Functional reactive programming, refactored

Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) has come to mean many things. Yet, scratch the surface of the multitude of realisations, and there is great commonality between them. This paper investigates this commonality, turning it into a mathematically coherent and practical FRP realisation that allows us to express the functionality of many existing FRP systems and beyond by providing a minimal FRP core parameterised on a monad. We give proofs for our theoretical claims and we have verified the practical side by benchmarking a set of existing, non-trivial Yampa applications running on top of our new system with very good results

Landmark-dependent Navigation Strategy Declines across the Human Life-Span: Evidence from Over 37,000 Participants

Humans show a remarkable capacity to navigate various environments using different navigation strategies, and we know that strategy changes across the life span. However, this observation has been based on studies of small sample sizes. To this end, we used a mobile app-based video game (Sea Hero Quest) to test virtual navigation strategies and memory performance within a distinct radial arm maze level in over 37,000 participants. Players were presented with 6 pathways (3 open and 3 closed) and were required to navigate to the 3 open pathways to collect a target. Next, all 6 pathways were made available and the player was required to visit the pathways that were previously unavailable. Both reference memory and working memory errors were calculated. Crucially, at the end of the level, the player was asked a multiple-choice question about how they found the targets (i.e., a counting-dependent strategy vs. a landmark-dependent strategy). As predicted from previous laboratory studies, we found the use of landmarks declined linearly with age. Those using landmark-based strategies also performed better on reference memory than those using a counting-based strategy. These results extend previous observations in the laboratory showing a decreased use of landmark-dependent strategies with age

Reactivity of a dititanium bis(pentalene) complex toward heteroallenes and main-group element–element bonds

The reactivity of the Ti═Ti double bond in (μ,η5:η5-Pn†)2Ti2 (1; Pn† = 1,4-{SiiPr3}2C8H4) toward isocyanide and heteroallene substrates, and molecules featuring homonuclear bonds between main-group elements (E–E) has been explored. Reaction of 1 with methyl isocyanide or 1,3-N,N′-di-p-tolylcarbodiimide resulted in the formation of the 1:1 adducts (μ,η5:η5-Pn†)2Ti2(μ,η2-CNMe) (2) and (μ,η5:η5-Pn†)2Ti2(μ-C{N(4-C6H4CH3)}2) (3), respectively, which are thermally stable up to 100 °C in contrast to the analogous adducts formed with CO and CO2. Reaction of 1 with phenyl isocyanate afforded a paramagnetic complex, [(η8-Pn†)Ti]2(μ,κ2:κ2-O2CNPh) (4), in which the “double-sandwich” architecture of 1 has been broken and an unusual phenyl-carbonimidate ligand bridges two formally Ti(III) centers. Reaction of 1 with diphenyl dichalcogenides, Ph2E2 (E = S, Se, Te), led to the series of Ti–Ti single-bonded complexes (μ,η5:η5-Pn†)2[Ti(EPh)]2 (E = S (5), Se (6), Te (7)), which can be considered the result of a 2e– redox reaction or a 1,2-addition across the Ti═Ti bond. Treatment of 1 with azobenzene or phenyl azide afforded [(η8-Pn†)Ti]2(μ-NPh)2 (8), a bridging imido complex in which the pentalene ligands bind in an η8 fashion to each formally Ti(IV) center, as the result of a 4e– redox reaction driven by the oxidative cleavage of the Ti═Ti double bond. The new complexes 2–8 were extensively characterized by various techniques including multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and the experimental work was complemented by density functional theory (DFT) studies

Cognitive mapping style relates to posterior-anterior hippocampal volume ratio

As London taxi drivers acquire ‘the knowledge’ and develop a detailed cognitive map of London, their posterior hippocampi (pHPC) gradually increase in volume, reflecting an increasing pHPC/aHPC volume ratio. In the mnemonic domain, greater pHPC/aHPC volume ratios in young adults have been found to relate to better recollection ability, indicating that the balance between pHPC and aHPC volumes might be reflective of cross-domain individual differences. Here, we examined participants’ self-reported use of cognitive map-based navigational strategies in relation to their pHPC/aHPC hippocampal volume ratio. We find that greater reported cognitive map use was related to significantly greater posterior, relative to anterior, hippocampal volume in two separate samples of young adults. Further, greater reported cognitive map usage correlated with better performance on a self-initiated navigation task. Together, these data help to advance our understanding of differences between aHPC and pHPC and the greater role of pHPC in spatial mapping

Leiomyosarcoma of the skin with osteoclast-like giant cells: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Osteoclast-like giant cells have been noted in various malignant tumors, such as, carcinomas of pancreas and liver and leiomyosarcomas of non-cutaneous locations, such as, uterus and rectum. We were unable to find any reported case of a leiomyosarcoma of the skin where osteoclast-like giant cells were present in the tumor.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 59-year-old woman with a cutaneous leiomyosarcoma associated with osteoclast-like giant cells arising from the subcutaneous artery of the leg. The nature of the giant cells is discussed in light of the findings from the immunostaining as well as survey of the literature.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A rare case of cutaneous leiomyosarcoma with osteoclast-like giant cells is reported. The giant cells in the tumor appear to be reactive histiocytic cells.</p

Keeping calm in the face of change: towards optimisation of FRP by reasoning about change

Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) is an approach to reactive programming where systems are structured as networks of functions operating on signals (time-varying values). FRP is based on the synchronous data-flow paradigm and supports both (an approximation to) continuous-time and discrete-time signals (hybrid systems).What sets FRP apart from most other languages for similar applications is its support for systems with dynamic structure and for higher-order reactive constructs. This paper contributes towards advancing the state of the art of FRP implementation by studying the notion of signal change and change propagation in a setting of structurally dynamic networks of n-ary signal functions operating on mixed continuous-time and discrete-time signals. We first define an ideal denotational semantics (time is truly continuous) for this kind of FRP, along with temporal properties, expressed in temporal logic, of signals and signal functions pertaining to change and change propagation. Using this framework, we then show how to reason about change; specifically, we identify and justify a number of possible optimisations, such as avoiding recomputation of unchanging values. Note that due to structural dynamism, and the fact that the output of a signal function may change because time is passing even if the input is unchanging, the problem is significantly more complex than standard change propagation in networks with static structure

Cognitive mapping style relates to posterior-anterior hippocampal volume ratio

As London taxi drivers acquire "the knowledge" and develop a detailed cognitive map of London, their posterior hippocampi (pHPC) gradually increase in volume, reflecting an increasing pHPC/aHPC volume ratio. In the mnemonic domain, greater pHPC/aHPC volume ratios in young adults have been found to relate to better recollection ability, indicating that the balance between pHPC and aHPC volumes might be reflective of cross-domain individual differences. Here, we examined participants' self-reported use of cognitive map-based navigational strategies in relation to their pHPC/aHPC hippocampal volume ratio. We find that greater reported cognitive map use was related to significantly greater posterior, relative to anterior, hippocampal volume in two separate samples of young adults. Further, greater reported cognitive map usage correlated with better performance on a self-initiated navigation task. Together, these data help to advance our understanding of differences between aHPC and pHPC and the greater role of pHPC in spatial mapping

Bridging the GUI gap with reactive values and relations

There are at present two ways to write GUIs for functional code. One is to use standard GUI toolkits, with all the benefits they bring in terms of feature completeness, choice of platform, conformance to platform-specific look-and-feel, long-term viability, etc. However, such GUI APIs mandate an imperative programming style for the GUI and related parts of the application. Alternatively, we can use a functional GUI toolkit. The GUI can then be written in a functional style, but at the cost of foregoing many advantages of standard toolkits that often will be of critical importance. This paper introduces a light-weight framework structured around the notions of reactive values and reactive relations . It allows standard toolkits to be used from functional code written in a functional style. We thus bridge the gap between the two worlds, bringing the advantages of both to the developer. Our framework is available on Hackage and has been been validated through the development of non-trivial applications in a commercial context, and with different standard GUI toolkits