paper, we present a new framework named Defensor which takes the practicability and effectiveness into consideration. The core part of Defensor is built in Linux kernel, which results in a small size of TCB. Defensor is a system-wide lightweight inspecting framework. It can closely monitor the malicious behaviors within and across applications, such as sending SMS to premium rate numbers, stealing privacy from the compromised device and getting root privileges through root exploits. This type of monitor is mandatory. Any application installed on the phone and any component including malicious native code can't bypass it. Defensor can not only rebuild the high level behaviors from system calls, but also extract the context information that the behavior runs in. Context-based information likes background and foreground contributes a lot to the accuracy of malware detection. We have tested Defensor on real malware to prove its effectiveness. Finally, an experimental evaluation showing that the overhead introduced by Defensor is limited.
Presence of LYM2 dependent but CERK1 independent disease resistance in Arabidopsis

Plants have the ability to detect invading fungi through the perception of chitin fragments released from the fungal cell walls. Plant chitin receptor consists of two types of plasma membrane proteins, CEBiP and CERK1. However, the contribution of these proteins to chitin signaling is different between Arabidopsis and rice. In Arabidopsis, it seems CERK1 receptor kinase is enough for both ligand perception and signaling, whereas both CEBiP and OsCERK1 are required for chitin signaling in rice. Here we report that Arabidopsis CEBiP homolog, LYM2, is not involved in chitin signaling but contributes to resistance against a fungal pathogen, Alternaria brassicicola, indicating the presence of a novel disease resistance mechanism in Arabidopsis.
GPS error range reduction method based on linear kinematic model

GPS is an effective tool to localize robots within an absolute coordinate frame. However, depending on the application, even the accuracy provided by the GPS in an ideal environment might be too low for precise control. In this work we propose a method for reducing the error range of GPS measurements based on an assumption of linear motion. While previous research in this area has mainly improved accuracy using pre-processing and Map-matching, the proposed method makes an assumption of one-dimensional motion, since most vehicle moves linearly, for making corrections. Raw measurements are projected onto a line generated using a method of least squares linear regression. Therefore the error range is reduced to the distance of the intersections of the rail line and the ellipsoid body that indicates the measurement error. Through experiments we demonstrate that the error range reduced at most 15 % at locally compared to the raw measurements. It is possible to apply this method also to other kinematic models, Map-matching algorithms, consumer GPS, and in real-time applications.
Psychiatric Comorbidity in Korean Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Psychopathology According to Subtype

It is well-known that more than 50% of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cases also have comorbid psychiatric disorders. We evaluated the comorbid psychopathology of Korean children and adolescents with ADHD using a standardized diagnostic instrument. The Korean Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL-K) was administered and completed in 105 patients who had been referred to the outpatient and inpatient clinics at the Samsung Medical Center from March 2004 to May 2005. All of the cases were diagnosed as ADHD according to DSM-IV criteria. We analyzed their clinical characteristics and psychiatric comorbidities, and assessed the correlation of any comorbidity with gender, age and ADHD subtype. Among our 105 participants, 70 (66.7%) subjects were diagnosed with combined-type ADHD, 22 (21.0%) were the predominantly inattentive type, only 1 (1.0%) was determined to have the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type of ADHD, and 12 (11.4%) were classified as not otherwise specified (NOS) ADHD. Eighty (76.2%) subjects had at least one comorbid disorder such as oppositional defiant disorder (n = 53, 50.5%), anxiety disorders (n = 35, 33.3%) and affective disorders (n = 15, 14.3%). Our patients ranged in age from five to 16 years. Among the factors including gender, age, and ADHD subtype, ADHD subtype was the only one significant to comorbidity in our study. The results of this study suggest that psychiatric comorbidity in Korean children with ADHD is similar to the results of previous studies in western countries. Out of all the ADHD subtypes, the combined-type group had a significantly higher ratio of comorbid disorders and psychopathologies.
Spiritual Therapy to Improve the Spiritual Well-Being of Iranian Women with Breast Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of spiritual therapy intervention in improving the spiritual well-being and quality of life (QOL) of Iranian women with breast cancer. Methods. This randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) recruited 65 women with breast cancer, randomly assigned to a 6-week spirituality-based intervention (n = 34) or control group (n = 31). Before and after six-week spiritual therapy intervention, spiritual well-being and quality of life (QOL) were assessed using Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Spiritual Well-being scale (FACIT-Sp12) and cancer quality-of-life questionnaire (QLQ-C30), respectively. t-test, Paired t-test, pearson's correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were used for analysis using Predictive Analytic software (PASW, version 18) for Windows. Results. After six spiritual therapy sessions, the mean spiritual well-being score from 29.76 (SD = 6.63) to 37.24 (SD = 3.52) in the intervention group (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference between arms of study (F = 22.91, P < 0.001). A significant positive correlation was detected between meaning and peace with all subscales of functional subscales on European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of Life (EORTC QLQ-C30) (P < 0.05). Hierarchical regression analyses of participants indicated that the study arm, pain, and financial impact were significant predictors of spiritual well-being and overall QOL. Social functioning was another significant predictor of spiritual well-being. Conclusion. The results of this randomized controlled trial study suggest that participation in spiritual therapy program is associated with improvements in spiritual well-being and QOL. Targeted interventions to acknowledge and incorporate spiritual needs into conventional treatment should be considered in caring of Iranian patients with breast cancer.