Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades

Have the core discussion networks of Americans changed in the past two decades? In 1985, the General Social Survey (GSS) collected the first nationally representative data on the confidants with whom Americans discuss important matters. In the 2004 GSS the authors replicated those questions to assess social change in core network structures. Discussion networks are smaller in 2004 than in 1985. The number of people saying there is no one with whom they discuss important matters nearly tripled. The mean network size decreases by about a third (one confidant), from 2.94 in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004. The modal respondent now reports having no confidant; the modal respondent in 1985 had three confidants. Both kin and non-kin confidants were lost in the past two decades, but the greater decrease of non-kin ties leads to more confidant networks centered on spouses and parents, with fewer contacts through voluntary associations and neighborhoods. Most people have densely interconnected confidants similar to them. Some changes reflect the changing demographics of the U.S. population. Educational heterogeneity of social ties has decreased, racial heterogeneity has increased. The data may overestimate the number of social isolates, but these shrinking networks reflect an important social change in America
Degree of breast emptying explains changes in the fat content, but not fatty acid composition, of human milk

We compared within and between breastfeed changes in milk fat to short‐term rates of milk synthesis and degree of breast emptying (measured using the Computerized Breast Measurement system) over two 24 h periods for five lactating mothers. The fat content (f) of fore and hind milk samples increased more steeply as the breast was progressively emptied by the infant (degree of emptying, d, range 0‐1; f = 21.59 + 9.38d + 70.99d2; P < 0.0001; r2 = 0.68; n = 154). For the nine individual breasts, between 41‐95% of the variance of the fat content of milk was explained by degree of breast emptying. We argue that this relationship explains differences in the circadian rhythm of the fat content of milk and allows the accurate calculation of the average fat content of milk consumed by infants (37‐66 g/l for the nine individual breasts). The fatty acid composition of the fore and hind milk samples was determined for four of the mothers. We observed within and between breastfeed variability in the relative proportions of the seven major fatty acids of milk fat and these changes are discussed with reference to the control of fat synthesis in the human mammary gland.
Low-level analysis of a portable Java byte code WCET analysis framework

To support portability, worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis of Java byte code is performed at two levels - machine-independent program flow analysis at a higher level and machine-dependent timing analysis of individual program constructs at a lower level. This paper contributes a WCET analysis that computes worst-case execution frequencies of Java byte codes within the software being analysed and accounts for platform-dependent information, i.e. the processor's pipeline. The main part of the approach is platform-independent; only a limited analysis is needed on a per-platform basis.
Music and the Unconscious Mind: The Aut onomic Nervous System in Response to Basic Musical Rhythms

Rhythm is an integral component of human culture, notably in language and music. It is one of the most basic elements that make up music, which has become an influential force in peoples’ day-to-day lives across cultures. Music is known to impact various autonomic functions such as blood pressure and heart rate, which have a correlative relationship with emotions and stress levels. Focusing on internal autonomic processes influenced by rhythm, such as heart rate, may give insight to how the mind unconsciously interacts with music, and what mental processes this might affect. This paper proposes a study in which individuals listen to a rhythmic pattern played on a djembe drum at either a slow tempo or fast tempo. During rhythm playback, individuals’ heart rates are proposed to be measured using a pulse oximeter. Expected results are discussed in terms of how they relate to ideas offered in entrainment theory as well as timing systems theory, both of which suggest internal rhythmic processes are influenced by or respond to external rhythmic stimuli. Additionally, expected results focus on applications in clinical and therapeutic settings, where low heart rates, and stress levels may be required or optimal.
Identification of gmhA, a Yersinia pestis Gene Required for Flea Blockage, by Using a Caenorhabditis elegans Biofilm System

ABSTRACT Yersinia pestis, the cause of bubonic plague, blocks feeding by its vector, the flea. Recent evidence indicates that blockage is mediated by an in vivo biofilm. Y. pestis and the closely related Yersinia pseudotuberculosis also make biofilms on the cuticle of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which block this laboratory animal's feeding. Random screening of Y. pseudotuberculosis transposon insertion mutants with a C. elegans biofilm assay identified gmhA as a gene required for normal biofilms. gmhA encodes phosphoheptose isomerase, an enzyme required for synthesis of heptose, a conserved component of lipopolysaccharide and lipooligosaccharide. A Y. pestis gmhA mutant was constructed and was severely defective for C. elegans biofilm formation and for flea blockage but only moderately defective in an in vitro biofilm assay. These results validate use of the C. elegans biofilm system to identify genes and pathways involved in Y. pestis flea blockage.
Induction of Tissue Factor Expression in Whole Blood: Lack of Evidence for the Presence of Tissue Factor Expression in Granulocytes

Summary The present investigation was undertaken to explore the effect of platelets, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and phorbel ester [phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)] on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tissue factor (TF) activity and TF antigen by using Western blot and ELISA-techniques. LPS was found to induce correlating levels of TF antigen and the activity in monocytes. TNF and PMA, when used alone, failed to induce TF activity and the antigen in monocytes, but enhanced the LPS-induced TF activity and the antigen by 2 to 3-fold. Addition of platelet rich plasma to isolated blood cells enhanced the LPS-induced TF activity but not the antigen levels in monocytes. In contrast to whole platelets, platelet lysates enhanced both LPS-induced TF activity and the antigen. Granulocytes isolated from heparinized plasma incubated for 2 or 24 h with LPS alone or together with PMA, failed to generate TF antigen or the activity. Although granulocyte preparations isolated from whole blood that was incubated for 24 h with LPS and PMA apparently possessed a significant amount of TF activity and the antigen, this could be accounted for by trace levels of contaminating monocytes. Upregulation of LPS-induced TF activity but not the antigen by platelets in the presence of granulocytes suggests that the increased TF activity could be the result of PS enrichment of monocytes by fusion or platelets with activated monocytes.
Detecting false intent using eye blink measures

Eye blink measures have been shown to be diagnostic in detecting deception regarding past acts. Here we examined—across two experiments with increasing degrees of ecological validity—whether changes in eye blinking can be used to determine false intent regarding future actions. In both experiments, half of the participants engaged in a mock crime and then transported an explosive device with the intent of delivering it to a “contact” that would use it to cause a disturbance. Eye blinking was measured for all participants when presented with three types of questions: relevant to intent to transport an explosive device, relevant to intent to engage in an unrelated illegal act, and neutral questions. Experiment 1 involved standing participants watching a video interviewer with audio presented ambiently. Experiment 2 involved standing participants questioned by a live interviewer. Across both experiments, changes in blink count during and immediately following individual questions, total number of blinks, and maximum blink time length differentiated those with false intent from truthful intent participants. In response to questions relevant to intent to deliver an explosive device vs. questions relevant to intent to deliver illegal drugs, those with false intent showed a suppression of blinking during the questions when compared to the 10 s period after the end of the questions, a lower number of blinks, and shorter maximum blink duration. The results are discussed in relation to detecting deception about past activities as well as to the similarities and differences to detecting false intent as described by prospective memory and arousal.
Aging and short-term memory for face identity of emotional faces

Age differences have been observed in emotional modulation of long-term memory (LTM) but have not yet been investigated in short-term memory (STM) in a comparable manner. In this study, age differences in the effect of stimulus emotionality on STM for stimulus content were examined. Younger (18-29 years) and older (61-77 years) adults completed a STM task with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Memory for face identity was increased for angry and neutral compared to happy faces. The response bias was most conservative for angry, and most liberal for happy faces. No age differences were observed in this emotional modulation of STM. It is argued that this is not due to lack of statistical power or to participant characteristics, but rather to the constraint nature of the task (probe-guided retrieval and short retention interval). The current findings do not suggest that emotional modulation of STM changes across the lifespan.
The Integration of Stimulus Dimensions in the Perception of Music

A central aim of cognitive psychology is to explain how we integrate stimulus dimensions into a unified percept, but how the dimensions of pitch and time combine in the perception of music remains a largely unresolved issue. The goal of this study was to test the effect of varying the degree of conformity to dimensional structure in pitch and time (specifically, tonality and metre) on goodness ratings and classifications of melodies. The pitches and durations of melodies were either presented in their original order, as a reordered sequence, or replaced with random elements. Musically trained and untrained participants (24 each) rated melodic goodness, attending selectively to the dimensions of pitch, time, or both. Also, 24 trained participants classified whether or not the melodies were tonal, metric, or both. Pitch and temporal manipulations always influenced responses, but participants successfully emphasized either dimension in accordance with instructions. Effects of pitch and time were mostly independent for selective attention conditions, but more interactive when evaluating both dimensions. When interactions occurred, the effect of either dimension increased as the other dimension conformed more to its original structure. Relative main effect sizes (| pitch η2 – time η2 |) predicted the strength of pitch–time interactions (pitch × time η2); interactions were stronger when main effect sizes were more evenly matched. These results have implications for dimensional integration in several domains. Relative main effect size could serve as an indicator of dimensional salience, such that interactions are more likely when dimensions are equally salient.
The Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices of Portuguese General Practitioners Regarding Multimorbidity and Its Management: Qualitative Perspectives from Open-Ended

Multimorbidity’s high prevalence and negative impact has made it a subject of worldwide interest. The main aim of this study was to access the Portuguese knowledge, awareness, and practices of general practitioners (GPs) regarding multimorbidity and its management, in order to aid in the development of interventions for improving outcomes in multimorbid patients in primary care. A web-based qualitative descriptive study was carried out in the first trimester of 2016 with primary care physicians working in two districts of the Centre region of Portugal. Open-ended questions were analysed via inductive thematic content analysis. GPs pointed out several difficulties and challenges while managing multimorbidity. Extrinsic factors were associated with the healthcare system logistics’ management (consultation time, organization of care teams, clinical information) and society (media pressure, social/family support). Intrinsic factors related to the GP, patient, and physician-patient relationship were also stated. The most significant conclusion to emerge from this study is that although GPs perceived difficulties and challenges towards multimorbidity, they also have the tools to deal with them: the fundamental characteristics of family medicine. Also, the complex care required by multimorbid patients needs adequate consultation time, multidisciplinary teamwork, and more education/training.
Singular trajectories and subanalyticity in optimal control and Hamilton-Jacobi theory

This survey paper presents several works of the author in optimal control theory. Under some general assumptions on an analytic optimal control problem, and assuming the absence of singular minimizing trajectories, the value function associated to this problem happens to be subanalytic. In the case of multi-inputs control-affine systems, generically there does not exist any singular minimizer. An application to the Hamilton-Jacobi theory is then presented, where the Hamiltonian is associated to an optimal control problem; namely, if the data are analytic then the unique viscosity solution is subanalytic.
Assessing Family Members’ Motivational Readiness and Decision Making for Consenting to Cadaveric Organ Donation

This study assessed the applicability of two important components of the transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM) to family consent for cadaveric organ donation. Men and women (N = 169), who consented or refused to donate the organs of a family member, completed a telephone survey reflecting the stage of change and decisional balance constructs. Psychometric analyses resulted in a two-factor decisional balance scale: a seven-item scale representing negative perceptions of consent (cons), and a seven-item scale representing positive perceptions of consent (pros). The pros and cons were significantly associated with stage of readiness for donation consent and with the family consent decision. Research utilizing this measure has the potential to enhance intervention programs to increase donation consent rates.
Use of Social Ecology Model to Address Alcohol Use Among College Athletes

Compared to non-athletes, college athletes consume more alcohol and report higher rates of alcohol-related consequences such as DUI, unsafe sexual practices, and criminal behavior. This poses major problems for the integrity of college athletics, athletic department personnel, and health educators who work to reduce destructive alcohol behaviors on campus. To understand why current alcohol education is ineffective, it is necessary to examine the ecology of this behavior. This article examines alcohol use among college athletes using the Social Ecology Model to determine what most influences this behavior. A proposed ecological model specific to alcohol use among college athletes is discussed.
Behavioral Phenotyping of Parkin-Deficient Mice: Looking for Early Preclinical Features of Parkinson's Disease

There is considerable evidence showing that the neurodegenerative processes that lead to sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) begin many years before the appearance of the characteristic motor symptoms. Neuropsychiatric, sensorial and cognitive deficits are recognized as early non-motor manifestations of PD, and are not attenuated by the current anti-parkinsonian therapy. Although loss-of-function mutations in the parkin gene cause early-onset familial PD, Parkin-deficient mice do not display spontaneous degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway or enhanced vulnerability to dopaminergic neurotoxins such as 6-OHDA and MPTP. Here, we employed adult homozygous C57BL/6 mice with parkin gene deletion on exon 3 (parkin −/−) to further investigate the relevance of Parkin in the regulation of non-motor features, namely olfactory, emotional, cognitive and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Parkin −/− mice displayed normal performance on behavioral tests evaluating olfaction (olfactory discrimination), anxiety (elevated plus-maze), depressive-like behavior (forced swimming and tail suspension) and motor function (rotarod, grasping strength and pole). However, parkin −/− mice displayed a poor performance in the open field habituation, object location and modified Y-maze tasks suggestive of procedural and short-term spatial memory deficits. These behavioral impairments were accompanied by impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). These findings indicate that the genetic deletion of parkin causes deficiencies in hippocampal synaptic plasticity, resulting in memory deficits with no major olfactory, emotional or motor impairments. Therefore, parkin −/− mice may represent a promising animal model to study the early stages of PD and for testing new therapeutic strategies to restore learning and memory and synaptic plasticity impairments in PD.
VENTILATORY CAPACITY IN FLAX WORKERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Of 2,528 persons aged 35 years and over who were interviewed during a survey of Northern Ireland flax mills, 2,003 (79%) carried out tests of one-second forced expiratory volume (F.E.V.1·0) and forced vital capacity (F.V.C.) which were suitable for analysis. The omission of the remaining 525 workers is discussed in the text. The object of this paper is to compare each of these two measurements of ventilatory capacity between preparers and non-preparers of flax in this industry. Many factors, other than job, may influence ventilatory capacity; these include sex, smoking habits, the area of the mill, the type of fibre handled, byssinotic grade, age, and stem height. Within each sex and job, workers were divided into eight basic groups according to whether they did or did not smoke, whether the mill was in a town or rural area, and whether the mill processed only flax or flax plus synthetic fibres. Within each of these basic groups of non-byssinotic non-preparers, regression equations of the typeY = a + b1X1 + b2X2where Y = predicted F.E. V.1·0 or F.V. C. (litres), X1 = age (years), X2 = stem height (cm.), and a, b1 and b2 are constants derived from the data, were calculated for non-byssinotic non-preparers. These equations were used to predict the F.E. V.1·0 and F.V. C. of byssinotic and non-byssinotic preparers in each basic group, for each sex separately. The average predicted ventilatory capacity of preparers was then compared with the corresponding averaged observed ventilatory capacity. It was found that (1) byssinotic flax preparers had a lower mean F.E. V.1·0 and F.V. C. than did comparable groups of non-byssinotic non-preparers, (2) non-byssinotic preparers had a lower average F.E. V.1·0 than did non-byssinotic non-preparers, (3) there is some evidence that preparers with symptoms of grade I or II byssinosis had a lower F.E. V.1·0 than did preparers with no, or only slight, symptoms of byssinosis (grades 0 and ½ respectively).
Accurate passive RFID localization system for smart homes

The smart home paradigm is a promising new trend of research aiming to propose an alternative to postpone the institutionalization of cognitively-impaired silver-aged people. These habitats are intended to provide security, guidance and direct support services to its resident. To be able to fulfill this important mission, a smart home system first has to identify the ongoing activities of its user by tracking, in real time, the position of the main daily living objects. Many researchers addressed this issue by proposing systems based on ultrasonic wave sensors, video cameras, and radio-frequency identification (RFID). However, because of its robustness and its low price, RFID constitutes the most viable technology for smart homes. Recently, several RFID localization algorithms have been developed, mainly for commercial and industrial uses, but they are not precise enough to be used in an assistive recognition context or they focus on active tags, which need batteries and are much more expensive. We present, in this paper, a new algorithmic approach for passive RFID localization in smart homes based on elliptical trilateration and fuzzy logic. This new algorithm has been implemented in a real smart home infrastructure and has been rigorously tested. We also analyze and compare the obtained results with the main existing approaches.
Modulation of temporally coherent brain networks estimated using ICA at rest and during cognitive tasks

Brain regions which exhibit temporally coherent fluctuations, have been increasingly studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Such networks are often identified in the context of an fMRI scan collected during rest (and thus are called “resting state networks”); however, they are also present during (and modulated by) the performance of a cognitive task. In this article, we will refer to such networks as temporally coherent networks (TCNs). Although there is still some debate over the physiological source of these fluctuations, TCNs are being studied in a variety of ways. Recent studies have examined ways TCNs can be used to identify patterns associated with various brain disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, autism or Alzheimer's disease). Independent component analysis (ICA) is one method being used to identify TCNs. ICA is a data driven approach which is especially useful for decomposing activation during complex cognitive tasks where multiple operations occur simultaneously. In this article we review recent TCN studies with emphasis on those that use ICA. We also present new results showing that TCNs are robust, and can be consistently identified at rest and during performance of a cognitive task in healthy individuals and in patients with schizophrenia. In addition, multiple TCNs show temporal and spatial modulation during the cognitive task versus rest. In summary, TCNs show considerable promise as potential imaging biological markers of brain diseases, though each network needs to be studied in more detail. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.