Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term consequences of nicotine exposure during adolescence: synaptic plasticity in rodent and human cortical neuronal networks

Front cover: " The face of addiction " reconstrucion of a human pyramidal neuron overlaid over acryl paint on paper (painted by the author). Nicotine addiction during adolescence leaves a permanent trace in neuronal networks. How nicotine during adolescence changes prefrontal function is the main subject of my thesis. Chapter 1 General Introduction 7 Chapter 2 Adolescent nicotine exposure transiently increases 29 high-affinity nicotinic receptors and modulates inhibitory synaptic transmission in rat mPFC Chapter 3 Lasting synaptic changes underlie attention deficits 45 caused by nicotine exposure during adolescence Chapter 4 Nicotine exposure during adolescence alters 6 9 spike-timing-dependent plasticity in adult rat prefrontal cortex Chapter 5 Spike timing-dependent plasticity at adult human 83 neocortical synapses
Physical Heterogeneity Increases Biofilm Resource Use and Its Molecular Diversity in Stream Mesocosms

Background Evidence increasingly shows that stream ecosystems greatly contribute to global carbon fluxes. This involves a tight coupling between biofilms, the dominant form of microbial life in streams, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a very significant pool of organic carbon on Earth. Yet, the interactions between microbial biodiversity and the molecular diversity of resource use are poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings Using six 40-m-long streamside flumes, we created a gradient of streambed landscapes with increasing spatial flow heterogeneity to assess how physical heterogeneity, inherent to streams, affects biofilm diversity and DOC use. We determined bacterial biodiversity in all six landscapes using 16S-rRNA fingerprinting and measured carbon uptake from glucose and DOC experimentally injected to all six flumes. The diversity of DOC molecules removed from the water was determined from ultrahigh-resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS). Bacterial beta diversity, glucose and DOC uptake, and the molecular diversity of DOC use all increased with increasing flow heterogeneity. Causal modeling and path analyses of the experimental data revealed that the uptake of glucose was largely driven by physical processes related to flow heterogeneity, whereas biodiversity effects, such as complementarity, most likely contributed to the enhanced uptake of putatively recalcitrant DOC compounds in the streambeds with higher flow heterogeneity. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest biophysical mechanisms, including hydrodynamics and microbial complementarity effects, through which physical heterogeneity induces changes of resource use and carbon fluxes in streams. These findings highlight the importance of fine-scale streambed heterogeneity for microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in streams, where homogenization and loss of habitats increasingly reduce biodiversity.
Clearing Restarting Automata and Grammatical Inference

Clearing and subword-clearing restarting automata are linguistically motivated models of automata. We investigate the problem of grammatical inference for such automata based on the given set of positive and negative samples. We show that it is possible to identify these models in the limit. In this way we can learn a large class of languages. On the other hand, we prove that the task of nding a clearing restarting automaton consistent with a given set of positive and negative samples is NP-hard, provided that we impose an upper bound on the width of its instructions.
Toward subtle intimate interfaces for mobile devices using an EMG controller

Using a mobile device in a social context should not cause embarrassment and disruption to the immediate environment. Interaction with mobile and wearable devices needs to be subtle, discreet and unobtrusive. Therefore, we promote the idea of "intimate interfaces": discrete interfaces that allow control of mobile devices through subtle gestures in order to gain social acceptance. To achieve this goal, we present an electromyogram (EMG) based wearable input device which recognizes isometric muscular activity: activity related to very subtle or no movement at all. In the online experiment reported, the EMG device, worn on an armband around the bicep, was able to reliably recognize a motionless gesture without calibration or training across users with different muscle volumes. Hence, EMG-based input devices can provide an effective solution for designing mobile interfaces that are subtle and intimate, and therefore socially acceptable.
THE ROLE OF METACOGNITION WITHIN SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (SAD)

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders and a highly disabling condition. SAD usually develops in early to late teens, with clinical trials highlighting impairments in mental health, general health, vitality and social functioning. Since Wells & Mathews (1994) introduced the metacognitive model, beliefs about thinking have been associated with the development of psychopathologies within clinical trials but, little is known about the contribution of individual differences in metacognition to SAD specifically. In this study a cross sectional design was utilised and opportunity sampling used for acquiring participants in order to assess the contribution of metacognition, a specific form of thinking style and cognition, when measured outside the clinical environment. Participants completed a questionnaire pack and the following hypotheses were tested; metacognition will correlate positively with social anxiety; metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability and danger will be the strongest independent predictor of social anxiety; metacognition will display a role, which is independent of cognition, within social anxiety. Multiple regression analysis was run to test these hypotheses and to determine the best independent metacognitive predictors. The results supported each hypothesis and revealed three metacognitive predictors of social anxiety. Overall this study indicated that metacognition may have an important role in social anxiety, a role independent of cognition. Keywords: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Students, S-REF, Metacognition, Mental Health, Metacognitive Therapy (MCT).
Young People of Migrant Origin in Sweden

This article surveys immigration during the second part of the twentieth century with the aim of determining the origins of the immigrant population and the socioeconomic position of the second generation. It focuses on migration from Turkey from the 1960s onward. Originally, migration from Turkey was within the framework of labor recruitment. These migrants were predominantly ethnic Turks of rural origin. A second wave of migrants from Turkey was composed of Syriani/Assyrians, a Christian minority from eastern Turkey seeking asylum in the 1970s on the grounds of religious persecution. Since the 1980s, the main intake of migrants from Turkey has been Kurds seeking protection on the grounds of political persecution. Immigration of ethnic Turks and Syriani/Assyrians is restricted to family reunification and family formation; the numbers are low. Kurds, on the other hand, are accepted both on the grounds of refugee claims and family reunification/family formation. The article looks at conditions of growing up in Sweden, with a particular focus on education, mother-tongue classes and instruction in Swedish. Second-generation youth distinguish themselves by an overrepresentation among dropouts from school, but also by an overrepresentation among those who do well academically in comparison with native Swedes. This applies to second-generation youth with family roots in Turkey. Though very few under the age of 18 hold regular employment, the article also discusses the prospects of entering the labor market, based on information from the regular labor market surveys. Unemployment rates are consistently higher for second-generation migrants than for native-born Swedish youth. The article closes with a discussion about the developing multicultural society in Sweden and the niches that second-generation youth tend to occupy.
Cardiovascular Mitochondria and Redox Control in Health and Disease Exercise training improves vascular mitochondrial function

Song-Young Park, Matthew J. Rossman, Jayson R. Gifford, Leena P. Bharath, Johann Bauersachs, Russell S. Richardson, E. Dale Abel, J. David Symons, and Christian Riehle Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, George E. Whalen Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah; Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, and Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center and Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
The Impact of Advanced Curriculum on the Achievement of Mathematically Promising Elementary Students

The primary aim of Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds was to develop and field test advanced units for mathematically promising elementary students based on exemplary practices in gifted and mathematics education. This article describes the development of the units and reports on mathematics achievement results for students in Grades 3 to 5 from 11 urban and suburban schools after exposure to the curriculum. Data analyses indicate statistically significant differences favoring each of the experimental groups over the comparison group on the ITBS (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) Concepts and Estimation Test and on Open-Response Assessments at all three grade levels. Furthermore, the effect sizes range from 0.29 to 0.59 on the ITBS Concepts and Estimation Scale and 0.69 to 0.97 on the Open-Response Assessments. These results indicate that these units, designed to address the needs of mathematically promising students, positively affected their achievement. Putting the Research to Use: To date, there is a paucity of research-based, challenging mathematics curriculum units designed specifically for mathematically promising elementary students. As a result, gifted programming for these students, if it exists within a district, often involves a collection of assorted math puzzles and problems or an above-grade-level textbook that was written for the average student. The findings from this curriculum study suggest to practitioners that mathematics curriculum units that are challenging and engaging with a focus on important math concepts and that encourage students to think and act like practicing mathematicians contribute to students' math achievement. The fact that this study was replicated with a second cohort strengthens the result. In addition, since almost 50% of the students came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the study illustrates that the curriculum was highly effective with this special population, while meeting the needs of all talented students.
Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era

School of EducationCharles Sturt UniversityThe two-way Web has arrived, accompanied by a raft of affordances that expand how weteach, communicate, learn and create knowledge. New trends are emerging in the wayinformation is distributed and consumed. Emerging “Web 2.0” services such as blogs,wikis and social bookmarking applications, as well as social networking sites like
Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Are More Immunosuppressive In Vitro If They Are Derived from Endometriotic Lesions than from Eutopic Endometrium

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease with predominance of immunosuppressive M2 macrophages in the pelvic cavity that could be involved in the pathology through support and immune escape of ectopic lesions. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are found in ectopic lesions, and MSC from nonendometriosis sources are known to induce M2 macrophages. Therefore, MSC were hypothesized to play a role in the pathology of endometriosis. The aim was to characterize the functional phenotype of MSC in ectopic and eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis. Stromal cells from endometriotic ovarian cysts (ESCcyst) and endometrium (ESCendo) were examined if they exhibited a MSC phenotype. Then, ESC were phenotypically examined for protein and gene expression of immunosuppressive and immunostimulatory molecules. Finally, ESC were functionally examined for their effects on monocyte differentiation into macrophages. ESCcyst and ESCendo expressed MSC markers, formed colonies, and differentiated into osteoblasts and adipocytes. Phenotypically, ESCcyst were more immunosuppressive, with significantly higher expression of immunosuppressive molecules. Functionally, ESCcyst induced more spindle-shaped macrophages, with significantly higher expression of CD14 and CD163, both features of M2 macrophages. The results suggest that ESCcyst may be more immunosuppressive than ESCendo and may promote immunosuppressive M2 macrophages that may support growth and reduce immunosurveillance of ectopic lesions.
Öğretmen Adaylarında Öğrenme Stratejilerinin ve Bireysel Özelliklerin Akademik Başarıyı Yordamadaki Rolü

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of prospective teachers’ learning strategies and their individual characteristics in predicting academic achievement. The participants were 265 studentsstudying in different major fields at the Faculty of Education in Pamukkale University. Learning Strategies Inventory and Personal Information Sheet were used to gather data. Results showed that academic achievement was predicted by deep learning strategies, grade, gender and age. It was also seen that prospective teachers used deep learning strategies more than surface learning strategies, deep learning strategies were positively correlated with academic achievement, surface learning strategies did significiantly differ as to gender, while metacognitive learning strategies did significiantly differ as to major field. Implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions were given for the educators.
Near-Capacity Iteratively Decoded Space-Time Block Coding

Iteratively decoded near-capacity space-time block coding (STBC) schemes are designed. Recursive unity-rate codes and IRregular Convolutional Codes (IRCCs) are employed for assisting the conventional non-recursive STBC schemes in achieving decoding convergence to an infinitesimally low bit error ratio at near-capacity signal-to-noise ratios. IRregular Convolutional Codes (IRCCs) are used as the outer codes for achieving a near-capacity performance. It was shown that the resultant iteratively decoded STBC schemes are capable of approaching the corresponding channel capacity within 0.4 dB, when communicating over uncorrelated, flat Rayleigh fading channels.
Knowledge, attitude, and practices related to cervical cancer among adult women: A hospital-based cross-sectional study

Background: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among Indian women of reproductive age. Unfortunately, despite the evidence of methods for prevention, most of the women remain unscreened. The reported barriers to screening include unawareness of risk factors, symptoms and prevention; stigma and misconceptions about gynecological diseases and lack of national cervical cancer screening guidelines and policies. This study attempts to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices related to cervical cancer and its screening among women of reproductive age (15-45 years). Materials and Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was done on 400 females of reproductive age who presented to out-patient-department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal. Structured questionnaire consisting 20 knowledge items and 7-items for attitude and history of pap smear for practices were administered by one of the investigators after informed consent. Data were entered and analyzed using Epi-Info version 7. Qualitative variables were summarized as counts and percentages while quantitative variables as mean and standard deviation. Predictors of better knowledge, attitude, and practices were identified by binary logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 442 women were approached for interview of which 400 responded of which two-third (65.5%) had heard of cervical cancer. At least one symptom and one risk factor were known to 35.25% and 39.75% participants. Only 34.5% participants had heard, and 9.5% actually underwent screening test, however, 76.25% of the participants expressed a favorable attitude for screening. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that education age and income were independent predictors of better knowledge. Education level influences attitude toward screening and actual practice depends on age, income, and marital status. This study shows that despite the fact that women had suboptimal level of knowledge regarding cervical cancer, their attitude is favorable for screening. However, uptake is low in actual practice. Strategic communication targeting eligible women may increase the uptake of screening.
Saliency filters: Contrast based filtering for salient region detection

Saliency estimation has become a valuable tool in image processing. Yet, existing approaches exhibit considerable variation in methodology, and it is often difficult to attribute improvements in result quality to specific algorithm properties. In this paper we reconsider some of the design choices of previous methods and propose a conceptually clear and intuitive algorithm for contrast-based saliency estimation. Our algorithm consists of four basic steps. First, our method decomposes a given image into compact, perceptually homogeneous elements that abstract unnecessary detail. Based on this abstraction we compute two measures of contrast that rate the uniqueness and the spatial distribution of these elements. From the element contrast we then derive a saliency measure that produces a pixel-accurate saliency map which uniformly covers the objects of interest and consistently separates fore- and background. We show that the complete contrast and saliency estimation can be formulated in a unified way using high-dimensional Gaussian filters. This contributes to the conceptual simplicity of our method and lends itself to a highly efficient implementation with linear complexity. In a detailed experimental evaluation we analyze the contribution of each individual feature and show that our method outperforms all state-of-the-art approaches.
Alcohol Consumption and Metabolic Syndrome Among Hispanics/Latinos: The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

BACKGROUND The association between alcohol consumption and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Hispanic/Latino populations has not been studied in great detail. Our study examined the relationship between alcohol consumption and MetS among U.S. Hispanics/Latinos and explored whether this relationship varied by age, body mass index, gender, and Hispanic/Latino backgrounds. METHODS The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) is a multisite, prospective, population-based, cohort study of Hispanics/Latinos, ages 18-74 years from four U.S. communities. Participants were categorized into never, former, occasional, low, moderate, and high alcohol consumption categories. A cross-sectional analysis of 15,905 participants with complete data was conducted. Survey design appropriate chi-squared and logistic regression models were run to detect significant associations between alcohol consumption categories and cases of MetS. RESULTS Almost half (47.4%) of the sample was classified as occasional, low, moderate, or heavy drinkers. Low and moderate alcohol consumers had lower odds of MetS than never drinkers. Low and heavy drinkers had higher odds of presenting with elevated central obesity, while occasional, low, moderate, and heavy drinkers had higher odds of having low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels compared to never drinkers. Low and moderate wine drinkers had lower odds of MetS compared to never drinkers. There were no significant findings among beer or liquor drinkers, or with binge drinking after model adjustments. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that low and moderate alcohol consumption may lower the odds of MetS in a sample of Hispanic/Latino adults, but that the relationship of alcohol consumption varies with the individual components of MetS.
Developing Improved Greedy Crossover to Solve Symmetric Traveling Salesman Problem

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most famous optimization problems. Greedy crossover designed by Greffenstette et al, can be used while Symmetric TSP (STSP) is resolved by Genetic Algorithm (GA). Researchers have proposed several versions of greedy crossover. Here we propose improved version of it. We compare our greedy crossover with some of recent crossovers, we use our greedy crossover and some recent crossovers in GA then compare crossovers on speed and accuracy.
Emirati women's higher educational leadership formation under globalisation: culture, religion, politics, and the dialectics of modernisation

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a small state transitioning from traditional communities into a modern society. This is a complex process: it involves instilling a national identity over tribal structures; modernising and technologising while retaining Islam; ensuring a high level of security while allowing for a liberal and relatively free society; preserving culture while building one of the largest and most multicultural societies, albeit mostly expatriate; and providing one of the safest countries in the Arab world for women. This paper presents an expatriate female academic's position in relation to the emergent literature on the contradictory positioning of women in different Arab cultures. It reviews the literature in the light of anecdotal evidence drawn from the author's doctoral students' experiences as women leaders within the wider socio-cultural context of the UAE and the emergent higher education system that is considered central to its nation-building exercise. The discussion recognises the implications of different contexts for Emirati women moving into leadership positions and calls for further research in the field.