Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF MECHANICAL VIBRATION ON POWER OUTPUT IN THE BENCH PRESS

This study was designed to investigate the effect of mechanical vibration on acute power output in the bench press exercise. Ten male subjects who were experienced in resistance training participated in this study. Each subject performed 3 sets of 3 repetitions in the bench press exercise using a load equal to 70% of 1 repetition maximum in each of 2 sessions separated by 3 days. One session served as the experimental (vibration) condition, whereas the other session served as the control (no vibration) condition. The intervention (vibration or control) was applied between sets 2 and 3. The vibration was applied by a vibrating barbell apparatus held by the subjects while lying supine on a bench. The only difference between the 2 conditions was the vibration of the barbell apparatus during the vibration condition. Peak and average power were calculated during each bench press set to determine whether power output differed following vibration compared to control. Average power was significantly higher for the vibration condition compared to the control (525 ± 74 vs. 499 ± 71 W; p = 0.01). There was also a trend toward an increase in peak power in the vibration condition (846 ± 168 by vs. 799 ± 149 W; p = 0.06). In general, peak and average power output were higher following the vibration intervention compared to control. However, the sets prior to vibration application during the vibration condition also demonstrated higher power outputs compared with the control condition, which contributed to the main effect for the vibration condition. These results suggest that factors other than the vibration intervention influenced task performance during the vibration condition. We suggest that psychological factors related to the novelty of the vibration intervention were involved. These factors may partially explain the conflicting results of previous investigations that examined vibration as an exercise intervention.
Hydrodynamical non-radiative accretion flows in two dimensions

Two-dimensional (axially symmetric) numerical hydrodynamical calculations of accretion flows that cannot cool through emission of radiation are presented. The calculations begin from an equilibrium configuration consisting of a thick torus with constant specific angular momentum. Accretion is induced by the addition of a small anomalous azimuthal shear stress which is characterized by a function ν. We study the flows generated as the amplitude and form of ν are varied. A spherical polar grid which spans more than two orders of magnitude in radius is used to resolve the flow over a wide range of spatial scales. We find that convection in the inner regions produces significant outward mass motions that carry away both the energy liberated by and a large fraction of the mass participating in the accretion flow. Although the instantaneous structure of the flow is complex and dominated by convective eddies, long-time averages of the dynamical variables show remarkable correspondence to certain steady-state solutions. The two-dimensional structure of the time-averaged flow is marginally stable to the Hoiland criterion, indicating that convection is efficient. Near the equatorial plane, the radial profiles of the time-averaged variables are power laws with an index that depends on the radial scaling of the shear stress. A stress in which ν∝r1/2 recovers the widely studied self-similar solution corresponding to an ‘α-disc’. We find that, regardless of the adiabatic index of the gas, or the form or magnitude of the shear stress, the mass inflow rate is a strongly increasing function of radius, and is everywhere nearly exactly balanced by mass outflow. The net mass accretion rate through the disc is only a fraction of the rate at which mass is supplied to the inflow at large radii, and is given by the local, viscous accretion rate associated with the flow properties near the central object.
Thinking of mental and other representations: The roles of left and right temporo-parietal junction

Abstract Adopting new versions of the false belief and “false” photo vignettes used by Saxe & Kanwisher (2003) we were able to show activation in all five areas previously reported. Activations by added false sign and temporal change control vignettes in these areas showed that the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ-R) is specifically associated with processing mental states like belief. In contrast, TPJ-L was also activated by false signs suggesting an association with processing perspective differences for mental and non-mental objects in line with work on visual perspective tasks. A similar, but less clearly interpretable pattern of activations was also found in the middle temporal gyrus, precuneus and in the MPFC. These results are discussed in relation to findings in normal development where false belief and false sign tasks associate more strongly with each other than does each of them with the “false” photo task.
Matrix Factorization using Window Sampling and Negative Sampling for Improved Word Representations

In this paper, we propose LexVec, a new method for generating distributed word representations that uses low-rank, weighted factorization of the Positive Point-wise Mutual Information matrix via stochastic gradient descent, employing a weighting scheme that assigns heavier penalties for errors on frequent co-occurrences while still accounting for negative co-occurrence. Evaluation on word similarity and analogy tasks shows that LexVec matches and often outperforms state-of-the-art methods on many of these tasks.
Medical Portals: Web-based access to medical information

Public portals, such as Web search engines, have been available for a number of years and corporate portals that facilitate access to enterprise information within a company, normally through the Web, have been available for the last few years. Such portals are made up of "channels" of information and the purpose of these portals is to provide an interface that presents an organized view of the data to which the user has access, i.e., a straightforward means of access to this data. Both public and corporate portals provide access to potentially vast amounts of complex, distributed information through a Web browser. The infrastructures are based on Web technologies and the common interface is the Web browser. Medical information is vast, complex and distributed. Similar to corporate and public portals, medical portals can provide the medical community with access to medical information through the Web browser. Appropriate portals and channels within those portals can be defined to provide access from the desk of the physician, the hospital administrator, the insurer or the consumer of health services. This paper discusses medical portals that can provide such Web-based access to medical information and describes a three-tier Web architecture to support such access.
Validation of a health literacy screening tool (REALM) in a UK population with coronary heart disease.

BACKGROUND Health literacy (HL) has been recognized as an important public health issue in other developed countries such as the US. There is currently no HL screening tool valid for use in the UK. This study aimed to validate a US-developed HL screening tool (the Rapid Estimate for Adult Literacy in Medicine; REALM) for use in the UK against the UK's general literacy screening tool (the Basic Skills Agency Initial Assessment Test, BSAIT). METHODS A cross-sectional survey involving 300 adult patients admitted to hospital for investigation of coronary heart disease were given the REALM and BSAIT tools to complete as well as specific questions considered likely to predict HL. These questions relate to the difficulty in understanding medical information, medical forms or instructions on tablets, frequency of reading books and whether the participant's job involves reading. RESULTS The REALM was significantly correlated with the BSAIT (r = 0.70; P < 0.001), and significantly related to seven of the eight questions likely to be predictive of HL. CONCLUSIONS This study has shown that the REALM has face, criterion and construct validity for use as an HL screening tool in the UK, in research and in everyday clinical practice. Further studies are needed to assess the prevalence of low HL in a wider population and to explore the links that may exist between low HL and poor health in the UK.
PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY AND HETEROCHRONY IN CICHLASOMA MANAGUENSE (PISCES, CICHLIDAE) AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIATION IN CICHLID FISHES

Cichlid fishes in African rift lakes have undergone rapid speciation, resulting in “species flocks” with more than 300 endemic species in some of the lakes. Most researchers assume that there is little phenotypic variation in cichlid fishes. I report here extensive phenotypic plasticity in a Neotropical cichlid species. I examined the influence of diet on trophic morphology during ontogeny in Cichlasoma managuense. Two groups of full siblings were fed two different diets for eight months after the onset of feeding; thereafter both groups were fed a common diet. Phenotypes that differed significantly at 8.5 months converged almost completely at 16.5 months. If feeding on two different diets is continued after 8.5 months, the phenotypes remain distinct. Differences in diet and possibly in feeding mode are believed to have caused these phenotypic changes. Phenotypic plasticity is described in terms of a qualitative model of heterochrony in which phenotypic change in morphology is explained as retardation of the normal developmental rate. If phenotypic expression of morphology is equally plastic in African cichlid species as it may be in the American cichlids, as exemplified by C. managuense, then taxonomic, ecological, and evolutionary analyses of “species flocks” may be in need of revision. However, Old World cichlids may be less phenotypically plastic than New World cichlids, and this may contribute to the observed differences in speciation rate and degree of endemism.
Effective Connectivity from Early Visual Cortex to Posterior Occipitotemporal Face Areas Supports Face Selectivity and Predicts Developmental Prosopagnosia

Face processing is mediated by interactions between functional areas in the occipital and temporal lobe, and the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior temporal lobe play key roles in the recognition of facial identity. Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP), a lifelong face recognition impairment, have been shown to have structural and functional neuronal alterations in these areas. The present study investigated how face selectivity is generated in participants with normal face processing, and how functional abnormalities associated with DP, arise as a function of network connectivity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and dynamic causal modeling, we examined effective connectivity in normal participants by assessing network models that include early visual cortex (EVC) and face-selective areas and then investigated the integrity of this connectivity in participants with DP. Results showed that a feedforward architecture from EVC to the occipital face area, EVC to FFA, and EVC to posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) best explained how face selectivity arises in both controls and participants with DP. In this architecture, the DP group showed reduced connection strengths on feedforward connections carrying face information from EVC to FFA and EVC to pSTS. These altered network dynamics in DP contribute to the diminished face selectivity in the posterior occipitotemporal areas affected in DP. These findings suggest a novel view on the relevance of feedforward projection from EVC to posterior occipitotemporal face areas in generating cortical face selectivity and differences in face recognition ability. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Areas of the human brain showing enhanced activation to faces compared to other objects or places have been extensively studied. However, the factors leading to this face selectively have remained mostly unknown. We show that effective connectivity from early visual cortex to posterior occipitotemporal face areas gives rise to face selectivity. Furthermore, people with developmental prosopagnosia, a lifelong face recognition impairment, have reduced face selectivity in the posterior occipitotemporal face areas and left anterior temporal lobe. We show that this reduced face selectivity can be predicted by effective connectivity from early visual cortex to posterior occipitotemporal face areas. This study presents the first network-based account of how face selectivity arises in the human brain.
Doppler ultrasonographic assessment of major salivary glands in Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in correlation with salivary quantity and serum magnesium levels – A cross-sectional study

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial genetic disorder, and studies have found that it affects the salivary gland function and levels of micronutrients. Objective: Objective of the study was to assess the Doppler ultrasonographic (USG) changes of major salivary glands in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and to correlate it with the quantity of salivary secretion and serum magnesium levels. Methods: A total of 90 patients diagnosed with Type II diabetes mellitus were categorized into three groups of 30 each, namely, Group A (well controlled), Group B (moderately controlled), and Group C (poorly controlled) based on the HbA1c levels and 30 normal individuals were included as controls. Doppler ultrasonography was used to assess the horizontal and vertical dimensions and vascularity of major salivary glands. The measurements were compared with salivary quantity and serum magnesium levels. Results: The mean vertical and horizontal dimensions of parotid glands were 4.1 ± 0.3, 4.2 ± 0.3 cm (Group A), 4.4 ± 0.4, 4 ± 0.5 cm (Group B), 4.7 ± 0.5, 4 ± 0.5 cm (Group C), respectively, and 3.1 ± 0.3, 2.9 ±0.3 cm in controls. The range of mean value of submandibular gland was 2.5 ± 0.3 2.6 ± 0.3 cm (Group A), 2.9 ± 0.3, 2.9 ± 0.3 cm (Group B), and 3 ± 0.1*2.9 ± 0.2 cm (Group C) while 2.7 ± 0.1, 2.5 ± 0.1 cm in controls which was highly significant with P value of < 0.01. The mean values of salivary flow in Groups A, B, C were 0.35 ± 0.15, 0.37 ± 0.16, and 0.2 ± 0.12, respectively, and that of controls were 0.38 ± 0.15 ml/min. Magnesium levels were 1.83 ± 0.3 mg/dl, 1.25 ± 0.32 mg/dl, and 1.13 ± 0.37 mg/dl in Groups A, B, C, respectively, and that of controls were 1.83 ± 0.3 mg/dl. Serum magnesium and salivary flow had highly significant correlation values with ultrasonographic changes in Group C compared with Groups A and B. Conclusion: To conclude, increased HbA1c levels were associated with increased USG measurements of major salivary glands and decreased levels of serum magnesium and salivary flow.
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Dynamic Real-time Architecture in Magnetic Resonance Coronary Angiography—a Prospective Clinical Trial

Objectives: A dynamic real-time (dRT) architecture has been developed to address limitations in magnetic resonance coronary angiography (MRCA). A prospective clinical trial of 45 patients suspected of coronary artery disease was conducted to determine clinical utility of this integrated real-time system. Background: Clinical implementation of MRCA is not performed routinely today. However, improved anatomic coverage, image quality, and scan flexibility may enhance its clinical utility. A novel real-time architecture addresses these challenges through instantaneous reconfiguration between real-time (RT) and high-resolution (HR) imaging sequences with dynamic selection of the desired element on a custom-designed receiver coil. Methods: A total of 45 subjects were recruited consecutively to evaluate scan time, anatomic coverage, image quality, and detection of coronary lesions. Using a modern PC, the dRT switches from RT to gated HR imaging sequence in one repetition time (39 ms). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning was performed using a custom-designed coronary coil consisting of two four-inch phase-array circular elements enabled with real-time selection of the desired coil element. Results: All studies were completed in less than 45 minutes and required a mean of 12 breath holds (16 heartbeats). Of the total number of coronary segments, 91% (357/394) were visualized. Excellent or good image quality was achieved in 86% of the segments. Blinded analysis of the coronary arteries revealed sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 88% in the detection of coronary stenoses. Conclusions: The integrated environment of dRT provides a rapid and flexible scan protocol for MRCA while achieving wide anatomical coverage, high image quality, and reliable detection of coronary stenosis in short scan time.
CARBON-FIBER COMPOSITES

Carbon-fiber reinforcement in plastics makes possible lightweight parts with outstanding strength and rigidity. but until recently, the cost of the fibers and of processing the reinforced parts has limited uses to aerospace components and high-priced sports equipment. These costs are being trimmed, however; some moulding compounds, at the lower end of the performance range, are already selling for well under $10/lb. Here's a look at the various types and forms of fiber available, and how they are combined in plastic matrices.
Effect of Ultrasonic Treatment on the Functional Properties of Whey Protein Isolates

The effect of ultrasonic treatment on some functional properties whey protein isolates (WPIs) was investigated. The water holding capacity of WPIs treated by ultrasound was not significantly changed. The oil holding capacity of WPIs treated by ultrasonic was significantly higher than that by untreated by ultrasonic, especially the power of 50 %. The foaming capacity of WPIs treated by ultrasonic was higher than that by untreated by ultrasonic, while the foaming stability of WPIs treated by ultrasonic was higher than that by untreated by ultrasonic.The emulsifying capacity is almost unchanged. These results showed that ultrasonic treatment could effectively affected some functional properties of WPIs be associated with the sonication time and power density. Therefore, some functional properties of WPIs can be modified by ultrasonic treatment.
Roles of insulin and transferrin in neural progenitor survival and proliferation

Multipotent neural progenitor cells or neural stem cells (NSC) can be propagated in vitro from a variety of sources and have great potential for neural repair. Although it is well known that NSC divide in response to basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF‐2) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), cofactors necessary for survival and maintenance of a multipotent potential are still a matter of debate. In the current study, we examined the requirements for NSC proliferation and survival in vitro using the neurosphere culture system. Apotransferrin (TF), along with EGF and FGF‐2, was sufficient for the formation of primary neurospheres derived from embryonic rat cortices. The addition of low concentrations of insulin or insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1) enhanced neurosphere size and number and was necessary for continued passaging. Both insulin and IGF‐1 acted at low concentrations, suggesting that their effects were mediated by their cognate receptors, both of which were expressed by neurosphere cultures. Sphere‐forming progenitors survived for long periods in culture without EGF or FGF‐2 when either insulin or IGF‐1 was added to the media. Cell cycle analysis determined that surviving progenitors were relatively quiescent during the period without mitogens. Upon the reintroduction of EGF and FGF‐2, surviving progenitors gave rise to new spheres that produced largely glial‐restricted progeny compared with sister cultures. These data indicate that the neurogenic potential of NSC may be intimately linked to a continuous exposure to mitogens. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Low-power H.264/AVC baseline decoder for portable applications

In this paper, we propose a low-power H.264/AVC baseline decoder. A systematic methodology for power reduction at all design levels for video decoding is proposed and applied. Power consumption is optimized at algorithm, architecture, circuit, and physical levels. The VLSI implementation results show that with UMC 180 nm technology, the proposed design is able to decode QCIF 30 fps at 1.5 MHz. It consumes 698 μW operated under 1.8 V power supply. The decoder contains 169 k logic gates and 2.5 KB on-chip SRAM. The total chip area is 4.4 × 4.4 mm2 in a CQFP 208 package. The low-power and real-time features make our design ideal for portable applications where video quality is often traded off for energy.
Rules of engagement for NMDA receptor subunits

Canonical NMDA receptors assemble from two glycine-binding NR1 subunits with two glutamate-binding NR2 subunits to form glutamate-gated excitatory receptors that mediate synaptic transmission and plasticity. The role of glycine-binding NR3 subunits is less clear. Whereas in Xenopus laevis oocytes, two NR3 subunits coassemble with two NR1 subunits to form a glycine-gated receptor, such a receptor has yet to be found in mammalian cells. Meanwhile, NR1, NR2, and NR3 appear to coassemble into triheteromeric receptors in neurons, but it is not clear whether this occurs in oocytes. To test the rules that govern subunit assembly in NMDA receptors, we developed a single-molecule fluorescence colocalization method. The method focuses selectively on the plasma membrane and simultaneously determines the subunit composition of hundreds of individual protein complexes within an optical patch on a live cell. We find that NR1, NR2, and NR3 follow an exclusion rule that yields separate populations of NR1/NR2 and NR1/NR3 receptors on the surface of oocytes. In contrast, coexpression of NR1, NR3A, and NR3B yields triheteromeric receptors with a fixed stoichiometry of two NR1 subunits with one NR3A and one NR3B. At least part of this regulation of subunit stoichiometry appears to be caused by internal retention. Thus, depending on the mixture of subunits, functional receptors on the cell surface may follow either an exclusion rule or a stoichiometric combination rule, providing an important constraint on functional diversity. Cell-to-cell differences in the rules may help sculpt distinct physiological properties.
How Does Type of Orthography Affect Reading in Arabic and Hebrew as First and Second Languages

This study aimed to examine the effects of visual characteristics of Arabic orthography on learning to read compared to Hebrew among Arabic and Hebrew bilinguals in an elementary bilingual education framework. Speed and accuracy measures were examined in reading words and non-words in Arabic and Hebrew as follows: Arabic words and non-words composed of connected and similar letters, words and non-words composed of connected and non-similar letters, and words and non-words composed of unconnected letters. In Hebrew, words and non-words composed of similar letters and non-similar letters. It was found that Arabic speakers showed an almost equal control in all reading tasks in both languages whereas, Hebrew speakers showed better performance in their mother tongue in all reading tasks. In Arabic, the best performance was in reading words and non-words that was unconnected. Based on these findings, it was concluded that Hebrew speakers did not succeed in transferring their good ability in reading their mother tongue to reading the second language, apparently due to the unique nature of the Arabic orthography. Our findings with regard to the cross-linguistic research literature as well as the specific features of Arabic language are discussed.