Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of leisure activities at home on perceived care burden and the endocrine system of caregivers of dementia patients: a randomized controlled study

ABSTRACT Background: Psychological stress associated with caregiving is thought to underlie the high incidence of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and mortality, as well as reduced immune function, among caregivers of dementia patients. Here, we examined the effects of periodic leisure activities performed by caregivers of dementia patients with care recipients at home on perceived care burden and levels of stress hormones. Methods: Participants were 42 caregivers aged ≥ 65 years of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. They were randomly assigned to intervention and non-intervention groups. The intervention group underwent a leisure activity program (30 min/3 times/week for 24 weeks) with the care recipient, and the control group underwent normal care activities. Results: The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) score, a subjective indicator of care burden, significantly decreased after intervention in the intervention group (p < 0.05), whereas no difference was observed in the control group. No significant changes were observed in adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, and cortisol levels in both groups. Conclusions: The lack of changes in stress hormone levels despite a decrease in subjective care burden in the intervention group might be explained by the effects of the chosen leisure activity on the neuroendocrine system. Our findings suggest that periodic leisure activities can reduce perceived care burden among caregivers of dementia patients. However, in order to evaluate accurately the effects of leisure activities of the present study, long-term follow-up of both caregivers and care recipients is necessary. The Nagoya University Department of Medicine Ethics Committee Clinical Trials Registry Number is 1290.
Analytical and Numerical Study of a Gaseous Plasma Dipole in the UHF Frequency Band

Gaseous plasma antennas are appealing in applications in which reconfigurability is desired, because the radiation properties can be changed by tuning the plasma parameters. In this paper, an analytical and numerical analysis of a gaseous plasma dipole that works in the 0.3–3 GHz frequency range is presented; the plasma dipole is comprised of two discharges that are arranged similar to the arms of a center-fed metallic dipole. The analytical approach can provide the short- and open-circuit resonance frequencies of the plasma dipole, which have been proven reconfigurable by adjusting the discharge length and by adjusting the density of the plasma therein. Thanks to the numerical approach, the role of the type and pressure of the neutral gas species, and the magneto-static field on the reflection coefficient, and the gain function has been investigated. Finally, a feasibility study of an actual plasma dipole is presented; specifically, the choice of coupling the signal to be radiated by means of electrodes immersed in the plasma is a key to achieve radiation efficiency close to 90%.
Cue-Invariant Networks for Figure and Background Processing in Human Visual Cortex

Lateral occipital cortical areas are involved in the perception of objects, but it is not clear how these areas interact with first tier visual areas. Using synthetic images portraying a simple texture-defined figure and an electrophysiological paradigm that allows us to monitor cortical responses to figure and background regions separately, we found distinct neuronal networks responsible for the processing of each region. The figure region of our displays was tagged with one temporal frequency (3.0 Hz) and the background region with another (3.6 Hz). Spectral analysis was used to separate the responses to the two regions during their simultaneous presentation. Distributed source reconstructions were made by using the minimum norm method, and cortical current density was measured in a set of visual areas defined on retinotopic and functional criteria with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results of the main experiments, combined with a set of control experiments, indicate that the figure region, but not the background, was routed preferentially to lateral cortex. A separate network extending from first tier through more dorsal areas responded preferentially to the background region. The figure-related responses were mostly invariant with respect to the texture types used to define the figure, did not depend on its spatial location or size, and mostly were unaffected by attentional instructions. Because of the emergent nature of a segmented figure in our displays, feedback from higher cortical areas is a likely candidate for the selection mechanism by which the figure region is routed to lateral occipital cortex.
Shifting Language Attitudes in Linguistically Diverse Learning Environment in South Africa

This paper draws on post-structuralist theories on language and identity to explore the shifting language attitudes of 15 ‘black’ students over the course of their undergraduate studies at a historically ‘white’ South African university. All the students speak an indigenous language as their first language. Those students who have been educated in racially mixed schools are relatively at ease in the environment and are able to straddle racial and linguistic boundaries. Those who have been educated in working-class, ethnically homogenous schools enter the institution with a strong desire to preserve their home languages and home identities. For them, English is equated with ‘whiteness’. The paper describes the process through which this equation is questioned as English and institutional discourses become more dominant in students' lives, and as relationships with their home communities become strained. By the time the students enter their senior undergraduate years, a shared speech code emerges. The authors argue that this code signals students' dual affiliation to English (and the cultural capital it represents) and to their home identities. In mixing languages across boundaries of school background and across traditional ethnic barriers, the code also signals students' shared group identity as first-generation university students in post-Apartheid South Africa.
A Survey of Text Summarization Extractive Techniques

Text Summarization is condensing the source text into a shorter version preserving its information content and overall meaning. It is very difficult for human beings to manually summarize large documents of text. Text Summarization methods can be classified into extractive and Abstractive summarization. An extractive summarization method consists of selecting important sentences, paragraphs etc. from the original document and concatenating them into shorter form. The importance of sentences is decided based on statistical and linguistic features of sentences. An Abstractive summarization method consists of understanding the original text and re-telling it in fewer words. It uses linguistic methods to examine and interpret the text and then to find the new concepts and expressions to best describe it by generating a new shorter text that conveys the most important information from the original text document. In this paper, a Survey of Text Summarization Extractive techniques has been presented.
The initial step of DNA hairpin folding: a kinetic analysis using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Conformational fluctuations of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotides were studied in aqueous solution by monitoring contact-induced fluorescence quenching of the oxazine fluorophore MR121 by intrinsic guanosine residues (dG). We applied fluorescence correlation spectroscopy as well as steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to analyze kinetics of DNA hairpin folding. We first characterized the reporter system by investigating bimolecular quenching interactions between MR121 and guanosine monophosphate in aqueous solution estimating rate constants, efficiency and stability for formation of quenched complexes. We then studied the kinetics of complex formation between MR121 and dG residues site-specifically incorporated in DNA hairpins. To uncover the initial steps of DNA hairpin folding we investigated complex formation in ssDNA carrying one or two complementary base pairs (dC–dG pairs) that could hybridize to form a short stem. Our data show that incorporation of a single dC–dG pair leads to non-exponential decays for opening and closing kinetics and reduces rate constants by one to two orders of magnitude. We found positive activation enthalpies independent of the number of dC–dG pairs. These results imply that the rate limiting step of DNA hairpin folding is not determined by loop dynamics, or by mismatches in the stem, but rather by interactions between stem and loop nucleotides.
Signal Space Alignment for an Encryption Message and Successive Network Code Decoding on the MIMO K-Way Relay Channel

This paper investigates a network information flow problem for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian wireless network with K-users and a single intermediate relay having M antennas. In this network, each user intends to convey a multicast message to all other users while receiving K-1 independent messages from the other users via an intermediate relay. This network information flow is termed a MIMO Gaussian K-way relay channel. For this channel, we show that K/2 degrees of freedom is achievable if M=K-1. To demonstrate this, we come up with an encoding and decoding strategy inspired from cryptography theory. The proposed encoding and decoding strategy involves a signal space alignment for an encryption message for the multiple access phase (MAC) and zero forcing with successive network code decoding for the broadcast (BC) phase. The idea of the signal space alignment for an encryption message is that all users cooperatively choose the precoding vectors to transmit the message so that the relay can receive a proper encryption message with a special structure, network code chain structure. During the BC phase, zero forcing combined with successive network code decoding enables all users to decipher the encryption message from the relay despite the fact that they all have different self-information which they use as a key.
Oxidative Stress in Dahl Salt‐Sensitive Hypertension

Abstract— The role of oxidative stress in the long‐term regulation of arterial pressure, renal hemodynamics, and renal damage was studied in Dahl salt‐sensitive rats. Twenty‐eight Dahl S/Rapp strain rats, equipped with indwelling arterial and venous catheters, were subjected to a 3‐week intravenous infusion of either low Na (0.9 mmol/d) or high Na (20.6 mmol/d) or the superoxide dismutase mimetic, 4‐hydroxyl‐2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxyl (Tempol), at 125 &mgr;mol · kg‐1 · h‐1 plus low Na or high Na. After 21 days, mean arterial pressure was 140±3 mm Hg in the high‐Na group, 118±1 mm Hg (P <0.05) in the high‐Na/Tempol group, and unchanged in the low‐Na/Tempol and low‐Na groups. Tempol did not change renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, or glomerular cross‐sectional area in rats subjected to the high‐Na intake but did decrease urinary protein excretion, the percentage of sclerotic glomeruli, and the kidney weight to body weight ratio. In 15 additional Dahl S rats subjected to high or low Na intake for 3 weeks, renal cortical and medullary O2·‐ release increased significantly in the high‐Na group when compared with the low‐Na group. Tempol decreased both renal cortical and medullary O2·‐ release in the high‐ and low‐Na rats, but the decrease in O2·‐ release was greater in high‐Na rats. The data suggest that oxidative stress contributes to Dahl salt‐sensitive hypertension and the accompanying renal damage.
The institutionalisation of religious affairs: religious reform in Morocco

This article examines a set of reform initiatives launched by the Moroccan authorities to strengthen and deepen the institutionalisation of Moroccan religious practices since 2004. The key objective behind the reform of religious affairs has been to counter the increasing intrusion of radical Islamism into Morocco, particularly after the Casablanca suicide bombing in 2003. The Moroccan authorities aim to limit the influence of other Islamic doctrines on Moroccan society that are perceived to be incompatible with Morocco's cultural heritage, such as Shiism and Wahabism. The Moroccan government has initiated these reforms by systematically diffusing throughout society what the authorities call the ‘Moroccan official Islam’, based on the Maliki legal school and on Asha'ari doctrine. However, such reforms must also be seen as serving political – as opposed to purely religious – goals. One such goal, which remains implicit, is to strengthen the religious authority of the Moroccan King as the Commander of the Faithful, an authority which has been challenged in the past by some Islamic movements. Nevertheless, it is argued that these reforms are far from being nothing more than an instrument of political power. Some of their aspects have been essential at a time of an ever-increasing role of different foreign Islamic influences within the Kingdom. What distinguishes the current reforms from previous initiatives are their comprehensiveness covering religious personnel, the issuing of fatwas, and the media, among many other institutional aspects of religious life.
Magic: Special but not excluded

In three experiments, children's ability to identify examples of magic and their credulity towards magic were studied. In Expts 1 and 2 children were asked to distinguish between two equivalent outcomes: one outcome was brought about in an ordinary causal fashion whereas the other violated a familiar physical principle. Taken together, the two experiments show that children aged 3 to 5 years systematically judge the latter type of outcome as magical. Nonetheless, Expt 3 showed that some young children have a credulous stance towards magical outcomes. Having checked that each of two boxes was empty, children aged 3, 5 and 7 years were asked to pretend that one of the two boxes contained a potentially attractive entity (either a fairy or an ice cream). Most children could be allocated to one of two groups: sceptical children who mostly ignored the boxes when left alone, and insisted that it was empty; and credulous children who typically opened a box and acknowledged that they had wondered if the pretend entity was inside it. Overall, the three experiments show that most young children know what counts as magic but vary in their credulity.
Reading Jewish signs: The socialization of multilingual literacies among Hasidic women and girls in Brooklyn, New York

Abstract In this article literacies are defined as a set of interconnected signifying practices interpreted by semiotic ideologies, that is, cultural beliefs about signs. This approach integrated with a language socialization approach to literacy provides a way to go beyond the reproduction of the normative social scientific categories of religious or secular literacies, orality and literacy, tradition and modernity. The focus of the article is the literacy practices of Hasidic Jews, an example of a nonliberal (fundamentalist) religious community. Hasidic Jews present a particularly relevant case study because their critique of secular modernity includes efforts to dismantle distinctions between the secular and the religious, thus creating an alternative religious modernity. This becomes evident through an exploration of multilingual (Hebrew/Aramaic, Yiddish and English) literacy socialization practices between women and girls. The article focuses on how girls begin to acquire literacy in Hebrew/Aramaic in kindergarten, comparing and constrasting girls' simultaneous acquisition of Yiddish and English literacy. Included are an examination of leisure literacy practices and new genres of English-language books for children. Across contexts, languages, and genres of Hasidic literacy socialization, distinct semiotic ideologies share an interpretive project: to teach girls to decode signs as nonarbitrary, that is, as divinely intended, and to turn what seem to be arbitrary or Gentile/secular signs into Jewish ones.
Epstein–Barr Virus Infection and Gastric Cancer

AbstractEpstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection is found in a subset of gastric cancers. Previous reviews have exclusively focused on EBV-encoded small RNA (EBER) positivity in gastric cancer tissues, but a comprehensive evaluation of other type of studies is lacking.We searched the PubMed database up to September, 2014, and performed a systematic review.We considered studies comparing EBV nucleic acids positivity in gastric cancer tissue with positivity in either adjacent non-tumor tissue of cancer patients or non-tumor mucosa from healthy individuals, patients with benign gastric diseases, or deceased individuals. We also considered studies comparing EBV antibodies in serum from cancer patients and healthy controls.Selection of potentially eligible studies and data extraction were performed by 2 independent reviewers. Due to the heterogeneity of studies, we did not perform formal meta-analysis.Forty-seven studies (8069 cases and 1840 controls) were identified. EBER positivity determined by in situ hybridization (ISH) was significantly higher in cancer tissues (range 5.0%–17.9%) than in adjacent mucosa from the same patients or biopsies from all control groups (almost 0%). High EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) positivity by PCR was found in gastric cancer tissues, but most were not validated by ISH or adjusted for inflammatory severity and lymphocyte infiltration. Only 4 studies tested for EBV antibodies, with large variation in the seropositivities of different antibodies in both cases and controls, and did not find an association between EBV seropositivity and gastric cancer.In summary, tissue-based ISH methods strongly suggest an association between EBV infection and gastric cancer, but PCR method alone is invalid to confirm such association. Very limited evidence from serological studies and the lack of novel antibodies warrant further investigations to identify potential risk factors of EBV for gastric cancer.
When Things Go Wrong at Work: An Exploration of Organizational Dissent Messages

Research on organizational dissent is important given the implications and potential repercussions for employees and employers. The present research conceptualized dissent in terms of employee voice and organizational influence. An instrument to measure the content of dissent messages was developed, and factor analyses indicated 11 types of dissent messages. Results further indicated that messages of Solution Presentation, Direct-Factual Appeal, Coalitions, and Inspiration were more frequently used to express dissent, while messages of Pressure and Exchange were less frequently employed. The results refine understandings of dissent messages, an important step in giving employees more effective options for voice in the workplace.
Stimulant Treatment of ADHD: Effects on Creativity and Flexibility in Problem Solving

The objective of this study was to determine whether Ritalin (methylphenidate, MPH) affects cognitive flexibility and creativity in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Measures administered included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-Revised (WCST-R), the Test of Divergent Thinking (TDT), and the Conners' ADHD rating scale, for both on and off MPH conditions. Comparison of on and off MPH data indicated that MPH administration significantly decreased symptoms of ADHD, as rated by parents on the Conners'. No significant differences were found on the WCST-R as a function of MPH administration. The Elaboration subscale of the TDT was the only scale to show a significant decrease in scores with MPH administration.
Emotional intelligence and counterpart mood induction in a negotiation

Purpose – This paper aims to identify whether emotional intelligence relates to counterpart outcome satisfaction in negotiation contexts.Design/methodology/approach – A negotiation simulation and a pre‐established measure of emotional intelligence were employed.Findings – In Study 1, multi‐level models revealed that a participant's ability to understand emotion positively predicted his or her counterpart's outcome satisfaction. Study 2 replicates and extends this finding by showing the counterpart's outcome satisfaction, assessment of liking, and desire to negotiate again with the participant.Practical implications – The mechanisms identifying how participants with high levels of understanding emotion induced their counterparts with positive affect were not examined.Originality/value – This is the first empirical article to show a relationship between emotional intelligence and counterpart outcome satisfaction in a negotiation context.
Measurements of beat length in short low-birefringence fibers

We describe a new experimental method to determine low-birefringence in fibers. This method is based on adjusting the fiber's twist in a fiber optical loop mirror. It allows simple birefringence measurement in fibers with beat length within the range of 0.4 m - 100 m. Our measurement technique requires a fiber span whose length is shorter than a half beat length. To demonstrate the measurement technique we present experimental results for two optical fibers whose beat lengths were 1.04 and 30 m.
A Travel Cost Study of Duck Hunting in the Upper South East of South Australia

Wetlands in the Upper South East (USE) of South Australia yield a range of values to their owners and to the wider community. One such value is that generated by duck hunting in the region. Wetland owners receive private benefits from hunting fees, while hunters gain a non-monetary consumers' surplus. These non-monetary benefits received by duck hunters through their enjoyment of hunting in wetlands are the primary focus of this paper. In order to estimate these values, a 'travel cost' survey of duck hunters participating in an organised shoot held by Wetlands and Wildlife in February 2000 was undertaken. The extent of the private recreation benefits so estimated is assessed in terms of their potential to stimulate the provision of wetlands for both private and social benefits.
Msh2 ATPase Activity Is Essential for Somatic Hypermutation at A-T Basepairs and for Efficient Class Switch Recombination

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) are initiated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase–mediated cytidine deamination of immunoglobulin genes. MutS homologue (Msh) 2−/− mice have reduced A-T mutations and CSR. This suggests that Msh2 may play a role in repairing activation-induced cytidine deaminase–generated G-U mismatches. However, because Msh2 not only initiates mismatch repair but also has other functions, such as signaling for apoptosis, it is not known which activity of Msh2 is responsible for the effects observed, and consequently, many models have been proposed. To further dissect the role of Msh2 in SHM and CSR, mice with a “knockin” mutation in the Msh2 gene that inactivates the adenosine triphosphatase domain were examined. This mutation (i.e., Msh2G674A), which does not affect apoptosis signaling, allows mismatches to be recognized but prevents Msh2 from initiating mismatch repair. Here, we show that, similar to Msh2−/− mice, SHM in Msh2G674A mice is biased toward G-C mutations. However, CSR is partially reduced, and switch junctions are more similar to those of postmeiotic segregation 2−/− mice than to Msh2−/− mice. These results indicate that Msh2 adenosine triphosphatase activity is required for A-T mutations, and suggest that Msh2 has more than one role in CSR.