Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association Analysis of Urotensin II Gene (UTS2) and Flanking Regions with Biochemical Parameters Related to Insulin Resistance

Background Urotensin II (UII) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide, which signals through a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) known as GPR14 or urotensin receptor (UTR). UII exerts a broad spectrum of actions in several systems such as vascular cell, heart muscle or pancreas, where it inhibits insulin release. Objective Given the reported role of UII in insulin secretion, we have performed a genetic association analysis of the UTS2 gene and flanking regions with biochemical parameters related to insulin resistance (fasting glucose, glucose 2 hours after a glucose overload, fasting insulin and insulin resistance estimated as HOMA). Results and Conclusions We have identified several polymorphisms associated with the analysed clinical traits, not only at the UTS2 gene, but also in thePER3 gene, located upstream from UTS2. Our results are compatible with a role for UII in glucose homeostasis and diabetes although we cannot rule out the possibility that PER3 gene may underlie the reported associations.
A diffusion model approach to analyzing performance on the Flanker task: The role of the DLPFC

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) are involved in conflict detection and conflict resolution, respectively. Here, we investigate how lifelong bilingualism induces neuroplasticity to these structures by employing a novel analysis of behavioural performance. We correlated grey matter volume (GMV) in seniors reported by Abutalebi et al. (2015) with behavioral Flanker task performance fitted using the diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978). As predicted, we observed significant correlations between GMV in the DLPFC and Flanker performance. However, for monolinguals the non-decision time parameter was significantly correlated with GMV in the left DLPFC, whereas for bilinguals the correlation was significant in the right DLPFC. We also found a significant correlation between age and GMV in left DLPFC and the non-decision time parameter for the conflict effect for monolinguals only. We submit that this is due to cumulative demands on cognitive control over a lifetime of bilingual language processing.
‘Sometimes you just need someone to take a chance on you’: An internship programme for autistic graduates at Deutsche Bank, UK

Abstract Autistic individuals often face significant challenges to obtaining and maintaining meaningful employment – more so than other disability groups. Work placements appear to be an important step to promote employment outcomes, yet there remains a lack of knowledge about the real-life experiences of those involved in such schemes. This study is the first to take a multi-informant, longitudinal approach to examine corporate work-placement schemes: specifically, an internship for autistic graduates at Deutsche Bank, UK. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with interns, their hiring managers and the colleagues who worked alongside them. Results demonstrated positive, meaningful experiences for the majority of those involved, however, some interns also reported anxiety, difficulties in judging communication and confusion regarding office rules. The current findings contribute to a better understanding of the experiences of skilled autistic individuals in work, and should inform the creation of subsequent programmes aimed to promote employment opportunities for autistic people.
Tightened L 0 -relaxation Penalties for Classification

We thank Rob Schapire for helpful discussions. The first author would also like to thank Kristin Bennett for her comments during earlier stages of this work, and Martin Milanic for his comments regarding a related feature selection problem. ABSTRACT In optimization-based classification model selection, for example when using linear programming formulations, a standard approach is to penalize the L 1 norm of some linear functional in order to select sparse models. Instead, we propose a novel integer linear program for sparse classifier selection, generalizing the minimum disagreement hyperplane problem whose complexity has been investigated in computational learning theory. Specifically, our mixed-integer problem is that of finding a separating hyperplane with minimum empirical error subject to an L 0 penalty. We show that common " soft margin " linear programming formulations for robust classification are equivalent to a continuous relaxation of our model. Since the initial continuous relaxation is weak, we suggest a tighter relaxation, using novel cutting planes, to better approximate the integer solution. We describe a boosting algorithm, based on linear programming with dynamic generation of cuts and columns, that solves our relaxation. We demonstrate the classification performance of our proposed algorithm with experimental results, and justify our selection of parameters using a minimum description length, compression interpretation of learning.
Generalized Autoregressive Score Models with Applications ∗

We propose a class of observation driven time series models referred to as Generalized Autoregressive Score (GAS) models. The mechanism to update the parameters over time is the scaled score of the likelihood function. This new approach provides a unified and consistent framework for introducing time-varying parameters in a wide class of non-linear models. The GAS model encompasses other well-known models such as the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity, the autoregressive conditional duration, the autoregressive conditional intensity, and Poisson count models with time-varying mean. In addition, our approach can lead to new formulations of observation driven models. We illustrate our framework by introducing new model specifications for time-varying copula functions and for multivariate point processes with time-varying parameters. We study the models in detail and provide simulation and empirical evidence.
The late positive potential indexes a role for emotion during learning of trust from eye-gaze cues

Gaze direction perception triggers rapid visuospatial orienting to the location observed by others. When this is congruent with the location of a target, reaction times are faster than when incongruent. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest that the non-joint attention induced by incongruent cues are experienced as more emotionally negative and this could relate to less favorable trust judgments of the faces when gaze-cues are contingent with identity. Here, we provide further support for these findings using time-resolved event-related potentials. In addition to replicating the effects of identity-contingent gaze-cues on reaction times and trust judgments, we discovered that the emotion-related late positive potential increased across blocks to incongruent compared to congruent faces before, during and after the gaze-cue, suggesting both learning and retrieval of emotion states associated with the face. We also discovered that the face-recognition-related N250 component appeared to localize to sources in anterior temporal areas. Our findings provide unique electrophysiological evidence for the role of emotion in learning trust from gaze-cues, suggesting that the retrieval of face evaluations during interaction may take around 1000 ms and that the N250 originates from anterior temporal face patches.
An analogy between cardinal characteristics and highness properties of oracles

We present an analogy between cardinal characteristics from set theory and highness properties from computability theory, which specify a sense in which a Turing oracle is computationally strong. While this analogy was first studied explicitly by Rupprecht in his PhD thesis, many prior results can be viewed from this perspective. After a comprehensive survey of the analogy for characteristics from Cichon's diagram, we extend it to Kurtz randomness and the analogue of the Specker-Eda number.
Operating an atom interferometer beyond its linear range

In this paper, we show that an atom interferometer inertial sensor, when associated with the auxiliary measurement of external vibrations, can be operated beyond its linear range and still keep a high acceleration sensitivity. We propose and compare two measurement procedures (fringe fitting and non-linear lock) that can be used to extract, without adding any bias, the mean phase of the interferometer when the interferometer phase fluctuations exceed 2π. Despite operating in the urban environment of inner Paris without any vibration isolation, the use of a low noise seismometer for the measurement of ground vibrations allows our atom gravimeter to reach at night a sensitivity as good as 5.5 × 10−8g at 1 s. Robustness of the measurement to large vibration noise is also demonstrated by the ability of our gravimeter to operate during an earthquake with excellent sensitivity. For such low vibration frequency though, high pass filtering of the seismometer degrades its correlation with the interferometer signal, so that low frequency seismic vibrations appear on the gravity measurement. Nevertheless, our high repetition rate allows for efficient sampling of these perturbations, ensuring proper averaging. Such techniques open new perspectives for applications in other fields, such as navigation and geophysics.
Inorganic Nitrogen Addition Affects Soil Respiration and Belowground Organic Carbon Fraction for a Pinus tabuliformis Forest

The capability of forest ecosystems to sequester carbon from the atmosphere largely depends on the interaction of soil organic matter and nitrogen, and thus, this process will be greatly influenced by nitrogen deposition under the future scenario of global change. To clarify this interaction, the current study explored the variations in soil carbon fraction and soil respiration with different levels of nitrogen deposition. NH4NO3 was added at concentrations of 0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 kg N ha−1 year−1 separately on twenty 100 m2 plots in a Pinus tabuliformis Carr forest in northern China. Soil samples were analyzed for their nutrient content and biophysical properties two years after nitrogen application, and the soil respiration rate was measured every month during the study period. Seasonal variation and nitrogen addition significantly affected soil respiration rate. On average, nitrogen addition significantly reduced the annual soil respiration rate by 23.74%. Fine root biomass significantly decreased by an average of 43.55% in nitrogen treatment plots compared to the control plot. However, the average proportions of autumn and winter soil respiration rates out of the annual cumulative soil respiration rate greatly increased from 23.57% and 11.04% to 25.90% and 12.18%, respectively. The soil microbial biomass carbon content in the control plot was 342.39 mg kg−1, 23.50% higher than the average value in nitrogen treatment plots. The soil dissolved organic carbon was reduced by 22.60%, on average, following nitrogen addition. Significant correlations were detected between fine root biomass and the annual cumulative soil respiration rate, soil microbial biomass carbon content, and soil dissolved organic carbon content. This demonstrates that nitrogen addition affects soil organic carbon transformation and carbon emission, mainly by depressing fine root production.
Modelling and Microstructural Characterization of Sintered Metallic Porous Materials

This paper presents selected characteristics of the metallic porous materials produced by the sintering of metal powders. The authors focus on materials produced from the iron powder (Fe) of ASC 100.29 and Distaloy SE. ASC 100.29 is formed by atomization and has a characteristic morphology. It consists of spherical particles of different sizes forming agglomerates. Distaloy SE is also based on the sponge-iron. The porous material is prepared using the patented method of sintering the mixture of iron powder ASC 100.29, Fe(III) oxide, Distaloy SE and Fe(III) oxide in the reducing atmosphere of dissociated ammonia. As a result, the materials with open pores of micrometer sizes are obtained. The pores are formed between iron particles bonded by diffusion bridges. The modelling of porous materials containing diffusion bridges that allows for three-dimensional (3D) imaging is presented.
Product metrics in agile software development

The purpose of this study was to discover such a way to use product metrics in agile software development that provides benefits to all affected stakeholders, including both general guidelines and detailed recommendations. The research was based on a literature study, with assessment and aggregation of the identified ideas. It was found that no such previous research exists. The related literature was either more general, considering the rudiments of using software metrics in agile methods, or more focused, concerned with particular metrics or aspects of agile software development. Filling this gap was the motivation for writing this thesis. The results revealed four areas of measurement to be incorporated in agile software projects: size, quality indicators, defects, and requirements and design. The author recommends specific metrics in each of these areas, including the information on the expected benefits and their receivers, and the means, the best time, and the suitable person to conduct the measurement.
MRI-Based Attenuation Correction for PET/MRI: A Novel Approach Combining Pattern Recognition and Atlas Registration

For quantitative PET information, correction of tissue photon attenuation is mandatory. Generally in conventional PET, the attenuation map is obtained from a transmission scan, which uses a rotating radionuclide source, or from the CT scan in a combined PET/CT scanner. In the case of PET/MRI scanners currently under development, insufficient space for the rotating source exists; the attenuation map can be calculated from the MR image instead. This task is challenging because MR intensities correlate with proton densities and tissue-relaxation properties, rather than with attenuation-related mass density. Methods: We used a combination of local pattern recognition and atlas registration, which captures global variation of anatomy, to predict pseudo-CT images from a given MR image. These pseudo-CT images were then used for attenuation correction, as the process would be performed in a PET/CT scanner. Results: For human brain scans, we show on a database of 17 MR/CT image pairs that our method reliably enables estimation of a pseudo-CT image from the MR image alone. On additional datasets of MRI/PET/CT triplets of human brain scans, we compare MRI-based attenuation correction with CT-based correction. Our approach enables PET quantification with a mean error of 3.2% for predefined regions of interest, which we found to be clinically not significant. However, our method is not specific to brain imaging, and we show promising initial results on 1 whole-body animal dataset. Conclusion: This method allows reliable MRI-based attenuation correction for human brain scans. Further work is necessary to validate the method for whole-body imaging.
Proofs of Work and Bread Pudding Protocols

The bread pudding protocol of the present invention represents a novel use of proofs of work and is based upon the same principle as the dish from which it takes its name, namely, that of reuse to minimize waste. Whereas the traditional bread pudding recipe recycles stale bread, our bread pudding protocol recycles the “stale” computations in a POW to perform a separate and useful task, while also maintaining privacy in the task. In one advantageous embodiment of our bread pudding protocol, we consider the computationally intensive operation of minting coins in the MicroMint scheme of Rivest and Shamir and demonstrate how the minting operation can be partitioned into a collection of POWs, which are then used to shift the burden of the minting operation onto a large group of untrusted computational devices. Thus, the computational effort invested in the POWs is recycled to accomplish the minting operation.
Person or Job? Change in Person‐Job Fit and its Impact on Employee Work Attitudes Over Time

Fit is generally conceptualized as a dynamic construct, but most research on person‐environment fit has focused on fit in the current moment. We addressed this oversight by examining the dynamic relationships among person‐job (PJ) fit, demand‐ability (DA) fit, need‐supply (NS) fit, and employee work attitudes over time using a three‐wave survey design over a 12‐month period. Results from 168 employees revealed that change in PJ fit was significantly related to changes in job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. In addition, DA and NS fit changes were significantly and indirectly associated with job satisfaction and commitment changes through PJ fit change. We also found that increases in job demands and employee abilities significantly decreased DA fit, and increases in employee needs significantly decreased NS fit whereas increases in job supplies significantly increased NS fit. Finally, we examined age as an important moderator for employees’ reactions to PJ fit changes, and found that younger employees reacted more strongly to increases/decreases in PJ fit than did older employees.
Marital Status, Marital Process, and Parental Resources in Predicting Adolescents’ Emotional Adjustment

This study examined the relationship between adolescent emotional adjustment and the family environment (i.e., family status, family process, and parental resources). This was done by way of multilevel analyses, with a sample of 2,636 parent-child couples of both intact and divorced families. The results indicated that adolescent emotional adjustment was clearly based on the family as well as on the individual. We found support for the hypothesis that growing up both in postdivorce families and in intact families with a low marital quality related negatively to adolescent emotional adjustment. Our hypothesis that parental resources, in the form of parental support, parent-adolescent relationship, and parental psychological health, partly mediate the negative association between low marital quality and divorce on one hand and youngsters’ adjustment on the other hand was also confirmed. Growing up in postdivorce families was especially detrimental for the emotional adjustment of girls.
COMPASSION: CAN SERVICE LEARNING MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AND IF SO, HOW?

The future of education is often framed in terms of bringing education into the second half of the 21st century. Technology and along with it, faster and better ways to bring content to our students are important topics for discussion; but how our students treat each other and other members of their community is equally, if not more, important. This study takes a look at how we may be able to encourage and foster compassion among our students. I wanted to know how compassionate thoughts and feelings develop following a service-learning experience focused on compassionate behavior. In this qualitative study, I interviewed a small group of students one year following a service-learning experience. I had initially interviewed them for a pilot study immediately after the service-learning experience. I wanted to hear how participants described their feelings of compassion and I wanted to know if the feelings they had immediately after the service-learning experience persisted for a year after that experience. I conducted interviews with each of the 7 participants and also conducted a focus group session with the participants. The findings shed some insight into how compassion develops in young people. It also showed that in this small study the participants were inspired to feel compassion when they had to act compassionately as part of the service-learning program. There were mixed results as to the durability of those feelings one year later. A constructivist grounded theory for the development of compassion is proposed and a model suggested for how compassion develops and is motivated through the influences of Community and Experience.
The clustering of galaxy clusters in cosmological models with non-Gaussian initial conditions: predictions for future surveys

We predict the biasing and clustering properties of galaxy clusters that are expected to be observed in the catalogues produced by two forthcoming X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect surveys. We study a set of flat cosmological models where the primordial density probability distribution shows deviations from Gaussianity in agreement with current observational bounds form the background radiation. We consider both local and equilateral shapes for the primordial bispectrum in non-Gaussian models. The two catalogues investigated are those produced by the eROSITA wide survey and from a survey based on South Pole Telescope observations. It turns out that both the bias and observed power spectrum of galaxy clusters are severely affected in non-Gaussian models with local shape of the primordial bispectrum, especially at large scales. On the other hand, models with equilateral shape of the primordial bispectrum show only a mild effect at all scales, that is difficult to be detected with clustering observations. Between the two catalogues, the one performing better is the eROSITA one, since it contains only the largest masses that are more sensitive to primordial non-Gaussianity.
Improving Student Achievement by Extending School: Is It Just a Matter of Time?.

The Commission’s call for more time raised public consciousness on the issue, but once again, the traditional school calendar proved solidly ensconced. Although proposals to extend the school year were considered in 37 states during the seven years following A Nation at Risk, very few were actually approved.2 Moreover, none of the states passing legislation during that time had increased the school day beyond 6-1/2 hours or the school year beyond 180 days, which was and remains the high end of the U.S. norm. Instead, legislation focused on addressing unusually low standards in certain states, merely increasing the time so that it was closer to the national norm.3 In fact, some states and districts that have tried to significantly increase school time have later backed off. The Oregon legislature, for example, in 1991 adopted the Education Act for the 21st Century, which was intended in part to lengthen the school year incrementally from 175 to 220 days over the next two decades. But in 1995, before the first incremental jump was required, the Legislature repealed that provision of the act, having determined that the state simply couldn’t afford it.4
Features of Methylation and Gene Expression in the Promoter-Associated CpG Islands Using Human Methylome Data

CpG islands are typically located in the 5′ end of genes and considered as gene markers because they play important roles in gene regulation via epigenetic change. In this study, we compared the features of CpG islands identified by several major algorithms by setting the parameter cutoff values in order to obtain a similar number of CpG islands in a genome. This approach allows us to systematically compare the methylation and gene expression patterns in the identified CpG islands. We found that Takai and Jones' algorithm tends to identify longer CpG islands but with weaker CpG island features (e.g., lower GC content and lower ratio of the observed over expected CpGs) and higher methylation level. Conversely, the CpG clusters identified by Hackenberg et al.'s algorithm using stringent criteria are shorter and have stronger features and lower methylation level. In addition, we used the genome-wide base-resolution methylation profile in two cell lines to show that genes with a lower methylation level at the promoter-associated CpG islands tend to express in more tissues and have stronger expression. Our results validated that the DNA methylation of promoter-associated CpG islands suppresses gene expression at the genome level.