Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are big cities really bad places to live? improving quality-of-life estimates across cities

The standard revealed-preference hedonic estimate of a city's quality of life is proportional to that city's cost-of-living relative to its wage-level. Adjusting the standard hedonic model to account for federal taxes, non-housing costs, and non-labor income produces quality-of-life estimates different from the existing literature. The adjusted model produces city rankings positively correlated with those in the popular literature, and predicts how housing costs rise with wage levels, controlling for amenities. Mild seasons, sunshine, and coastal location account for most quality-of-life differences; once these amenities are accounted for, quality of life does not depend on city size, contrary to previous ndings.
Global Analysis of Transcriptome Responses and Gene Expression Profiles to Cold Stress of Jatropha curcas L.

Background Jatropha curcas L. , also called the Physic nut, is an oil-rich shrub with multiple uses, including biodiesel production, and is currently exploited as a renewable energy resource in many countries. Nevertheless, because of its origin from the tropical MidAmerican zone, J. curcas confers an inherent but undesirable characteristic (low cold resistance) that may seriously restrict its large-scale popularization. This adaptive flaw can be genetically improved by elucidating the mechanisms underlying plant tolerance to cold temperatures. The newly developed Illumina Hiseq™ 2000 RNA-seq and Digital Gene Expression (DGE) are deep high-throughput approaches for gene expression analysis at the transcriptome level, using which we carefully investigated the gene expression profiles in response to cold stress to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of cold response in J. curcas. Results In total, 45,251 unigenes were obtained by assembly of clean data generated by RNA-seq analysis of the J. curcas transcriptome. A total of 33,363 and 912 complete or partial coding sequences (CDSs) were determined by protein database alignments and ESTScan prediction, respectively. Among these unigenes, more than 41.52% were involved in approximately 128 known metabolic or signaling pathways, and 4,185 were possibly associated with cold resistance. DGE analysis was used to assess the changes in gene expression when exposed to cold condition (12°C) for 12, 24, and 48 h. The results showed that 3,178 genes were significantly upregulated and 1,244 were downregulated under cold stress. These genes were then functionally annotated based on the transcriptome data from RNA-seq analysis. Conclusions This study provides a global view of transcriptome response and gene expression profiling of J. curcas in response to cold stress. The results can help improve our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant cold resistance and favor the screening of crucial genes for genetically enhancing cold resistance in J. curcas.
deepBlockAlign: a tool for aligning RNA-seq profiles of read block patterns

Motivation: High-throughput sequencing methods allow whole transcriptomes to be sequenced fast and cost-effectively. Short RNA sequencing provides not only quantitative expression data but also an opportunity to identify novel coding and non-coding RNAs. Many long transcripts undergo post-transcriptional processing that generates short RNA sequence fragments. Mapped back to a reference genome, they form distinctive patterns that convey information on both the structure of the parent transcript and the modalities of its processing. The miR-miR* pattern from microRNA precursors is the best-known, but by no means singular, example. Results: deepBlockAlign introduces a two-step approach to align RNA-seq read patterns with the aim of quickly identifying RNAs that share similar processing footprints. Overlapping mapped reads are first merged to blocks and then closely spaced blocks are combined to block groups, each representing a locus of expression. In order to compare block groups, the constituent blocks are first compared using a modified sequence alignment algorithm to determine similarity scores for pairs of blocks. In the second stage, block patterns are compared by means of a modified Sankoff algorithm that takes both block similarities and similarities of pattern of distances within the block groups into account. Hierarchical clustering of block groups clearly separates most miRNA and tRNA, and also identifies about a dozen tRNAs clustering together with miRNA. Most of these putative Dicer-processed tRNAs, including eight cases reported to generate products with miRNA-like features in literature, exhibit read blocks distinguished by precise start position of reads. Availability: The program deepBlockAlign is available as source code from http://rth.dk/resources/dba/. Contact: gorodkin@rth.dk; studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Thermal phenomenology of hadrons from 200A GeV S+S collisions.

We develop a complete and consistent description for the hadron spectra from heavy ion collisions in terms of a few collective variables, in particular temperature, longitudinal, and transverse flow. To achieve a meaningful comparison with presently available data, we also include the resonance decays into our picture. To disentangle the influences of transverse flow and resonance decays in the [ital m][sub [ital T]] spectra, we analyze in detail the shape of the [ital m][sub [ital T]] spectra.
Sociodemographic variations in obesity among Ghanaian adults

Abstract Objectives: To determine the sociodemographic associations of obesity in Ghana. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a sample of 6300 adults aged 25 years and over who were selected by random cluster sampling. Setting: Two urban (high-class and low-class suburbs) and a rural community in Accra, Ghana. Subjects and methods: In total, 4731 (1857 males, 2874 females) subjects participated. Demographic data were obtained by a questionnaire and height and weight were determined with subjects in light clothing and without shoes. Results: The overall crude prevalence of overweight and obesity was 23.4 and 14.1%, respectively. The rates of overweight (27.1 vs. 17.5%) and obesity (20.2 vs. 4.6%) were higher in females than males. Obesity increased with age up to 64 years. There were more overweight and obesity in the urban high-class residents compared with the low-class residents and in urban than rural subjects. Overweight and obesity were highest among the Akan and Ga tribes and relatively low among Ewes. Subjects with tertiary education had the highest prevalence of obesity (18.8%) compared with less literate and illiterate subjects (12.5–13.8%). Subjects whose jobs were of a sedentary nature had higher levels of obesity (15%) than subjects whose jobs involved heavy physical activity (10%). Subjects who did not engage in leisure-time physical activity were more obese than those who had three or more sessions of leisure-time physical activity per week (15.3 vs. 13.5%). Conclusions: Overweight and obesity are common among residents in the Accra area. Older age, female gender, urban, high-class residence, sedentary occupation and tertiary education were associated with higher levels of obesity. Policies and programmes that promote healthy lifestyles may prove beneficial.
Title: fit2dive - A field test for assessing the specific capability of underwater fin swimming with SCUBA

Exercise modalities such as cycle ergometry do not mimic the specific movements of fin swimming underwater. Therefore, there is a need to develop a specific diving capability assessment procedure. The purpose of the study was the application of a standardized field test to assess and rate underwater swimming performance. The fit2dive-test consists of an incremental protocol that is performed in a pool (<5 m depth). The underwater swimming speed is increased stepwise by 0.2 m·s-1, starting with 0.4 m·s-1 until the subject’s subjective exhaustion is attained. Time of break-off (fit2dive-time), swimming technique (e.g. range of motion (ROM) of hip and knee joints) and equipment configuration was recorded via a standardized checklist. Subjects with the highest hip and knee flexion had lower fit2dive-times (373 ± 119 s; p<0.01) than those in the normal hip and knee flexion ROM category (448 ± 104 s). Further, divers using full foot fins had significantly higher (p<0.001) fit2dive-times (474 ± 97 s) than divers with adjustable strap fins (375 ± 104 s). The fit2dive test indicates the specific capability of underwater fin swimming. The results allow identifying weak factors such as underwater swimming technique or equipment configuration.
Functional MRI of Auditory Cortex Activated by Multisite Electrical Stimulation of the Cochlea

Electrical stimulation of the ear of deaf patients via cochlear implants offers a unique occasion to study activity of central auditory pathways with fMRI, without bias due to scanner noise. Such measurements, however, require one to control the possible interference between fMRI acquisition and the implanted electrodes. A series of measurements on a customized phantom designed to characterize the level of induced currents during MRI acquisition is presented. These experiments demonstrate that the major artifactual contribution is due to radiofrequency interaction and that safe experimental conditions can be obtained with proper shielding of the stimulation cables. The induced currents could be reduced to low levels (<50 microA for a duration <2 ms), below the acoustic perceptual threshold of cochlear implant subjects. Subsequent fMRI experiments on a patient using an Ineraid cochlear implant were conducted. Results revealed bilateral localized activation of the primary auditory cortex. Stimulation of two different intracochlear electrodes elicited activity in two neighboring, but different, regions, in agreement with the known tonotopical organization of the auditory cortex. This work paves the way for fMRI studies of a broad selection of auditory paradigms without interference from unwanted noise.
On the scalar curvature of Einstein manifolds

We show that there are high-dimensional smooth compact manifolds which admit pairs of Einstein metrics for which the scalar curvatures have oppo- site signs. These are counter-examples to a conjecture considered by Besse (6, p. 19). The proof hinges on showing that the Barlow surface has small deformations with ample canonical line bundle.
The Relationship Between Increased Epicardial Fat Thickness and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Patients With Nonfunctional Adrenal Incidentaloma

Background Emerging evidences indicate that patients diagnosed with Adrenal Incidentaloma (AI) may present cardiovascular complications. Epicardial fat thickness (EFT) has recently been described as a new risk factor and an active player in metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Objectives We aimed to evaluate the relationship between EFT and left ventricular hypertrophy and carotid intima-media thickness, which are both strong predictors of cardiovascular morbity and mortality, in patients with nonfunctioning AI. Patients and Methods We evaluated 51 patients (36 females and 15 males) diagnosed with AI and 35 (29 females, 6 males) age, gender and body mass index (BMI) matched healthy controls in terms of cardiovascular risk parameters. Epicardial fat was identified as the echo-free space between the outer wall of the myocardium and the visceral layer of the pericardium. Results Epicardial fat thickness was significantly higher in patients with AI when compared to the control group (0.89 ± 0.32 cm vs. 0.74 ± 0.26 cm; P = 0.023). left ventricular (LV) mass index and median carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) were also higher in subjects with AI than in controls (99.8 g/m2 vs. 86.9 g/m2; P = 0.024 and 7.5 mm (5.5 - 11.5) vs. 6.5 mm (4.5 - 9.5); P = 0.017). There was a positive correlation between EFT, LV mass index, EFT and CIMT (r = 0.315, P = 0.004; r = 0.363, P < 0.001; respectively). Conclusions In this study we showed that EFT, measured by echocardiography is higher in subjects with AI when compared to healthy controls. epicardial fat thickness had the best independent correlation with AI in multiple logistic regression analysis. Incidentaloma is also associated with increased left ventricular mass index and CIMT. Adrenal incidentaloma patients may show early cardiac changes, such as increased left ventricular mass and increased CIMT.
Perceptual salience and the processing of subject-verb agreement in 9–11-year-old English-speaking children: Evidence from ERPs

ABSTRACT Recent ERP research with adults has shown that the online processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement violations is mediated by the relative perceptual salience of the violation (Dube et al. 2016). These findings corroborate infant perception research, which has also shown that perceptual salience influences infants’ sensitivity to grammatical violations (Sundara, Demuth & Kuhl 2011). This raises the possibility that similar effects may manifest in school-aged children. To investigate this possibility, we recorded ERPs while 9–11-year-old English-speaking children (n = 24) listened to sentences with grammatical versus ungrammatical subject-verb agreement (i.e., third-person singular). Ungrammatical verbs differed in their relative perceptual salience due to the overtness of the error—errors of commission (i.e., superfluous -s) versus errors of omission (i.e., absent -s), and the position of the violation—utterance-medial versus utterance-final. Overall, the violations elicited an N400 effect, indicating that children were sensitive to the grammaticality differences. However, this effect was only significant for errors of commission, and utterance-position did not play a role. These results differ from those of adults, where both errors of omission and commission elicited a P600 effect, which was larger in utterance final position. These findings suggest that the relative perceptual salience of the grammatical violation influences the processing of S-V agreement in both children and adults, but the processing strategies differ, with children relying more on local, shallow processing rather than global, deep processing.
Effects of Saikokaryukotsuboreito on Spermatogenesis and Fertility in Aging Male Mice

Background:Aspermia caused by exogenous testosterone limit its usage in late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) patients desiring fertility. Saikokaryukotsuboreito (SKRBT) is reported to improve serum testosterone and relieve LOH-related symptoms. However, it is unclear whether SKRBT affects fertility. We aimed to examine the effects of SKRBT on spermatogenesis and fertility in aging male mice. Methods:Thirty aging male mice were randomly assigned to three groups. Mice were orally administered with phosphate-buffer solution or SKRBT (300 mg/kg, daily) or received testosterone by subcutaneous injections (10 mg/kg, every 3 days). Thirty days later, each male mouse was mated with two female mice. All animals were sacrificed at the end of 90 days. Intratesticular testosterone (ITT) levels, quality of sperm, expression of synaptonemal complex protein 3 (SYCP3), and fertility were assayed. Results:In the SKRBT-treated group, ITT, quality of sperm, and expression of SYCP3 were all improved compared with the control group (ITT: 85.50 ± 12.31 ng/g vs. 74.10 ± 11.45 ng/g, P = 0.027; sperm number: [14.94 ± 4.63] × 106 cells/ml vs. [8.79 ± 4.38] × 106 cells/ml, P = 0.002; sperm motility: 43.16 ± 9.93% vs. 33.51 ± 6.98%, P = 0.015; the number of SYCP3-positive cells/tubule: 77.50 ± 11.01 ng/ml vs. 49.30 ± 8.73 ng/ml, P < 0.001; the expression of SYCP3 protein: 1.23 ± 0.09 vs. 0.84 ± 0.10, P < 0.001), but fertility was not significantly changed (P > 0.05, respectively). In the testosterone-treated group, ITT, quality of sperm, and expression of SYCP3 were markedly lower than the control group (ITT: 59.00 ± 8.67, P = 0.005; sperm number: [4.34 ± 2.45] × 106 cells/ml, P = 0.018; sperm motility: 19.53 ± 7.69%, P = 0.001; the number of SYCP3-positive cells/tubule: 30.00 ± 11.28, P < 0.001; the percentage of SYCP3-positive tubules/section 71.98 ± 8.88%, P = 0.001; the expression of SYCP3 protein: 0.71 ± 0.09, P < 0.001), and fertility was also suppressed (P < 0.05, respectively). Conclusion:SKRBT had no adverse effect on fertility potential in aging male mice.
Emotional States Modulate the Recognition Potential during Word Processing

This study examined emotional modulation of word processing, showing that the recognition potential (RP), an ERP index of word recognition, could be modulated by different emotional states. In the experiment, participants were instructed to compete with pseudo-competitors, and via manipulation of the outcome of this competition, they were situated in neutral, highly positive, slightly positive, highly negative or slightly negative emotional states. They were subsequently asked to judge whether the referent of a word following a series of meaningless character segmentations was an animal or not. The emotional induction task and the word recognition task were alternated. Results showed that 1) compared with the neutral emotion condition, the peak latency of the RP under different emotional states was earlier and its mean amplitude was smaller, 2) there was no significant difference between RPs elicited under positive and negative emotional states in either the mean amplitude or latency, and 3) the RP was not affected by different degrees of positive emotional states. However, compared to slightly negative emotional states, the mean amplitude of the RP was smaller and its latency was shorter in highly negative emotional states over the left hemisphere but not over the right hemisphere. The results suggest that emotional states influence word processing.
Implicitly-trained channel estimation and equalization with zero mean input data packets

Implicit training (IT) channel estimation adds a periodic training sequence to each input data block/packet, so that no bandwidth is lost (as in a traditionally trained scenario). While the input data is usually assumed to be zero mean, each data packet will have a deterministic mean, which is itself a random variable. In this paper we show that by removing this nonzero mean for each input packet before transmission and then employing the IT method, we improve the channel estimate, when compared to the normal IT approach. In addition, if we then implement a MMSE equalizer (based upon the improved channel estimate), the BER is also improved (even with nonzero mean removal of each packet) when compared to MMSE equalization based on the traditional IT channel estimation.
Early and late urodynamic assessment of the orthotopic N-shaped neobladder

The present study aimed to report the urodynamic data from 46 male patients who underwent an orthotopic N-shaped neobladder replacement following a radical cystectomy during a 12-month period and to provide urodynamic evidence for the improvement of this technique. A total of 46 consecutive male patients underwent a radical cystectomy and orthotopic N-shaped neobladder substitution due to muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Uroflowmetry, cystometry and urethral pressure profilometry were analyzed at 3–12 months following the surgery. The mean pressure of the neobladders was <15 cm H2O at volumes of <400 ml and 22.4 cm H2O at 100% capacity at 6 months. The mean pressure of the contractions was <40 cm H2O at 6 months. The mean filling pressure following the surgery at 3 months was higher compared with that at 6 months. No difference was observed at the other time-points. When comparing the 9- and 12-month urodynamic characteristics, no significant changes were observed in the cystometric capacity. The mean post-void residual (PVR) urine volume was 58 ml. A mean voiding peak of 16.2 ml/sec was obtained using the Valsalva maneuver. The daytime continence rate was 90% at 12 months while the night-time continence rate was 60%.
Comparison of the Hardware Implementation of Stream Ciphers

In this paper, the hardware implementations of five representative stream ciphers are compared in terms of performance and consumed area in an FPGA device. The ciphers used for the comparison are the A5/1, W7, E0, RC4 and Helix. The first three ones have been used for the security part of well-known standards, especially wireless communication protocols. The Helix cipher is a recently introduced fast, word oriented, stream cipher. W7 algorithm has been recently proposed as a more trustworthy solution for GSM, due to the security problems concerning A5/1. The designs were implemented using VHDL language. For the hardware implementation of the designs, an FPGA device was used. The implementation results illustrate the hardware performance of each stream cipher in terms of throughput-to-area ratio. This ratio equals to: 5.88 for the A5/1, 1.26 for the W7, 0.21 for the E0, 2.45 for the Helix and 0.86 for the RC4.
Agency detection in predictive minds: a virtual reality study

ABSTRACT Since its inception, explaining the cognitive foundations governing sensory experiences of supernatural agents has been a central topic in the cognitive science of religion. Following recent developments in perceptual psychology, this pre-registered study examines the effects of expectations and sensory reliability on agency detection. Participants were instructed to detect beings in a virtual forest. Results reveal that participants expecting a high probability of encountering an agent in the forest are much more likely to make false detections than participants expecting a low probability of such encounters. Furthermore, low sensory reliability increases the false detection rate compared to high sensory reliability, but this effect is much smaller than the effect of expectations. While previous accounts of agency detection have speculated that false detections of agents may give rise to or strengthen religious beliefs, our results suggest that the reverse direction of causality may also be true. Religious teachings may first produce expectations in believers, which in turn elicit false detections of agents. These experiences may subsequently work to confirm the teachings and narratives upon which the values of a given culture are built.
Developmental changes in burnout perceptions among student-athletes: An achievement goal perspective

This study examined (a) the developmental trajectories of student-athlete burnout perceptions and (b) the within-person relationship between achievement goals and burnout perceptions. A three-year and six-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 78 student-athletes (30 young women and 48 young men, Mage at T1 = 12.7 years, SD = 0.44), attending a sport compulsory school. The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire were used. The results from multilevel growth models revealed that burnout perceptions increased for this age group over the three-year period. Furthermore, task orientation was significantly and negatively related to a reduced sense of accomplishment and sport devaluation. The results from this study underline the advantage of considering developmental processes when studying burnout. Furthermore, by focusing on the within-person effect of achievement goals, this study provides findings that support a motivational approach to the longitudinally study of burnout propensity among young student-athletes. The current study suggests that sport school staff should be aware of their student-athletes’ burnout perceptions and that these could change over time. Results also highlights that task-oriented goals might help decrease burnout perceptions, specifically reduced sense of accomplishment and sport devaluation.