Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Whole Body Vibration Improves Cognition in Healthy Young Adults

This study investigated the acute effects of passive whole body vibration (WBV) on executive functions in healthy young adults. Participants (112 females, 21 males; age: 20.5±2.2 years) underwent six passive WBV sessions (frequency 30 Hz, amplitude approximately 0.5 mm) and six non-vibration control sessions of two minutes each while sitting on a chair mounted on a vibrating platform. A passive WBV session was alternated with a control session. Directly after each session, performance on the Stroop Color-Block Test (CBT), Stroop Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT), Stroop Difference Score (SDS) and Digit Span Backward task (DSBT) was measured. In half of the passive WBV and control sessions the test order was CBT-CWIT-DSBT, and DSBT-CBT-CWIT in the other half. Passive WBV improved CWIT (p = 0.009; effect size r = 0.20) and SDS (p = 0.034; r = 0.16) performance, but only when the CBT and CWIT preceded the DSBT. CBT and DSBT performance did not change. This study shows that two minutes passive WBV has positive acute effects on attention and inhibition in young adults, notwithstanding their high cognitive functioning which could have hampered improvement. This finding indicates the potential of passive WBV as a cognition-enhancing therapy worth further evaluation, especially in persons unable to perform active forms of exercise.
A behavioral model of unipolar resistive RAMs and its application to HSPICE integration

We propose a behavioral model of unipolar resistive RAMs (ReRAMs). The model integrates three behavioral characteristics of unipolar ReRAMs; i.e., i) ON/OFF resistive switching characteristics for transient voltage pulses, ii) I-V characteristics exhibiting ON/OFF resistive switching with current compliance, and iii) current-compliance dependence of both ON resistance and OFF threshold currents. The model is described by three nonlinear differential equations with several static functions, which enables us to employ the model in any numerical or circuit simulator. As an example, we integrate the model on HSPICE, and show the simulated results using experimental parameters extracted from fabricated ReRAMs of TiO2 thin films.
Fine Structures of Shock of SN 1006 with the Chandra Observation

The north east shell of SN 1006 is the most probable acceleration site of high energy electrons (up to ~ 100 TeV) with the Fermi acceleration mechanism at the shock front. We resolved non-thermal filaments from thermal emission in the shell with the excellent spatial resolution of Chandra. The thermal component is extended widely over about ~ 100 arcsec (about 1 pc at 1.8 kpc distance) in width, consistent with the shock width derived from the Sedov solution. The spectrum is fitted with a thin thermal plasma of kT = 0.24 keV in non-equilibrium ionization (NEI), typical for a young SNR. The non-thermal filaments are likely thin sheets with the scale widths of ~ 4 arcsec (0.04 pc) and ~ 20 arcsec (0.2 pc) at upstream and downstream, respectively. The spectra of the filaments are fitted with a power-law function of index 2.1--2.3, with no significant variation from position to position. In a standard diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) model, the extremely small scale length in upstream requires the magnetic field nearly perpendicular to the shock normal. The injection efficiency (eta) from thermal to non-thermal electrons around the shock front is estimated to be ~ 1e-3 under the assumption that the magnetic field in upstream is 10 micro G. In the filaments, the energy densities of the magnetic field and non-thermal electrons are similar to each other, and both are slightly smaller than that of thermal electrons. in the same order for each other. These results suggest that the acceleration occur in more compact region with larger efficiency than previous studies.
Using Interactive Information Labels to Assist Decision Making Under Uncertainty: The Case for Long-term Saving

Product information labels can help users understand complex information leading them to make better decisions. One area where consumers are particularly prone to make costly decision-making errors is long-term saving, which requires understanding of complex concepts such as uncertainty and trade-offs. While most people are poorly equipped to deal with such concepts, interactive design can potentially help users make better decisions. We developed an interactive information label to assist consumers with retirement saving decision-making. To evaluate it, we exposed 382 users to one of three user interface conditions in a retirement saving simulator where they made 35 yearly decisions under changing circumstances. We found significantly better ability of users to reach their goals with the information label. Furthermore, users who interacted with the label made better decisions than those who were presented with a static information label. Lastly, we found the label particularly effective in helping novice savers.
Does ROI Matter? Insights into the True Business Value of IT

Ever since the introduction of an ‘IT productivity paradox’ by Robert Solow, the business value of information technology (IT) has been the topic of many debates by practitioners as well as by academics. In these discussions a distinction can be made between the variance approach, investigating what the relationship between IT investments and organisational performance is, and the process approach, investigating on how this relationship works. Following the process approach, this paper describes a useful framework for assessing the organisational impact of IT. Secondly the paper considers the relation between IT impact and organisational performance and reviews the IT investment evaluation methods. The paper concludes with a proposal for a multivariable value assessment sheet, based on insights derived from the balanced scorecard theory.
Gene-Activation Mechanisms in the Regression of Atherosclerosis, Elimination of Diabetes Type 2, and Prevention of Dementia

Atherosclerotic vascular disease, diabetes mellitus (DM) and dementia are major global health problems. Both endogenous and exogenous factors activate genes functioning in biological processes. This review article focuses on gene-activation mechanisms that regress atherosclerosis, eliminate DM type 2 (DM2), and prevent cognitive decline and dementia. Gene-activating compounds upregulating functions of liver endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and affecting lipid and protein metabolism, increase ER size through membrane synthesis, and produce an antiatherogenic plasma lipoprotein profile. Numerous gene-activators regress atherosclerosis and reduce the occurrence of atherosclerotic disease. The gene-activators increase glucose disposal rate and insulin sensitivity and, by restoring normal glucose and insulin levels, remove metabolic syndrome and DM2. Patients with DM2 show an improvement of plasma lipoprotein profile and glucose tolerance together with increase in liver phospholipid (PL) and cytochrome (CYP) P450. The gene-activating compounds induce hepatic protein and PL synthesis, and upregulate enzymes including CYPs and glucokinase, nuclear receptors, apolipoproteins and ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporters. They induce reparation of ER structures and eliminate consequences of ER stress. Healthy living habits activate mechanisms that maintain high levels of HDL and apolipoprotein AI, promote health, and prevent cognitive decline and dementia. Agonists of liver X receptor (LXR) reduce amyloid in brain plaques and improve cognitive performance in mouse models of Alzheimer`s disease. The gene activation increases the capacity to withstand cellular stress and to repair cellular damage and increases life span. Life free of major health problems and in good cognitive health promotes well-being and living a long and active life.
The Kinase Function of MSK1 Regulates BDNF Signaling to CREB and Basal Synaptic Transmission, But Is Not Required for Hippocampal Long-Term Potentiation or Spatial Memory

Abstract The later stages of long-term potentiation (LTP) in vitro and spatial memory in vivo are believed to depend upon gene transcription. Accordingly, considerable attempts have been made to identify both the mechanisms by which transcription is regulated and indeed the gene products themselves. Previous studies have shown that deletion of one regulator of transcription, the mitogen- and stress-activated kinase 1 (MSK1), causes an impairment of spatial memory. Given the ability of MSK1 to regulate gene expression via the phosphorylation of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) at serine 133 (S133), MSK1 is a plausible candidate as a prime regulator of transcription underpinning synaptic plasticity and learning and memory. Indeed, prior work has revealed the necessity for MSK1 in homeostatic and experience-dependent synaptic plasticity. However, using a knock-in kinase-dead mouse mutant of MSK1, the current study demonstrates that, while the kinase function of MSK1 is important in regulating the phosphorylation of CREB at S133 and basal synaptic transmission in hippocampal area CA1, it is not required for metabotropic glutamate receptor-dependent long-term depression (mGluR-LTD), two forms of LTP or several forms of spatial learning in the watermaze. These data indicate that other functions of MSK1, such as a structural role for the whole enzyme, may explain previous observations of a role for MSK1 in learning and memory.
Approaches to H.264-based stereoscopic video coding

H.264 is an advanced video compression standard, absorbing the advantages of the previous standards. In this paper, block-based stereoscopic video coding is studied, and some schemes of using H.264 are discussed. The stereoscopic video coding methods based on H.264 and based on H.263+ are also compared by the experiments, experimental results shove that the former is more effective than the latter in compression efficiency and image quality, and the H.264-based stereoscopic video coding scheme with temporal scalability is quite effective.
New technology for noninvasive evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Cardiac computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are emerging as powerful noninvasive imaging tools for the evaluation of atherosclerosis in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Unlike invasive coronary angiography, CT coronary angiography (CTA) not only assesses disease within the coronary lumen but can also provide direct qualitative and quantitative information about nonobstructive atherosclerotic plaque burden within the vessel wall. Thus, it is possible that CTA-based patient evaluation may provide more clinically relevant information on which to base risk assessments compared with conventional “lumenography. ” On the other hand, PET is rapidly growing as a powerful and efficient alternative to conventional single-photon emission CT (SPECT) imaging to evaluate regional myocardial perfusion and metabolism in patients with CAD. In addition, PET scanners are now being converted to hybrid PET/CT devices, which, in the setting of CAD, offer the potential for a comprehensive noninvasive cardiac evaluation of anatomy and function. This review will discuss current and potential future applications of cardiovascular CT, PET, and hybrid PET/CT, with a particular focus on ischemic heart disease. The information provided by noninvasive imaging generally falls into 1 of 3 categories: myocardial perfusion, left ventricular (LV) function, or coronary artery anatomy. The clinical utility, value, and role of a noninvasive modality are based on 2 test characteristics: What type of information is provided (eg, stress perfusion, stress and/or rest LV function, coronary anatomy), and what is the accuracy of the information provided. For example, SPECT and PET both provide stress and rest perfusion information, but the latter will be a superior clinical tool if the imaging data better represent the actual defect size and are subject to less artifact. The advantage of PET over SPECT will be further enhanced, as will be discussed later, if it provides additional clinically relevant information not …
Human flora‐associated rodents – does the data support the assumptions?

There is little direct literature detailing exhaustive bacteriological studies comparing human donor faecal flora, human flora‐associated (HFA) mouse models and conventional rodent faecal flora. While there is a premise that the implanted donor faecal flora from humans is established in the rodent model the evidence is incomplete and indeed for groups such as Bifidobacterium spp. it is lacking. The reviewed bacteriology studies are generally lacking in detail with the exception of one study from which the data have mostly been overlooked when cited by other workers. While there are studies that suggest that the HFA rodent model is more relevant to man than studies with conventional rodents, the hypothesis remains to be proven. This review concludes that the established microbial flora in the HFA rodent model is different to that of donor human faecal flora, and this clearly raises the question as to whether this matters, after all a model is a model and as such models can be useful even should they fail to be a true representation of, in this case, the gastrointestinal tract. What matters is that there is a proper understanding of the limitations of the model as we attempt to unravel the significance of the components of the gastrointestinal flora in health and disease; examples of why such an analysis is important are provided with regard to obesity and nutritional studies. The data do unsurprisingly suggest that diet is an extremely influential variable when interpreting HFA and conventional rodent data. The microbiology data from direct bacteriology and indirect enzyme studies show that the established microbial flora in the HFA rodent model is different to that of donor human faecal flora. The significance of this conclusion remains to be established.
An Approach for Conducting Actionable Research With Extreme Teams

Extreme teams complete their tasks in unconventional performance environments and have serious consequences associated with failure. Examples include disaster relief teams, special operations teams, and astronaut crews. The unconventional performance environments within which these teams operate require researchers to carefully consider the context during the research process. These environments may also create formidable challenges to the research process, including constraining data collection and sample sizes. Given the serious consequences associated with failure, however, the challenges must be navigated so that the management of extreme teams can be evidence based. We present an approach for conducting actionable research on extreme teams. Our approach is an extension of mixed-methods research that is particularly well suited for emphasizing context. The approach guides researchers on how to integrate the local context into the research process, which allows for actionable recommendations. At the same time, our approach applies an intentionally broad framework for organizing context, which can serve as a mechanism through which the results of research on extreme teams can be meaningfully accumulated and integrated across teams. Finally, our approach and description of steps address the unique challenges common in extreme-team research. While developed with extreme teams in mind, we view our general approach as applicable to more traditional teams when the features of the context that impinge on team functioning are not adequately represented by typical descriptions of context in the literature and the goal is actionable research for the teams in question.
On the nature of commits

Information contained in versioning system commits has been frequently used to support software evolution research. Concomitantly, some researchers have tried to relate commits to certain activities, e.g., large commits are more likely to be originated from code management activities, while small ones are related to development activities. However, these characterizations are vague, because there is no consistent definition of what is a small or a large commit. In this paper, we study the nature of commits in two dimensions. First, we define the size of commits in terms of number of files, and then we classify commits based on the content of their comments. To perform this study, we use the history log of nine large open source projects.
An Amplification Mechanism in a Model of Energy

This paper investigates a propagation mechanism of the energy price shock in a model where capital utilization is associated with costly energy consumption. Endogenous depreciation is an important element of the model, as it has been shown to produce a significant negative effect of energy prices on output. I show that the amplifying effect of endogenous depreciation is determined by the choice of the functional form and calibration strategy for the energy cost function. My estimates of the energy cost function allow to conclude that the energy price shock has only a moderate effect on output in this model, while endogenous depreciation mitigates rather than amplifies the effect of the energy price shock.
An Approximate Wavelet MLE of Short- and Long-Memory Parameters

By design a wavelet's strength rests in its ability to localize a process simultaneously in time-scalespace. The wavelet's ability to localize a time series in time-scale space directly leads to the computationalefficiency of the wavelet representation of a N £ N matrix operator by allowing the N largest elements of thewavelet represented operator to represent the matrix operator [Devore, et al. (1992a) and (1992b)]. Thisproperty allows many dense matrices to have sparse representation when transformed by wavelets.In this paper we generalize the long-memory parameter estimator of McCoy and Walden (1996) to estimatesimultaneously the short and long-memory parameters. Using the sparse wavelet representation of a matrixoperator, we are able to approximate an ARFIMA model's likelihood function with the series' wavelet coefficientsand their variances. Maximization of this approximate likelihood function over the short and long-memoryparameter space results in the approximate wavelet maximum likelihood estimates of the ARFIMA model.By simultaneously maximizing the likelihood function over both the short and long-memory parameters andusing only the wavelet coefficient's variances, the approximate wavelet MLE provides a fast alternative to thefrequency-domain MLE. Furthermore, the simulation studies found herein reveal the approximate wavelet MLEto be robust over the invertible parameter region of the ARFIMA model's moving average parameter, whereas thefrequency-domain MLE dramatically deteriorates as the moving average parameter approaches the boundariesof invertibility.
Clinical Hypnosis and Neurofeedback

14 Hypnosis and neurofeedback each provide unique therapeutic strengths and opportunities. This paper reviews some outcome literature in clinical hypnosis, and then presents suggestions to guide therapists in choosing hypnosis versus neurofeedback as the initial intervention of choice. expressed the belief that with regard to peripheral biofeedback, individuals who were low in hypnotic susceptibility responded better to biofeedback, whereas individuals who were very responsive to hypnosis did better in treatment that utilized hypnosis. When one actually reviews the literature in this area there are both supportive and non-supportive studies for this hypothesis, but whether true or not, clinical hypnosis and neurofeedback (as well as other types of biofeedback) each offer unique ways in which we can influence symptoms and mind-body interactions. Having skills in the use of both therapeutic modalities can be invaluable. I have far less clinical experience in working with peripheral biofeed-back, and therefore am restricting my comments to a discussion of neurofeedback and hypnosis. There are some areas where hypnosis has excellent research validation, but there are also areas where we currently do not have research support for neurofeedback. Hypnosis provides a valuable self-management technique that has proven more effective than medication for control of irritable bowel syndrome (Palsson, 2005; Tan & Hammond, 2005). Another area of strong research support for hypnosis is with chronic and acute pain. As I have reviewed the voluminous literature on hypnosis and pain, I have come to believe that hypnosis (and autogenic training, which is simply a structured German form of self-hypnosis) is the most effective nonsurgical, nonmedication treatment for pain. Willmarth (2005) reviews some of this literature, and I have provided a partial overview as well.
Calculating and Reporting Estimates of Effect Size in Counseling Outcome Research

The reporting effect sizes (ESs) and confidence intervals (CIs) of ESs has become recommended practice in the social sciences; however, these values are frequently omitted by authors in manuscripts submitted forPUBLICation. Consequently, the meaningfulness and clinical relevance of their findings go unaddressed. As a result, a growing number of scholarly journals now require researchers to incorporate findings of clinical significance in their reporting of results. In this article, we review the most common conventions used for estimating and reporting ESs and CIs of ESs and illustrate how researchers can compute and interpret these measures of practical significance.
High-Frequency Oscillations and Their Importance in Epilepsy

High-frequency oscillations are changes in electrical potentials in the EEG in frequencies above 80 Hz. In recent years it was discovered that these oscillations have great importance both in physiologic processes and as an expression of epileptogenic areas in the cerebral cortex. The measurement of these oscillations via depth-electrodes during pre-surgical evaluation of epilepsy patients has been proven to be an important tool in improving the ability to delineate exactly the area which should be resected, in case such an operation is feasible. New technical developments enable the acquisition of high-frequency oscillations from scalp electrodes as well, which could have great importance in brain research and care of epilepsy patients in the future.
A Chronological Atlas of Natural Selection in the Human Genome during the Past Half-million Years

The spatiotemporal distribution of recent human adaptation is a long standing question. We developed a new coalescent-based method that collectively assigned human genome regions to modes of neutrality or to positive, negative, or balancing selection. Most importantly, the selection times were estimated for all positive selection signals, which ranged over the last half million years, penetrating the emergence of anatomically modern human (AMH). These selection time estimates were further supported by analyses of the genome sequences from three ancient AMHs and the Neanderthals. A series of brain function-related genes were found to carry signals of ancient selective sweeps, which may have defined the evolution of cognitive abilities either before Neanderthal divergence or during the emergence of AMH. Particularly, signals of brain evolution in AMH are strongly related to Alzheimer’s disease pathways. In conclusion, this study reports a chronological atlas of natural selection in Human.
Miniaturized EBG hairpin resonators for dual band applications

In this work, we introduce the compact reconfigurable planar corrugations and thereby demonstrating the variations in the electrical length of the resonators to achieve miniaturization in the design. The resonators are planar microstrip corrugation with modified geometrical structures, so that they resemble a hairpin resonator in shape. The proposed designs are made more cost efficient and also taking advantage of the structural geometry they show dual stop-band behavior. The simulations are performed on Ansoft HFSS 15 software.