Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A longer XMM–Newton look at I Zwicky 1: variability of the X-ray continuum, absorption and iron Kα line

We present the second XMM-Newton observation (85 ks) of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (NLS1) I Zw 1 and describe its mean spectral and timing characteristics. On average, I Zw 1 is ∼35 per cent dimmer in 2005 than in the shorter (20 ks) 2002 observation. Between the two epochs the intrinsic absorption column density diminished, but there were also subtle changes in the continuum shape. Considering the blurred ionized reflection model, the long-term changes can be associated with a varying contribution of the power-law component relative to the total spectrum. Examination of normalized light curves indicates that the high-energy variations are quite structured and that there are delays, but only in some parts of the light curve. Interestingly, a hard X-ray lag first appears during the most distinct structure in the mean light curve, a flux dip ∼25 ks into the observation. The previously discovered broad, ionized Fe Kα line shows significant variations over the course of the 2005 observation. The amplitude of the variations is 25-45 per cent and they are unlikely due to changes in the Fe Ka-producing region, but perhaps arise from orbital motion around the black hole or obscuration in the broad iron-line-emitting region. The 2002 data are re-examined for variability of the Fe Kα line at that epoch. There is evidence of energy and flux variations that are associated with a hard X-ray flare that occurred during that observation.
“I Collected Money, not a Bribe”: Strategic Ambiguity and the Dynamics of Corruption in Contemporary Nigeria

This article explores the language of corruption in Nigeria. It uses Eisenberg’s Strategic Ambiguity concept to examine the extent to which Nigerian legislators and those who occupy the executive arm of the government employ ambiguous languages and actions to execute and defend corrupt practices, and how this institutionalizes the culture of corruption in contemporary Nigeria. The article further explores how ambiguous light punishment, outright non-punishment, state pardon of corrupt elites and the reward of corrupt elites with sensitive government appointments engender corruption in Nigeria. The article argues that while the elites engage in diverse corrupt practices and employ ambiguous words to defend their acts, the judiciary appears to defend rather than punish them. The paper discusses the implications of these findings, concluding that the war against corruption in Nigeria may not be effective, because as those who appear to be fighting corruption are themselves corrupt, the frameworks with which corruption is fought are strategically manipulated by the elites.
Analysing the external social capital of family firms.

We examine an important yet overlooked aspect in research on social capital: the familial bonding that interorganizational relations may hold. We argue that the social identity of a family member is likely to reframe how they behave within social relations and towards actors outside the firm that are within or not within the family, changing the conditions for trust, knowledge exchange, and value creation. Drawing on a family and nonfamily classification of interorganizational relations, we examine: (1) the extent to which relationships with family members located in other related firms, which we have defined as external family social capital (EFSC), affect firm performance; (2) its interaction with relationships with members of other firms not bearing a family connection, referred to as external organizational social capital (EOSC); and (3) the varying levels of trust required to extract value from EFSC and EOSC. We test and find support for our predictions in an empirical analysis. The study contributes to the literatures in social capital, social identity and family firms a new category of external social capital, distinguish family versus organizational social capital and their complementary effects, and moderators of these forms of social capital on firm performance.
A Direct Measurement of Major Galaxy Mergers at z ≲ 3

This paper presents direct evidence for hierarchical galaxy assembly out to redshifts z ∼ 3. We identify major mergers using the model-independent CAS (concentration, asymmetry, clumpiness) physical morphological system on galaxies detected, and photometrically selected, in the WFPC2 and NICMOS Hubble Deep Field North. We specifically use the asymmetric distributions of rest-frame optical light measured through the asymmetry parameter (A) to determine the fraction of galaxies undergoing major mergers as a function of redshift (z), stellar mass (M*), and absolute magnitude (MB). We find that the fraction of galaxies consistent with undergoing a major merger increases with redshift for all galaxies, but most significantly, at 5–10 σ confidence, for the most luminous and massive systems. The highest merger fractions we find are 40%–50% for galaxies with MB < -21, or M* > 1010 M⊙ at z > 2.5, e.g., objects identified as Lyman-break galaxies. Using these results, we model the merger fraction evolution in the form fm(A, M*, MB, z) = f0 × (1 + z). We find mA values ∼4–6 for the most luminous and massive galaxies, while lower mass and less luminous galaxies have smaller mA values. We use these merger fractions, combined with merger timescales calculated from N-body simulations, to derive galaxy merger rates to z ∼ 3. We also use stellar masses of HDF-N galaxies to determine the mass accretion rate of field galaxies involved in major mergers. We find an average stellar mass accretion rate of G ∼ 4 × 108 M⊙ Gyr-1 per galaxy at z ∼ 1 for galaxies with stellar masses M* > 109 M⊙. This accretion rate changes with redshift as G = 1.6 × 108(1 + z)0.99±0.32 M⊙ Gyr-1 per galaxy. We also find that the fraction of stellar mass density in galaxies involved in major mergers increases with redshift, with a peak mass fraction ∼0.5 for the brightest, MB < -21, and most massive, M* > 1010 M⊙, systems near z ∼ 2.5. By comparing merger fractions predicted in cold dark matter semianalytic models with our results we find a reasonably good agreement for the largest and brightest systems, although we find more low-mass galaxy mergers at lower redshifts than what these models predict.
in Decreases Apoptosis and Improves Survival Overexpression of Bcl-2 in Transgenic Mice

In sepsis there is extensive apoptosis of lymphocytes, which may be beneﬁcial by down-regulating the accompanying inﬂammation. Alternatively, apoptosis may be detrimental by impairing host defense. We studied whether Bcl-2, a potent antiapoptotic protein, could prevent lymphocyte apoptosis in a clinically relevant model of sepsis. Transgenic mice in which Bcl-2 was overexpressed in T cells had complete protection against sepsis-induced T lymphocyte apoptosis in thymus and spleen. Surprisingly, there was also a decrease in splenic B cell apoptosis in septic Bcl-2 overexpressors compared with septic HeJ and HeOuJ mice. There were marked increases in TNF- a , IL-1 b , and IL-10 in thymic tissue in sepsis in the three species of mice, and the increase in TNF- a and IL-10 in HeOuJ mice was greater than that in Bcl-2 mice. Mitotracker, a mitochondrial membrane potential indicator, demonstrated a sepsis-induced loss of membrane potential in T cells in HeJ and HeOuJ mice but not in Bcl-2 mice. Importantly, Bcl-2 overexpressors also had improved survival in sepsis. To investigate the potential impact of loss of lymphocytes on survival in sepsis, Rag-1 2 / 2 mice, which are totally deﬁcient in mature T and B cells, were also studied. Rag-1 2 / 2 mice had decreased survival compared with immunologically normal mice with sepsis. We conclude that overexpression of Bcl-2 provides protection against cell death in sepsis. Lymphocyte death may be detrimental in sepsis by compromising host defense. The Journal of Immunology,
Partial Oxygen Pressure Affects the Expression of Prognostic Biomarkers HIF-1 Alpha, Ki67, and CK20 in the Microenvironment of Colorectal Cancer Tissue

Hypoxia is prognostically important in colorectal cancer (CRC) therapy. Partial oxygen pressure (pO2) is an important parameter of hypoxia. The correlation between pO2 levels and expression levels of prognostic biomarkers was measured in CRC tissues. Human CRC tissues were collected and pO2 levels were measured by OxyLite. Three methods for tissue fixation were compared, including formalin, Finefix, and Finefix-plus-microwave. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was conducted by using the avidin-biotin complex technique for detecting the antibodies to hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) alpha, cytokeratin 20 (CK20), and cell proliferation factor Ki67. The levels of pO2 were negatively associated with the size of CRC tissues. Finefix-plus-microwave fixation has the potential to replace formalin. Additionally, microwave treatment improved Finefix performance in tissue fixation and protein preservation. The percentage of positive cells and gray values of HIF-1 alpha, CK20, and Ki67 were associated with CRC development (P < 0.05). The levels of pO2 were positively related with the gray values of Ki67 and negatively related with the values of HIF-1 alpha and CK20 (P < 0.05). Thus, the levels of microenvironmental pO2 affect the expression of predictive biomarkers HIF-1 alpha, CK20, and Ki67 in the development of CRC tissues.
Impact of frailty on approach to colonic resection: Laparoscopy vs open surgery

AIM To understand the influence of frailty on postoperative outcomes for laparoscopic and open colectomy. METHODS Data were obtained from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2005-2012) for patients undergoing colon resection [open colectomy (OC) and laparoscopic colectomy (LC)]. Patients were classified as non-frail (0 points), low frailty (1 point), moderate frailty (2 points), and severe frailty (≥ 3) using the Modified Frailty Index. 30-d mortality and complications were used as the primary end point and analyzed for the overall population. Complications were grouped into major and minor. Subset analysis was performed for patients undergoing colectomy (total colectomy, partial colectomy and sigmoid colectomy) and separately for patients undergoing rectal surgery (abdominoperineal resection, low anterior resection, and proctocolectomy). We analyzed the data using SAS Platform JMP Pro version 10.0. 0 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, United States). RESULTS A total of 94811 patients were identified; the majority underwent OC (58.7%), were white (76.9%), and non-frail (44.8%). The median age was 61.3 years. Prolonged length of stay (LOS) occurred in 4.7%, and 30-d mortality was 2.28%. Patients undergoing OC were older (61.89 ± 15.31 vs 60.55 ± 14.93) and had a higher ASA score (48.3% ASA3 vs 57.7% ASA2 in the LC group) (P < 0.0001). Most patients were non-frail (42.5% OC vs 48% LC, P < 0.0001). Complications, prolonged LOS, and mortality were significantly more common in patients undergoing OC (P < 0.0001). OC had a higher risk of death and complications compared to LC for all frailty scores (non-frail: OR = 4.7, and OR = 4.67; mildly frail: OR = 2.51, and OR = 2.47; moderately frail: OR = 2.94, and OR = 2.02, severely frail: OR = 2.37, and OR = 2.34, P < 0.05) and an increase in absolute mortality with increasing frailty (non-frail 0.68% OC, mildly frail 1.39%, moderately frail 3.44%, and severely frail 5.83%, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION LC is associated with improved outcomes. Although the odds of mortality are higher in non-frail, there is a progressive increase in mortality with increasing frailty.
Age differences in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory updating: Evidence from analysis of serial position curves

Memory updating is the ability to select and update relevant information and suppress no-longer-relevant data. The few studies in this area, targeting mainly the verbal domain, have investigated and confirmed an age-related decline in working memory updating ability (De Beni & Palladino, 2004; Van der Linden, Bredart, & Beerten, 1994). The present research examines the ability of younger and older adults to update information in verbal and visuo-spatial running memory tasks. Results showed that the participants’ performance was higher in the verbal than in the visuo-spatial task. Nonetheless, independently of the task domain, an age-related decline in updating performance was found. Moreover, analysis of serial positions suggested that, in the updating procedure, the participants were not attempting to actively maintain items, preferring to adopt a low-effort, “recency-based” strategy. The use of this type of strategy is more evident in older participants, as shown in both the accuracy performance and the proportion of intrusion errors.
Multiple Routes to Mental Animation

When looking at static visual images, people often exhibit mental animation, anticipating visual events that have not yet happened. But what determines when mental animation occurs? Measuring mental animation using localized brain function (visual motion processing in the middle temporal and middle superior temporal areas, MT+), we demonstrated that animating static pictures of objects is dependent both on the functionally relevant spatial arrangement that objects have with one another (e.g., a bottle above a glass vs. a glass above a bottle) and on the linguistic judgment to be made about those objects (e.g., “Is the bottle above the glass? ” vs. “Is the bottle bigger than the glass? ”). Furthermore, we showed that mental animation is driven by functional relations and language separately in the right hemisphere of the brain but conjointly in the left hemisphere. Mental animation is not a unitary construct; the predictions humans make about the visual world are driven flexibly, with hemispheric asymmetry in the routes to MT+ activation.
A neuro-fuzzy system for steel beams patch load prediction

This paper presents a neuro-fuzzy system developed to predict and classify the behaviour of steel beam subjected to concentrated loads. A good performance was obtained with a previously developed neural network system by Fonseca et al., (1999, 2001, 2003) when compared to available experimental data. The neural network accuracy was also significantly better than existing prediction formulae (Lyse and Godfrey, 1935; Bergfelt, 1979; Skaloud and Drdacky, 1975; Roberts and Newark, 1997). Despite this fact, the system architecture did not explicitly consider the different structural behaviour related to the beam collapse (web and flange yielding, web buckling and web crippling). Therefore this paper presents a neuro-fuzzy system that takes into account the ultimate limit state. The neuro-fuzzy system architecture is composed of one neuro-fuzzy model and one prediction neural network. The neuro-fuzzy model is used to classify the beams according to its pertinence to a specific structural response. Then, a neural network uses the pertinence established by the neuro-fuzzy classification model, to finally determine the beam patch load resistance.
Speech recognition in adverse conditions: A review

This article presents a review of the effects of adverse conditions (ACs) on the perceptual, linguistic, cognitive, and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying speech recognition. The review starts with a classification of ACs based on their origin: Degradation at the source (production of a noncanonical signal), degradation during signal transmission (interfering signal or medium-induced impoverishment of the target signal), receiver limitations (peripheral, linguistic, cognitive). This is followed by a parallel, yet orthogonal classification of ACs based on the locus of their effect: Perceptual processes, mental representations, attention, and memory functions. We then review the added value that ACs provide for theories of speech recognition, with a focus on fundamental themes in psycholinguistics: Content and format of lexical representations, time-course of lexical access, word segmentation, feed-back in speech perception and recognition, lexical-semantic integration, interface between the speech system and general cognition, neuroanatomical organisation of speech processing. We conclude by advocating an approach to speech recognition that includes rather than neutralises complex listening environments and individual differences.
Temporal and Semantic Effects on Multisensory Integration

How do we integrate modality-specific perceptual information arising from the same physical event into a coherent percept? One possibility is that observers rely on information across perceptual modalities that shares temporal structure and/or semantic associations. To explore the contributions of these two factors in multisensory integration, we manipulated the temporal and semantic relationships between auditory and visual information produced by real-world events, such as paper tearing or cards being shuffled. We identified distinct neural substrates for integration based on temporal structure as compared to integration based on event semantics. Semantically incongruent events recruited left frontal regions, while temporally asynchronous events recruited right frontal cortices. At the same time, both forms of incongruence recruited subregions in the temporal, occipital, and lingual cortices. Finally, events that were both temporally and semantically congruent modulated activity in the parahippocampus and anterior temporal lobe. Taken together, these results indicate that low-level perceptual properties such as temporal synchrony and high-level knowledge such as semantics play a role in our coherent perceptual experience of physical events.
On the wave-front shape and the advancing of the wetting front of a dam-break flood over an inclined plane of arbitrary bottom slope

In this note we consider the analysis of the wave-front shape resulting from the sudden release of a finite volume of water over an inclined plane bed of arbitrary bottom slope. To that end we use the one-dimensional turbulent shallow water equations with a constant friction factor. We propose an asymptotic analytical solution for the height and velocity in the wave tip region based on the velocity of the wetting front and its temporal derivatives, in a similar fashion as Whitham (1955). For large time, an analytical solution is obtained for the advance of the wetting front. This proposal is compared and validated with a numerical simulation computed with a second-order TVD-MinMod numerical scheme. The divergence of the Hunt’s solution (Hunt 1982; Hunt 1984) for the advancing of the wetting front as time increases is also established. Our solution for the tip region is tested against the numerical one, and is also compared with that deduced by Hunt (1984) for small slopes of the bottom - a really good agreement is found.
Post-filtering Technique Using Band Importance Function for Speech Intelligibility Enhancement

Conventional speech enhancement (SE) algorithms are mainly designed with the aim of improving signal-to-noise levels of noisy speech signals. However, many applications consider the enhancement of speech intelligibility as the goal for an SE system. In this study, we propose a maximum speech intelligibility (MSI) post-filter that aims to enhance the intelligibility of processed speech signals. The MSI post-filter is designed to specify a weight for each frequency band of the speech signal based on the critical band importance function. To evaluate the MSI post-filter, we combine it with a recently proposed generalized maximum a posteriori spectral amplitude estimation (GMAPA) SE algorithm. In previous studies, it has been verified that GMAPA outperforms several well-known spectral restoration approaches in terms of objective evaluations and speech recognition tests. Experimental results from the present study confirm that GMAPA also provides better results in a set of subjective intelligibility tests conducted with human subjects. Moreover, the integration of GMAPA and MSI can further improve the intelligibility scores over GMAPA alone under - 10 dB to 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio conditions.
Multiple Motherhoods: The Effect of the Internalization of Motherhood Ideals on Life Satisfaction

Abstract Purpose This study examined whether life satisfaction varied among women who occupy different motherhood statuses, and if these variations were influenced by differences in women’s internalization of cultural motherhood norms. We distinguished among women as biological mothers, stepmothers, and “double mothers,” who were both biological and stepmothers. We also included two groups of women without children: voluntary childfree and involuntary childless women. Design/methodology/approach Data were drawn from the National Study of Fertility Barriers and analyzed using OLS regression. Findings Biological mothers reported greater life satisfaction than women in other motherhood statuses. Accounting for the internalization of motherhood norms, double mothers had significantly lower life satisfaction compared to biological mothers, but voluntary childfree women had significantly greater life satisfaction. More detailed analyses indicated that internalization of cultural norms only appears to influence the life satisfaction of women with biological children. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that it may not simply be motherhood that affects women’s well-being, but rather that women’s internalization of motherhood ideals, particularly when it corresponds with their motherhood status, significantly impacts well-being. Limitations of this study include small cell sizes for some categories of women where additional distinctions may have been useful, such as lesbian or adoptive mothers. Future work should incorporate diverse family forms and expand on the newly named category “double mothers. ” Originality/value By providing a more nuanced approach to categorizing motherhood status, including identifying double mothers, stepmothers-only, and two groups of childless women, the study added detail that has been overlooked in previous work on well-being.
The h-Current in the Substantia Nigra pars Compacta Neurons: A Re-examination

The properties of the hyperpolarization-activated cation current (Ih) were investigated in rat substantia nigra - pars compacta (SNc) principal neurons using patch-clamp recordings in thin slices. A reliable identification of single dopaminergic neurons was made possible by the use of a transgenic line of mice expressing eGFP under the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. The effects of temperature and different protocols on the Ih kinetics showed that, at 37°C and minimizing the disturbance of the intracellular milieu with perforated patch, this current actually activates at potentials more positive than what is generally indicated, with a half-activation potential of −77.05 mV and with a significant level of opening already at rest, thereby substantially contributing to the control of membrane potential, and ultimately playing a relevant function in the regulation of the cell excitability. The implications of the known influence of intracellular cAMP levels on Ih amplitude and kinetics were examined. The direct application of neurotransmitters (DA, 5-HT and noradrenaline) physiologically released onto SNc neurons and known to act on metabotropic receptors coupled to the cAMP pathway modify the Ih amplitude. Here, we show that direct activation of dopaminergic and of 5-HT receptors results in Ih inhibition of SNc DA cells, whereas noradrenaline has the opposite effect. Together, these data suggest that the modulation of Ih by endogenously released neurotransmitters acting on metabotropic receptors –mainly but not exclusively linked to the cAMP pathway- could contribute significantly to the control of SNc neuron excitability.