Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease on Autonomic Changes Evaluated by the Time Domain, Frequency Domain, and Symbolic Dynamics of Heart Rate Variability

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with cardiovascular atherosclerosis independent of classical risk factors. This study investigated the influence of NAFLD on autonomic changes, which is currently unknown. Methods Subjects without an overt history of cardiovascular disease were enrolled during health checkups. The subjects diagnosed for NAFLD using ultrasonography underwent 5-min heart rate variability (HRV) measurements that was analyzed using the following indices: (1) the time domain with the standard deviation of N-N (SDNN) intervals and root mean square of successive differences between adjacent N-N intervals (rMSSD); (2) the frequency domain with low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) components; and (3) symbolic dynamics analysis. Routine blood biochemistry data and serum leptin levels were analyzed. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was measured. Results Of the 497 subjects (mean age, 46.2 years), 176 (35.4%) had NAFLD. The HRV indices (Ln SDNN, Ln rMSSD, Ln LF, and Ln HF) were significantly decreased in the NAFLD group (3.51 vs 3.62 ms, 3.06 vs 3.22 ms, 5.26 vs 5.49 ms2, 4.49 vs 5.21 ms2, respectively, all P<0.05). Ln SDNN was significantly lower in the NAFLD group after adjustment for age, sex, hypertension, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, body mass index, smoking, estimated glomerular filtration rate, HOMA-IR, and leptin (P<0.05). In the symbolic dynamic analysis, 0 V percentage was significantly higher in the NAFLD group (33.8% vs 28.7%, P = 0.001) and significantly correlated with linear HRV indices (Ln SDNN, Ln rMSSD, and Ln HF). Conclusions NAFLD is associated with decreased Ln SDNN and increased 0 V percentage. The former association was independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors and serum biomarkers (insulin resistance and leptin). Further risk stratification of autonomic dysfunction with falls or cardiovascular diseases by these HRV parameters is required in patients with NAFLD.
Congenital Hydrocephalus in Genetically Engineered Mice

There is evidence that genetic factors play a role in the complex multifactorial pathogenesis of hydrocephalus. Identification of the genes involved in the development of this neurologic disorder in animal models may elucidate factors responsible for the excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in hydrocephalic humans. The authors report here a brief summary of findings from 12 lines of genetically engineered mice that presented with autosomal recessive congenital hydrocephalus. This study illustrates the value of knockout mice in identifying genetic factors involved in the development of congenital hydrocephalus. Findings suggest that dysfunctional motile cilia represent the underlying pathogenetic mechanism in 8 of the 12 lines (Ulk4, Nme5, Nme7, Kif27, Stk36, Dpcd, Ak7, and Ak8). The likely underlying cause in the remaining 4 lines (RIKEN 4930444A02, Celsr2, Mboat7, and transgenic FZD3) was not determined, but it is possible that some of these could also have ciliary defects. For example, the cerebellar malformations observed in RIKEN 4930444A02 knockout mice show similarities to a number of developmental disorders, such as Joubert, Meckel-Gruber, and Bardet-Biedl syndromes, which involve mutations in cilia-related genes. Even though the direct relevance of mouse models to hydrocephalus in humans remains uncertain, the high prevalence of familial patterns of inheritance for congenital hydrocephalus in humans suggests that identification of genes responsible for development of hydrocephalus in mice may lead to the identification of homologous modifier genes and susceptibility alleles in humans. Also, characterization of mouse models can enhance understanding of important cell signaling and developmental pathways involved in the pathogenesis of hydrocephalus.
Local-feature-map Integration Using Convolutional Neural Networks for Music Genre Classification

A map-based approach, which treats 2-dimensional acoustic features like image processing, has recently attracted attention in music genre classiﬁcation. While this is successful at extracting local music-patterns compared with other timbral-feature-based methods, the extracted features are not sufﬁcient for music genre classiﬁcation. In this paper, we focus on appropriate feature extraction and proper classiﬁcation by integrating the features. For the musical feature extraction, we calculate gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) descriptors with different offsets from a short-term mel spectrogram. These feature maps are integratively classiﬁed using convolutional neural network (CNN). In our experiments, we got a large improvement of more than 10 points in the classiﬁcation accuracy, compared with conventional map-based methods. Index Terms: music genre classiﬁcation, music infor- mation retrieval, music feature extraction, convolutional neural network
Exploring a social “bouba-kiki” effect and the affective consequences of having a congruent versus incongruent name

This thesis was inspired from studies on the “bouba-kiki” effect, which shows that a sound-symbolic relationship exists between names and the physical objects they represent. Research on the bouba-kiki effect has found that people are more likely to associate names to objects which have a more congruent sound-symbolic relationship. This thesis has three main research questions; (1) is there a bouba-kiki effect between people’s names and their faces? (2) Are there any affective consequences for having a congruent versus incongruent name? (3) Are there real-world consequences of the social bouba-kiki effect? To answer the first research question, two studies (Study 1a and 1b: Chapter 3) were conducted to explore a social bouba-kiki effect. Initially a sample of caricatures were used as stimuli which was followed by a sample of real faces. In both cases participants were asked to name faces from a selection of sound symbolic (i.e. congruent) and non-sound symbolic (incongruent) names. The results clearly showed that congruent names were preferred to incongruent names: participants believed that “round” names (names which contained mostly round vowels /o/ and /u/, as in the names “Bob” and “Ron”) were more suitable for people with round faces, and “spiky” names (names which contained mostly unrounded vowels /i/ and /e/, like in the names “Rick” or “Mike”) for people with angular faces. To answer the second research question several studies were conducted to examine the affective consequences between a congruent and incongruent name-face relationship. Studies 2a and 2b (Chapter 4) demonstrated that congruently named people were rated more positively on liking and other social dimensions compared to incongruently named people. Studies 3 and 4 (Chapter 5) showed that participants increased their liking for people after learning that they had congruent versus incongruent names, while Studies 5-7 (Chapter 6) showed the reverse, that people were more likely to be assigned congruent names when they were likeable versus unlikeable.
Alcohol Expectancies, Coping, and Affect in Predicting College Student Alcohol Use: A Cross-sectional Examination of Freshmen and Seniors

The primary focus of this study was to examine cognitive and emotional factors for alcohol consumption in Freshman and Senior college students. Alcohol Expectancies, Coping Style, and Affect were expected to predict alcohol consumption in the entire sample and for each cohort. Coping Style and Affect did not predict alcohol use in either group. Alcohol Expectancies, specifically Liquid Courage and Self-Perception, were related to drinking rates in the full sample. Only Self-Perception was predictive of both freshman and senior drinking. The effects of Self-Perception were moderated by level of peer use and seen only among participants with low-peer use rates. Perceived peer alcohol use was highly predictive of alcohol consumption and accounted for more than 40-50% of the variance. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Deletion of Nhlh2 Results in a Defective Torpor Response and Reduced Beta Adrenergic Receptor Expression in Adipose Tissue

Background Mice with a targeted deletion of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, Nescient Helix-Loop-Helix 2 (Nhlh2), display adult-onset obesity with significant increases in their fat depots, abnormal responses to cold exposure, and reduced spontaneous physical activity levels. These phenotypes, accompanied by the hypothalamic expression of Nhlh2, make the Nhlh2 knockout (N2KO) mouse a useful model to study the role of central nervous system (CNS) control on peripheral tissue such as adipose tissue. Methodology Differences in body temperature and serum analysis of leptin were performed in fasted and ad lib fed wild-type (WT) and N2KO mice. Histological analysis of white (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) was performed. Gene and protein level expression of inflammatory and metabolic markers were compared between the two genotypes. Principal Findings We report significant differences in serum leptin levels and body temperature in N2KO mice compared with WT mice exposed to a 24-hour fast, suggestive of a defect in both white (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) function. As compared to WT mice, N2KO mice showed increased serum IL-6 protein and WAT IL-6 mRNA levels. This was accompanied by slight elevations of mRNA for several macrophage markers, including expression of macrophage specific protein F4/80 in adipose, suggestive of macrophage infiltration of WAT in the mutant animals. The mRNAs for β3-adrenergic receptors (β3-AR), β2-AR and uncoupling proteins were significantly reduced in WAT and BAT from N2KO mice compared with WT mice. Conclusions These studies implicate Nhlh2 in the central control of WAT and BAT function, with lack of Nhlh2 leading to adipose inflammation and altered gene expression, impaired leptin response to fasting, all suggestive of a deficient torpor response in mutant animals.
How Bank Competition Affects Firms'Access to Finance

Combining multi-year, firm-level surveys with country-level panel data for 53 countries, the authors explore the impact of bank competition on firms' access to finance. They find that low competition, as measured by high values of the Lerner index, diminishes firms' access to finance, while commonly-used bank concentration measures are not robust predictors of firms' access to finance. In addition, they find that the impact of competition on access to finance depends on the environment that banks operate in. Some features of the environment, such as greater financial development and better credit information, can mitigate the damaging impact of low competition. But other characteristics, such as high government bank ownership, can exacerbate the negative effect.
Comparison of empirical testing and walkthrough methods in user interface evaluation

We investigated the relative effectiveness of empirical usability testing and individual and team walkthrough methods in identifying usability problems in two graphical user interface office systems. The findings were replicated across the two systems and show that the empirical testing condition identified the largest number of problems, and identified a significant number of relatively severe problems that were missed by the walkthrough conditions. Team walkthroughs achieved better results than individual walkthroughs in some areas. About a third of the significant usability problems identified were common across all methods. Cost-effectiveness data show that empirical testing required the same or less time to identify each problem when compared to walkthroughs.
Generation mean analysis of water stress tolerance parameters in Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss] crosses.

Little information is available on the genetics of physiological traits for drought tolerance in Indian mustard. Generation mean analysis was performed using two crosses (Maya x BPR543-2) and (BPR543-2 x BPR2) to study the nature and magnitude of gene effects on seed yield and physiological characters in Indian mustard. The F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 of these crosses, along with P1 and P2, were studied for eight physiological traits. As to the water use efficiency, the dominance (h) and dominance x dominance (l) non-allelic interactions were found to be the most important in BPR543-2 x BPR2 cross. In Maya x BPR543-2, negative significant values of h and l were observed. Water use efficiency also showed duplicate-type epistasis in both crosses; indicating that l gene interaction effect or other types of digenic complementary gene interaction could be exploited effectively by selection for improvement of this character. The seed yield per plant in the cross Maya x BPR-543-2 showed d, h, and additive x additive (i) types of gene interaction, which means that this trait is under the control of fixable and nonfixable gene effects. The i gene interaction and duplicate epistasis seen in this trait suggest possibilities of obtaining transgressive segregants in later generations.
Non-CMC conformal data sets which do not produce solutions of the Einstein constraint equations

The conformal formulation provides a method for constructing and parametrizing solutions of the Einstein constraint equations by mapping freely chosen sets of conformal data to solutions, provided a certain set of coupled, elliptic determined PDEs (whose expression depends on the chosen conformal data) admits a unique solution. For constant mean curvature (CMC) data, it is known in almost all cases which sets of conformal data allow these PDEs to have solutions, and which do not. For non-CMC data, much less is known. Here we exhibit the first class of non-CMC data for which we can prove that no solutions exist.
Where and When the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Modulates Attentional Response: Combined fMRI and ERP Evidence

Attentional control provides top-down influences that allow task-relevant stimuli and responses to be processed preferentially. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays an important role in attentional control, but the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying this process is poorly understood. We examined the activation and connectivity of the ACC using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) along with fMRI-constrained dipole modeling of event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained from subjects who performed auditory and visual oddball attention tasks. Although attention-related responses in the ACC were similar in the two modalities, effective connectivity analyses showed modality-specific effects with increased ACC influences on the Heschl and superior temporal gyri during auditory task and on the striate cortex during visual task. Dipole modeling of ERPs based on source locations determined from fMRI activations showed that the ACC was the major generator of N2b-P3a attention-related components in both modalities, and that primary sensory regions generated a small mismatch signal about 50 msec prior to feedback from the ACC and a large signal 60 msec after feedback from the ACC. Taken together, these results provide converging neuroimaging and electrophysiological evidence for top-down attentional modulation of sensory processing by the ACC. Our findings suggest a model of attentional control based on dynamic bottom-up and top-down interactions between the ACC and primary sensory regions.
Hydrology controls dissolved organic matter export and composition in an Alpine stream and its hyporheic zone

Streams and rivers transport dissolved organic matter (DOM) from the terrestrial environment to downstream ecosystems. In light of climate and global change it is crucial to understand the temporal dynamics of DOM concentration and composition, and its export fluxes from headwaters to larger downstream ecosystems. We monitored DOM concentration and composition based on a diurnal sampling design for 3 years in an Alpine headwater stream. We found hydrologic variability to control DOM composition and the coupling of DOM dynamics in the streamwater and the hyporheic zone. High‐flow events increased DOM inputs from terrestrial sources (as indicated by the contributions of humic‐ and fulvic‐like fluorescence), while summer baseflow enhanced the autochthonous imprint of DOM. Diurnal and seasonal patterns of DOM composition were likely induced by biological processes linked to temperature and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). Floods frequently interrupted diurnal and seasonal patterns of DOM, which led to a decoupling of streamwater and hyporheic water DOM composition and delivery of aromatic and humic‐like DOM to the streamwater. Accordingly, DOM export fluxes were largely of terrigenous origin as indicated by optical properties. Our study highlights the relevance of hydrologic and seasonal dynamics for the origin, composition and fluxes of DOM in an Alpine headwater stream.
A method for the computation of reliability bounds for non-repairable fault-tolerant systems

A realistic modeling of fault-tolerant systems requires to take into account phenomena such as the dependence of component failure rates and coverage parameters on the operational configuration of the system, which cannot be properly captured using combinatoric techniques. Such dependencies can be modeled with detail using continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs). However, the use of CTMC models is limited by the well-known state space exploitation problem. We develop a method for the computation of bounds for the reliability of non-repairable fault-tolerant systems which requires the generation of only a subset of states. The tightness of the bounds increases as more detailed states are generated. The method uses the failure distance concept and is illustrated using an example of a quite complex fault-tolerant system whose failure behavior has the above mentioned types of dependencies.
Bush v. Bin Laden: Effect of State Emotion on Perceived Threat is Mediated by Emotion Towards the Threat Agent (Bush vs. Ben Laden: l'Effet de l'Emotion etat sur la Menace Percue est Mediatisees par l'Emotion vis-a-vis de l'Agent Menacant)

Abstract : The authors conducted an experiment to examine the effect of specific (fear and anger) and global emotional states on perceptions of threat posed by either George W. Bush or Osama Bin Laden. Findings revealed a case of moderated mediation: For participants who evaluated Bush, negative state emotion directly predicted perceived threat and was fully mediated by negative emotion evoked by Bush. For participants who evaluated Bin Laden, however, negative state emotion did not predict perceived threat. The authors discuss implications of the findings for theories that postulate an effect of emotion on risk perceptions and for understanding threat perception in the terrorism context.
American College of Rheumatology 2008 Recommendations for the Use of Nonbiologic and Biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Guidelines and recommendations developed and/or endorsed by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) are intended to provide guidance for particular patterns of practice and not to dictate the care of a particular patient. The ACR considers adherence to these guidelines and recommendations to be voluntary, with the ultimate determination regarding their application to be made by the physician in light of each patient's individual circumstances. Guidelines and recommendations are intended to promote beneficial or desirable outcomes but cannot guarantee any specific outcome. Guidelines and recommendations developed or endorsed by the ACR are subject to periodic revision as warranted by the evolution of medical knowledge, technology, and practice.
Bargaining with a Residual Claimant: An Experimental Study

We experimentally investigate a bargaining environment in which players negotiate over a fixed payment to one player, while the other player receives the residual from a random pie realization after subtracting the fixed payment. Contrary to the intuition that risk exposure is detrimental, we show that residual claimants are able to extract a risk premium, which is increasing in risk exposure. In some cases the premium is so high that it is advantageous to bargain over a risky pie rather than a risk-less pie. Contrary to theory, the comparatively less risk adverse residual claimants benefit the most. Moreover, bargaining frictions increase as risk increases, and we document more frequent disagreements as risk increases. When given the chance to choose a less or more risky distribution over which to bargain, residual claimants tend to choose the more risky distribution only when there is the possibility of an equal-split ex-post. Our results suggest that theoretical bargaining models require some separation between the determinants of bargaining power and fair compensation for risk exposure.
Usability Inspection of Web Portals: Results and Insights from Empirical Study

Web portals are a special breed of web sites, providing a large and diverse user population with a blend of information, services and facilities. Whether they reach their aim of facilitating users' access to diverse resources and to which extent, remains an open question. In the paper this issue is addressed with usability inspection of horizontal information (news) portals. The reported experiment was targeted to establish whether expert reviews can be performed with a reasonable level of performance by non-usability experts with some training. An empirical study of four web portals was used to support the statement, and the results appear to support this claim. Although the findings from a single experience cannot be generalized, we believe that the results of this study could contribute to improve the general understanding of the field. However, in order to draw general sound conclusions and to examine the robustness and validity of the findings, more studies should be conducted.
Ischemia Modified Albumin Can Predict Necrosis at Incarcerated Hernias

Purpose. To evaluate the predictive effect of IMA in incarcerated hernias. Methods. Three groups (n = 7) of rats were operated. Group I aimed to mimic incarceration, group II aimed the strangulation, and group III was the sham group. IMA and LDH measurements were made. Results. IMA levels were significantly higher in strangulation mimicking group and IMA levels were normal at postoperative 6th hour in incarceration mimicking group. LDH levels were significantly higher in both incarceration and strangulation mimicking groups. Conclusion. IMA seems to be an effective marker in incarcerated hernias to predict necrosis. But we need further studies to generalise this hypothesis.
A wavelet analysis of QSO spectra

The temperature of the intergalactic medium (IGM) is an important factor in determining the line-widths of the absorption lines in the Lyman-alpha forest. We present a method to characterise the line-widths distribution using a decomposition of a Lyman-alpha spectrum in terms of discrete wavelets. Such wavelets form an orthogonal basis so the decomposition is unique. We demonstrate using hydrodynamic simulations that the mean and dispersion of the wavelet amplitudes is strongly correlated with both the temperature of the absorbing gas and its dependence on the gas density. Since wavelets are also localised in space, we are able to analyse the temperature distribution as a function of position along the spectrum. We illustrate how this method could be used to identify fluctuations in the IGM temperature which might result from late reionization or local effects.