Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deficits in high- (>60 Hz) gamma-band oscillations during visual processing in schizophrenia

Current theories of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia have focused on abnormal temporal coordination of neural activity. Oscillations in the gamma-band range (>25 Hz) are of particular interest as they establish synchronization with great precision in local cortical networks. However, the contribution of high gamma (>60 Hz) oscillations toward the pathophysiology is less established. To address this issue, we recorded magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data from 16 medicated patients with chronic schizophrenia and 16 controls during the perception of Mooney faces. MEG data were analysed in the 25–150 Hz frequency range. Patients showed elevated reaction times and reduced detection rates during the perception of upright Mooney faces while responses to inverted stimuli were intact. Impaired processing of Mooney faces in schizophrenia patients was accompanied by a pronounced reduction in spectral power between 60–120 Hz (effect size: d = 1.26) which was correlated with disorganized symptoms (r = −0.72). Our findings demonstrate that deficits in high gamma-band oscillations as measured by MEG are a sensitive marker for aberrant cortical functioning in schizophrenia, suggesting an important aspect of the pathophysiology of the disorder.
Semantic Parsing with Combinatory Categorial Grammars

The tutorial will describe general principles for building semantic parsers. The presentation will be divided into two main parts: modeling and learning. The modeling section will include best practices for grammar design and choice of semantic representation. The discussion will be guided by examples from several domains. To illustrate the choices to be made and show how they can be approached within a real-life representation language, we will use λ-calculus meaning representations. In the learning part, we will describe a unified approach for learning Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) semantic parsers, that induces both a CCG lexicon and the parameters of a parsing model. The approach learns from data with labeled meaning representations, as well as from more easily gathered weak supervision. It also enables grounded learning where the semantic parser is used in an interactive environment, for example to read and execute instructions.
MULTIMODE BEHAVIOR OF A 42 GHz , 200 kW

The multimode beam-wave interaction behavior in a tapered, cylindrical cavity RF interaction structure of a 42GHz gyrotron operating in the TE 03 mode has been investigated through nonlinear analysis and PIC simulation. A technique for producing the annular gyrating electron beam in PIC simulation code CST Particle Studio has been described. An energy transfer phenomenon from electron beam to RF has been demonstrated. The performance of cavity has been monitored to ensure the device operation in the desired mode and frequency. In the PIC simulation, the effect of beam velocity spread on the power output has been illustrated. Using multimode behaviour, the effect of presence of nearby modes on the cavity performance has been observed. The simulation results have been compared with the results obtained from self-consistent singlemode analysis and time-dependent multimode analysis. It has been found that output power is well above the desired 200 kW level for the designed 42 GHz gyrotron operating in TE 03 mode.
Neurogenesis in the subventricular zone following transcranial magnetic field stimulation and nigrostriatal lesions

Neurogenesis continues at least in two regions of the mammalian adult brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the subgranular zone in hippocampal dentate gyrus. Neurogenesis in these regions is subjected to physiological regulation and can be modified by pharmacological and pathological events. Here we report the induction of neurogenesis in the SVZ and the differentiation after nigrostriatal pathway lesion along with transcranial magnetic field stimulation (TMFS) in adult rats. Significant numbers of proliferating cells demonstrated by bromodeoxyuridine‐positive reaction colocalized with the neuronal marker NeuN were detected bilaterally in the SVZ, and several of these cells also expressed tyrosine hydroxylase. Transplanted chromaffin cells into lesioned animals also induced bilateral appearance of subependymal cells. These results show for the first time that unilateral lesion, transplant, and/or TMFS induce neurogenesis in the SVZ of rats and also that TMFS prevents the motor alterations induced by the lesion. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Swapout: Learning an ensemble of deep architectures

We describe Swapout, a new stochastic training method, that outperforms ResNets of identical network structure yielding impressive results on CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100. Swapout samples from a rich set of architectures including dropout, stochastic depth and residual architectures as special cases. When viewed as a regularization method swapout not only inhibits co-adaptation of units in a layer, similar to dropout, but also across network layers. We conjecture that swapout achieves strong regularization by implicitly tying the parameters across layers. When viewed as an ensemble training method, it samples a much richer set of architectures than existing methods such as dropout or stochastic depth. We propose a parameterization that reveals connections to exiting architectures and suggests a much richer set of architectures to be explored. We show that our formulation suggests an efficient training method and validate our conclusions on CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 matching state of the art accuracy. Remarkably, our 32 layer wider model performs similar to a 1001 layer ResNet model.
Regulation of bile acid synthesis via direct effects on the microsomal membrane.

Rats treated with ethinylestradiol (5 mg kg-1 day-1 for 5 days) secrete de novo synthesized bile acids at a markedly reduced rate (-57%). Administration of the nonionic detergent Triton WR-1339 to estradiol-treated rats rapidly restored the rate of secretion of de novo synthesized bile acids to control levels. In contrast, when Triton was administered to control rats, the secretion rate of bile acids was unaffected. The reduction in bile acid synthesis displayed by estradiol-treated rats was similar to the 50% decrease in the activity of hepatic microsomal 7 alpha-hydroxylase. The activity of 7 alpha-hydroxylase was also restored to control levels by the administration of Triton to estradiol-treated rats. We examined the possibility that estradiol acts directly on the hepatic microsomes. Adding increasing amounts of estradiol to microsomes obtained from control rats resulted in decreasing activities of 7 alpha-hydroxylase. The inhibition by estradiol of 7 alpha-hydroxylase obtained in vitro occurred with amounts of estradiol that were found to accumulate in the liver via in vivo treatment. Double-reciprocal analysis showed that at and below 50 micrograms of estradiol/0.5 mg of protein uncompetitive inhibition was displayed. Additional experiments showed that adding Triton to microsomes obtained from estradiol-treated rats increased the activity of 7 alpha-hydroxylase to control levels. In contrast, Triton did not increase the activity of 7 alpha-hydroxylase when it was added to control microsomes. These data show for the first time that the estrogenic steroid estradiol acts directly on the microsomes and inhibits both the activity of 7 alpha-hydroxylase and the rate of bile acid synthesis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Comparison of Multisensor Integration Methods for Land Cover Classification in the Brazilian Amazon

Many data fusion methods are available, but it is poorly understood which fusion method is suitable for integrating Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and radar data for land cover classification. This research explores the integration of Landsat TM and radar images (i.e., ALOS PALSAR L-band and RADARSAT-2 C-band) for land cover classification in a moist tropical region of the Brazilian Amazon. Different data fusion methods—principal component analysis (PCA), wavelet-merging technique (Wavelet), high-pass filter resolution-merging (HPF), and normalized multiplication (NMM)—were explored. Land cover classification was conducted with maximum likelihood classification based on different scenarios. This research indicates that individual radar data yield much poorer land cover classifications than TM data, and PALSAR L-band data perform relatively better than RADARSAT-2 C-band data. Compared to the TM data, the Wavelet multisensor fusion improved overall classification by 3.3%-5.7%, HPF performed similarly, but PCA and NMM reduced overall classification accuracy by 5.1%-6.1% and 7.6%-12.7%, respectively. Different polarization options, such as HH and HV, work similarly when used in data fusion. This research underscores the importance of selecting a suitable data fusion method that can preserve spectral fidelity while improving spatial resolution.
Financial Reforms and Determinants of FDI: Evidence from Landlocked Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

The recognition of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a source of funding to foster economic development in both developed and developing countries has been in ascendancy. The prime purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the determinants of FDI for the “landlocked countries” in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1995–2013. By employing panel data analysis, the result of the study revealed that domestic investment, trade (openness), human capital, political constraint, natural resource endowment and the market size (with the GDP growth as proxy) as having positive impact on determining FDI flow into the sample countries with only the countries’ tax policies seen otherwise. Our study not only contributes to existing literature on FDI determinants by investigating landlocked countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the first time but also includes natural resources that the landlocked countries are endowed with, tax policies and political constraints in such countries for the stipulated period.
The Wnt antagonists Frzb-1 and Crescent locally regulate basement membrane dissolution in the developing primary mouth

The primary mouth forms from ectoderm and endoderm at the extreme anterior of the embryo, a conserved mesoderm-free region. In Xenopus, a very early step in primary mouth formation is loss of the basement membrane between the ectoderm and endoderm. In an unbiased microarray screen, we defined genes encoding the sFRPs Frzb-1 and Crescent as transiently and locally expressed in the primary mouth anlage. Using antisense oligonucleotides and `face transplants', we show that frzb-1 and crescent expression is specifically required in the primary mouth region at the time this organ begins to form. Several assays indicate that Frzb-1 and Crescent modulate primary mouth formation by suppressing Wnt signaling, which is likely to be mediated by β-catenin. First, a similar phenotype (no primary mouth) is seen after loss of Frzb-1/Crescent function to that seen after temporally and spatially restricted overexpression of Wnt-8. Second, overexpression of either Frzb-1 or Dkk-1 results in an enlarged primary mouth anlage. Third, overexpression of Dkk-1 can restore a primary mouth to embryos in which Frzb-1/Crescent expression has been inhibited. We show that Frzb-1/Crescent function locally promotes basement membrane dissolution in the primary mouth primordium. Consistently, Frzb-1 overexpression decreases RNA levels of the essential basement membrane genes fibronectin and laminin, whereas Wnt-8 overexpression increases the levels of these RNAs. These data are the first to connect Wnt signaling and basement membrane integrity during primary mouth development, and suggest a general paradigm for the regulation of basement membrane remodeling.
Effects of Hypoxia and Reoxygenation on Adult Rat Heart Cell Metabolism

Abstract Isolated adult rat heart cells were used to study the effects of oxygen deprivation followed by reoxygenation upon myocardial metabolism. Calcium-tolerant nonbeating myocytes were incubated for 5, 30, or 60 min under 100% oxygen or 100% nitrogen and then rinsed with oxygenated buffer. Substrate oxidation was studied by incubating the cells with 14C-labeled glucose, pyruvate, or octanoate and determining the rates of 14CO2 production from the individual substrates. After 5 min of hypoxia, metabolism of glucose, as assessed by glucose oxidation and lactate production, was significantly depressed. Pyruvate and octanoate oxidation were unaltered. Oxygen consumption was also unchanged by short-term hypoxia and reoxygenation. With reoxygenation after 30 min of oxygen deprivation, more exaggerated changes in glucose metabolism were noted as well as a depression in pyruvate oxidation and unaltered octanoate oxidation. Oxidation of octanoate was slightly depressed after 60 min of hypoxia. Cell viability assessed after reoxygenation was not significantly altered until 60 min of oxygen deprivation. The results indicate that cytosolic changes occur after short periods of hypoxia followed by reoxygenation, whereas mitochondrial function is more resistant to damage inflicted by hypoxia and reoxygenation.
Comparative assessment of orthogonal and nonorthogonal multiplexing techniques for differentiated satellite broadcasting services

This paper presents a comparative assessment of two multiplexing techniques for providing differentiated classes of services over a realistic broadcasting satellite channel under variable link conditions. A distinctive characteristic of satellite broadcasting channels is the non-linear characteristics of high power amplifier on-board of the satellite. In this scenario, the conventional additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel with average power limitation is no longer an accurate model and nonlinear characteristics have to be taken into account. Orthogonal multiplexing (time sharing) techniques combined with variable coding and modulation are compared with hierarchical modulations with the goal of maximizing the number of broadcast channels over a given transponder while maintaining a target service availability. Hierarchical modulations are shown to provide better performance than orthogonal time division multiplexing (time-sharing) schemes for the AWGN channel. Here we design a practical transmitter scheme based on the hierarchical modulation and maximize the throughput by optimizing the achievable mutual information for finite size constellations. This will provide a lower bound on throughput which can be achieved by non orthogonal multiplexing scheme. We compare the performance of hierarchical modulation (non-orthogonal multiplexing) and time sharing techniques (orthogonal multiplexing) supporting two different service quality and service availability requirements for broadcasting the same content.
Attitudes toward Tax Evasion in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of Egypt, Iran and Jordan

Using data that was gathered as part of a much larger study on human beliefs and values, the present study examines the opinions on the ethics of tax evasion that were gathered from a wide demographic of respondents in Egypt, Iran and Jordan. Comparisons are made between the responses from each country. Comparisons are also made by gender, age and level of education in an attempt to determine whether these factors have any effect on ethical attitudes. Because comparisons are made by gender, age and level of education, the results of this study have implications that go far beyond the borders of Egypt, Iran and Jordan, since similar relationships probably exist between tax evasion opinions and these three demographics. The present study also tests the findings of some prior studies that have examined the relationship between gender, age and education level and attitudes toward tax evasion to determine whether the views held by the people in these three Middle Eastern countries are similar to or different from the views held by people in other countries. The present study has a sample size of 6642.
Abscisic Acid Down-Regulates Hydraulic Conductance of Grapevine Leaves in Isohydric Genotypes Only1[OPEN]

Abscisic acid reduces the water transport capacity of grapevine leaves, most notably in isohydric genotypes. Plants evolved different strategies to cope with water stress. While isohydric species maintain their midday leaf water potential (ΨM) under soil water deficit by closing their stomata, anisohydric species maintain higher stomatal aperture and exhibit substantial reductions in ΨM. It was hypothesized that isohydry is related to a locally higher sensitivity of stomata to the drought-hormone abscisic acid (ABA). Interestingly, recent lines of evidence in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) suggested that stomatal responsiveness is also controlled by an ABA action on leaf water supply upstream from stomata. Here, we tested the possibility in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) that different genotypes ranging from near isohydric to more anisohydric may have different sensitivities in these ABA responses. Measurements on whole plants in drought conditions were combined with assays on detached leaves fed with ABA. Two different methods consistently showed that leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) was down-regulated by exogenous ABA, with strong variations depending on the genotype. Importantly, variation between isohydry and anisohydry correlated with Kleaf sensitivity to ABA, with Kleaf in the most anisohydric genotypes being unresponsive to the hormone. We propose that the observed response of Kleaf to ABA may be part of the overall ABA regulation of leaf water status.
Anisotropy in the continental upper mantle: Possible evidence from explosion seismology

Summary. Peculiarities of propagation in the upper mantle of western Europe are documented by profiles of stations recording body waves generated by explosions. Azimuthal variations of travel times and amplitudes of P waves and possible birefringence of S waves may be associated with an anisotropic layer at depths where the lithosphere-asthenosphere transition is supposed to be.
Urban built environment and depression: a multilevel analysis

Study objective: To assess the relations between characteristics of the neighbourhood internal and external built environment and past six month and lifetime depression. Design and setting: Depression and sociodemographic information were assessed in a cross sectional survey of residents of New York City (NYC). All respondents were geocoded to neighbourhood of residence. Data on the quality of the built environment in 59 NYC neighbourhoods were collected from the United Status census, the New York City housing and vacancy survey, and the fiscal 2002 New York City mayor’s management report. Main results: Among 1355 respondents, residence in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment was associated with greater individual likelihood of past six month and lifetime depression in multilevel models adjusting for individual age, race/ethnicity, sex, and income and for neighbourhood level income. In adjusted models, persons living in neighbourhoods characterised by poorer features of the built environment were 29%–58% more likely to report past six month depression and 36%–64% more likely to report lifetime depression than respondents living in neighbourhoods characterised by better features of the built environment. Conclusions: Living in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment is associated with a greater likelihood of depression. Future prospective work designed to assess potential mechanisms underlying these associations may guide public health and urban planning efforts aimed at improving population mental health.
Serum aminotransferase levels and platelet counts as predictors of degree of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection

OBJECTIVE:In patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, liver fibrosis stage is a prognostic factor for therapy outcome. So far, a liver biopsy is necessary to determine disease stage accurately. We sought to develop a simple, noninvasive method of accurately predicting the degree of liver fibrosis in chronic HCV infection.METHODS:We retrospectively studied 211 consecutive patients with chronic HCV, who received a liver biopsy at the Liver Center of the University of California, San Diego. A total of 58 of these patients had a positive history of alcohol abuse, and we analyzed them separately in a sensitivity analysis. AST/ALT ratio and platelet counts were determined in all patients. Fibrosis was staged using the METAVIR score.RESULTS:Both AST/ALT ratio and platelet counts correlated significantly with the disease stage (r = 0.190, p = 0.006, and r = − 0.543, p < 0.00, respectively). In a sensitivity analysis, there was no correlation between AST/ALT ratio and disease stage for patients with a history of alcohol abuse. For patients without history of alcohol abuse, the correlation between disease stage, AST/ALT ratio, and platelet counts was r = 0.297, p < 0.00, and r = 0.560, p < 0.00, respectively. In these patients, AST/ALT ratio ≥1 in combination with a platelet count of <150,000/mm3 can identify patients with severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (stages 3 and 4) with a positive predictive value of 93.1%. Sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were 41.2%, 99.1%, and 85.0%, respectively. In patients with ALT/AST ratio of <1 or platelet counts of >150,000/mm3, these laboratory parameters cannot predict liver fibrosis stage.CONCLUSION:AST/ALT ratio in combination with platelet counts may obviate a liver biopsy for fibrosis staging in some patients with chronic HCV infection.
Improving the visual performance of S/DISCUS

Wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) emerge as a solution in wireless unattended video surveillance scenarios. The G-E-M methodology was recently introduced by Czarlinska et al. to address the problem providing protection to visual wireless surveillance systems in the presence of another hostile sensing system. This work builds upon the G-E-M framework by introducing pre- and post-processing stages that reduce decoding errors and visual noise as well as allowing the effective control of bitrate.
Spectral reflectance of carbonatites and related alkalic igneous rocks; selected samples from four North American localities

Laboratory spectral reflectance measurements were made in the 0.4- to 2.5-mu m wavelength range for samples collected from four North American carbonatite-alkalic igneous rock complexes. Alkalic rock spectra produced few absorption features; however, the carbonatites typically showed conspicuous carbonate, ferric and ferrous iron, and in some cases rare earth element absorption bands. Trivalent neodymium was the most abundant rare earth element producing absorption features and could be detected in amounts as low as 300 ppm. Ferrous iron was present in most dolomitic carbonatite samples and caused more intense ferrous absorption bands than commonly is seen in carbonate rocks of sedimentary origin. High carbonatite iron content also resulted in pervasive limonitic staining and related ferric iron absorption features. These absorption features sometimes masked other absorption bands.Because reflectance measurements can be carried out rapidly, with minimal sample preparation, reflectance spectroscopy may provide a useful field and laboratory tool for analyzing economic rare earth concentrations. In addition, the distinctive spectral characteristics of carbonatite material, in conjunction with the discordant spatial relationships between associated alkalic and carbonatite rocks, may provide a basis for remote-sensing detection of these complexes.