Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Has it really Been that Long? Why Time Seems to Speed up with Age

The impression that time speeds up with age is a well known phenomenon. In the literature, a number of theories on this age effect exists, but results of the respective studies are inconclusive, and even somewhat paradoxical: The age effect occurred only when speed of time was judged for periods in the past. However, usually no difference was found when comparing present time perception between participants in different age groups. Our investigation had two aims: To begin, we tried to solve the riddle of this paradox. We contend that a context of comparison is needed for the age effect to occur, that is, a comparison of present time perception with the perception in previous life periods. The second aim was to compare potential causes of the age effect. Participants in a large sample ( n = 517) covering a wide age range (20–80 years) provided time judgments and its potential predictors for both current and previous life periods. No age effect was found for speed of time in current life if only age was used as a predictor. If, however, other factors were statistically controlled for, a weak but noticeable age effect was found. Consistent with prior results, a clear age effect was obtained when participants compared different life periods retrospectively. Perceived time pressure and the number of routines are important factors of time perception both in current and previous life periods. A decreasing frequency of new life experiences seems to explain only the age effect of retrospective time perception.
Toward a Multicomponent Model of Interest and L2 Reading: Sources of Interest, Perceived Situational Interest, and Comprehension.

With 104 advanced second language (L2) readers, this investigation seeks to construct a multicomponent model of interest and L2 reading. Sources of interest (SI) refer to variables that induce feelings of interest in a text. Perceived interest (PI) refers to the feeling of interest itself (Schraw, Bruning, & Svoboda, 1995). A factor analysis revealed the following 5 SI in order of variance: (1) cohesion (31%), (2) prior knowledge (13%), (3) engagement (12%), (4) ease of recollection (10%), and (5) emotiveness (6%). PI accounted for 68% of the total sample variation. Of the 5 factors on the SI questionnaire, three were uniquely related to PI: cohesion, engagement, and ease of recollection. PI was related to sentence completion items and multiple choice items, but not recall. Five factors from the SI questionnaire were regressed on comprehension scores after first removing the variance explained by perceived interest. Ease of recollection positively related to all 3 comprehension tasks. Findings provide a construct of interest for L2 reading and serve as an attempt to develop an instrument to assess different sources of interest in L2 reading. A preliminary understanding of these dimensions of interest as predictors of L2 reading comprehension is presented.
Implicit Anyon or Single Particle Boson Mechanism of HTCS and Pseudogap Regime

We propose a single particle boson mechanism of High Tc Superconductivity (HTCS) and pseudogap regime. Bosons appear in it due to the coupling of spins of the two-dimensional (2D) fermions with statistical magnetic field induced by anyon vector potential. The ground state of 2D gas is pure bosonic if gas is not dense. At the dense limit of gas the interaction of effective (coupled with the statistical magnetic field) spins of bosons leads to the increasing of their fluctuations, which destroy the coupling. An experimental phase diagram of the hole doped superconducting cuprates discussed in the paper of Tallon and Loram might qualitatively and quantitatively be clarified in the framework of this mechanism. The vicinity of the structural phase transition to superconducting state might strengthen the possible quadratic striction in the sample and the phase transition of bosons into Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), which is responsible for the superconductivity (SC), is not second order, but first, close to second one. According this treatment the pseudogap regime is the region of meta stable bosons, which are out of the BEC. At the pseudogap boundary, Eg, the bosons finally undergo the phase transition into fermions. Non-Fermi liquid like property of quasi-particles discussed in the literature might be related to bosons with spins in the pseudogap regime.
Convergence analysis of rival penalized competitive learning (RPCL) algorithm

This paper analyzes the convergence of the rival penalized competitive learning (RPCL) algorithm via a cost function. It is shown that as RPCL process decreases the cost to a global minimum, a correct number of weight vectors will converge to each center of the clusters in the sample data respectively, while the others diverge.
Compromising Talent: Issues in Identifying and Selecting Talent in Sport

ABSTRACT The past few decades have seen a significant change in the delivery of sport and in trends related to athlete development. However, the notion of talent continues to play a critical role in most athlete development models. In this brief review, we highlight concerns with the notion of talent and how it is conceptualized in high performance sport systems. These include: the assumption that talent is a fixed capacity that can be identified early, the influence of talent beliefs on athlete development, the different levels of risk for talent selection decisions, biases evident in approaches to athlete selection, the inadequacy of current statistical approaches, the problems with using current performance to predict future outcomes, and how short-term priorities and competition between sports for talented athletes undermine the overall efficiency of athlete development systems. These concerns form the basis for more focused discussion of avenues for future work in this field.
The Role of Language and Culture in Universality and Diversity of Human Concepts

Th e infl uence of language and culture has been investigated across diff erent research disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive psychology, and cultural psychology, but such research all tends to ask whether language (or culture) infl uences cognition in general, without clearly specifying what is meant by “language” or “culture. ” Th is chapter proposes an alternative approach, whose aim is to specify a complex interplay among various factors—including universal cognitive constraints, perceptual aff ordances provided from the world, task-specifi c constraints, language-specifi c biases, and culture-specifi c cognitive styles—to account for people’s behavior in a given cognitive task and the developmental trajectory of that behavior. To establish this point, four research programs examining the roles of language and culture in terms of construal and organization of objects, relations among objects, and actions are reviewed.
The Hypothesis of the Human iNKT/Innate CD8(+) T-Cell Axis Applied to Cancer: Evidence for a Deficiency in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

We recently identified a new human subset of NK-like [KIR/NKG2A(+)] CD8(+) T cells with a marked/memory phenotype, high Eomesodermin expression, potent antigen-independent cytotoxic activity, and the capacity to generate IFN-γ rapidly after exposure to pro-inflammatory cytokines. These features support the hypothesis that this new member of the innate T cell family in humans, hereafter referred to as innate CD8(+) T cells, has a role in cancer immune surveillance analogous to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. Here, we report the first quantitative and functional analysis of innate CD8(+) T cells in a physiopathological context in humans, namely chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a well-characterized myeloproliferative disorder. We have chosen CML based on our previous report that IL-4 production by iNKT cells was deficient in CML patients at diagnosis and considering the recent evidence in mice that IL-4 promotes the generation/differentiation of innate CD8(+) T cells. We found that the pool of innate CD8(+) T cells was severely reduced in the blood of CML patients at diagnosis. Moreover, like iNKT and NK cells, innate CD8(+) T cells were functionally impaired, as attested by their loss of antigen-independent cytotoxic activity and IFN-γ production in response to innate-like stimulation with IL-12 + IL-18. Remarkably, as previously reported for IL-4 production by iNKT cells, both quantitative and functional deficiencies of innate CD8(+) T cells were at least partially corrected in patients having achieved complete cytogenetic remission following tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Finally, direct correlation between the functional potential of innate CD8(+) T and iNKT cells was found when considering all healthy donors and CML patients in diagnosis and remission, in accordance with the iNKT cell-dependent generation of innate CD8(+) T cells reported in mice. All in all, our data demonstrate that CML is associated with deficiencies of innate CD8(+) T cells that are restored upon remission, thereby suggesting their possible contribution to disease control. More generally, our study strongly supports the existence of an innate iNKT/innate CD8(+) T-cell axis in humans and reveals its potential contribution to the restoration of tumor immune surveillance.
Activating receptors promote NK cell expansion for maintenance, IL-10 production, and CD8 T cell regulation during viral infection

Natural killer (NK) cells have the potential to deliver both direct antimicrobial effects and regulate adaptive immune responses, but NK cell yields have been reported to vary greatly during different viral infections. Activating receptors, including the Ly49H molecule recognizing mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV), can stimulate NK cell expansion. To define Ly49H's role in supporting NK cell proliferation and maintenance under conditions of uncontrolled viral infection, experiments were performed in Ly49h−/−, perforin 1 (Prf1)−/−, and wild-type (wt) B6 mice. NK cell numbers were similar in uninfected mice, but relative to responses in MCMV-infected wt mice, NK cell yields declined in the absence of Ly49h and increased in the absence of Prf1, with high rates of proliferation and Ly49H expression on nearly all cells. The expansion was abolished in mice deficient for both Ly49h and Prf1 (Ly49h−/−Prf1−/−), and negative consequences for survival were revealed. The Ly49H-dependent protection mechanism delivered in the absence of Prf1 was a result of interleukin 10 production, by the sustained NK cells, to regulate the magnitude of CD8 T cell responses. Thus, the studies demonstrate a previously unappreciated critical role for activating receptors in keeping NK cells present during viral infection to regulate adaptive immune responses.
Induced R & D in Automobiles

Several papers report that energy price and environmental regulations in the automobile industry have induced energy-saving innovations using some measure of innovation output (e.g., Greene 1990, Berry et al. 1996, Popp 2002). In contrast, Crabb and Johnson (2010) recently found no evidence of induced innovation in a model of dynamic patenting. In the hope of generating useful information admist these con icting ndings, I examine the impact of the energy price and regulations on private innovation input measured by R&D expenditures by the automobile companies. The results are in support of R&D incentives being a ected by changes in expected energy prices and regulations. The coefcient estimates suggest that energy tax may be more costly than e ciency standards in generating energy-saving or environment-friendly innovations in the long-run through R&D activities.
Looking back: The “representational mechanism”of joint attention in an infant chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

An infant chimpanzee’s joint visual attention to objects behind him was investigated. A recent study has shown that a 13-month-old infant chimpanzee can follow human social cues including glancing (Okamoto, Tomonaga, Ishii, Kawai, Tanaka, & Matsuzawa, 2002a). In humans, 12-month-olds do not follow gaze to objects behind them but 18-month-olds do (Butterworth & Jarrett, 1991). In the present study, from 13 months old, the infant chimpanzee had been tested to look at one of two identical objects, which an experimenter indicated by pointing or head turning. The objects were set in front of or behind the subject. In our series of experiments, we used moving or stationary objects as targets. Moreover, the experimenter manipulated a computer at the onset of each block of trials. The results show that by the age of 20 months, the infant reliably followed the experimenter’s cues and looked back to the target behind him. Moving targets elicited more responses than stationary targets, and the subject showed more follow responses after having seen the experimenter manipulating the computer.
A PhD in social sciences and humanities: impacts and mobility to get better salaries in an international comparison

ABSTRACT The paper analyses which conditions may predict a better salary for people who got a PhD in social sciences and humanities (SS&H) in 13 European countries. Among the controlling variables, predictors are also: change of country of residence; percentage of time spent respectively in research and managerial activities; and impacts achieved during one’s PhD programme. Findings, but also policy implications both for PhD programme planners and PhD candidates, are: some specific impacts such as having advised policy-makers, having released interviews to media and having managed and coordinated projects, all predict better salaries for PhD holders in SS&H, other things being equal. To move geographically out of one’s country where PhD was awarded is also a good predictor of better wages, provided PhD holders do not swap sectors after attainment of PhD.
Ethical Employee Behaviors in the Consensus Taxonomy of Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Employee ethical behaviors are a frequent topic of business research and a critical criterion for organizations seeking to implement socially responsible, ethical business practices. They, alongside organizational citizenship behaviors and employee green behaviors, reflect one of the three major domains of employee responsible behaviors through which organizations realize corporate social responsibility goals. In this article, we present a critical review of theoretical conceptualizations, taxonomies, and assessment of employee ethical and unethical behaviors.We consider definitional issues and situate the construct of (un)ethical employee behaviors within the current Consensus Taxonomy of Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CT-CWB). We describe the structure and major dimensions of employee ethical behaviors and evaluate the construct coverage, psychometric properties, and shortcomings of major available ethical behavior measures. We provide a brief summary of individual differences determinants of ethical behaviors. We identify important directions for future research and the critical need for more adequate measurement of (un)ethical behaviors.
Spit for Science: launching a longitudinal study of genetic and environmental influences on substance use and emotional health at a large US university

Finding genes involved in complex behavioral outcomes, and understanding the pathways by which they confer risk, is a challenging task, necessitating large samples that are phenotypically well characterized across time. We describe an effort to create a university-wide research project aimed at understanding how genes and environments impact alcohol use and related substance use and mental health outcomes across time in college students. Nearly 70% of the incoming freshman class (N = 2715) completed on-line surveys, with 80% of the students from the fall completing spring follow-ups. 98% of eligible participants also gave DNA. The participants closely approximated the university population in terms of gender and racial/ethnic composition. Here we provide initial results on alcohol use outcomes from the first wave of the sample, as well as associated predictor variables. We discuss the potential for this kind of research to advance our understanding of genetic and environment influences on substance use and mental health outcomes.
Distribution of the subspecies of the Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus in sub-Saharan Africa

Capsule The wintering area of the nominate subspecies of Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus fuscus is from Ethiopia across Uganda and the Congo basin to the Atlantic, while L. f. intermedius and L. f. graellsii winters in westernmost Africa. Aims To clarify the wintering distributions of the subspecies of Lesser Black-backed Gull. Methods We compiled, mapped, and analyzed available data on ring recoveries (269) and verified museum specimens (22) south of 25°N. Results The wintering area of L. f. fuscus as described in standard reference literature (East Africa) is wrong; more rings have been recovered in the Congo basin and along the Atlantic coast than on the eastern seaboard. L. f. intermedius and L. f. graellsii winter mainly in westernmost Africa with some ring recoveries south and east of Senegal. There are no verifiable finds of the latter two subspecies south of the equator. Ring recoveries suggest leap-frog migration. Conclusions We have updated the distribution of L. f. fuscus, L. f. intermedius and L. f. graellsii in sub-Saharan Africa and found it to be different from previous authorities.
Identifying Outliers in Large Matrices via Randomized Adaptive Compressive Sampling

This paper examines the problem of locating outlier columns in a large, otherwise low-rank, matrix. We propose a simple two-step adaptive sensing and inference approach and establish theoretical guarantees for its performance; our results show that accurate outlier identification is achievable using very few linear summaries of the original data matrix-as few as the squared rank of the low-rank component plus the number of outliers, times constant and logarithmic factors. We demonstrate the performance of our approach experimentally in two stylized applications, one motivated by robust collaborative filtering tasks, and the other by saliency map estimation tasks arising in computer vision and automated surveillance, and also investigate extensions to settings where the data are noisy, or possibly incomplete.
Resolving the Ortholog Conjecture: Orthologs Tend to Be Weakly, but Significantly, More Similar in Function than Paralogs

The function of most proteins is not determined experimentally, but is extrapolated from homologs. According to the “ortholog conjecture”, or standard model of phylogenomics, protein function changes rapidly after duplication, leading to paralogs with different functions, while orthologs retain the ancestral function. We report here that a comparison of experimentally supported functional annotations among homologs from 13 genomes mostly supports this model. We show that to analyze GO annotation effectively, several confounding factors need to be controlled: authorship bias, variation of GO term frequency among species, variation of background similarity among species pairs, and propagated annotation bias. After controlling for these biases, we observe that orthologs have generally more similar functional annotations than paralogs. This is especially strong for sub-cellular localization. We observe only a weak decrease in functional similarity with increasing sequence divergence. These findings hold over a large diversity of species; notably orthologs from model organisms such as E. coli, yeast or mouse have conserved function with human proteins.
Mixture model analysis of DNA microarray images

In this paper, we propose a new methodology for analysis of microarray images. First, a new gridding algorithm is proposed for determining the individual spots and their borders. Then, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) approach is presented for the analysis of the individual spot images. The main advantages of the proposed methodology are modeling flexibility and adaptability to the data, which are well-known strengths of GMM. The maximum likelihood and maximum a posteriori approaches are used to estimate the GMM parameters via the expectation maximization algorithm. The proposed approach has the ability to detect and compensate for artifacts that might occur in microarray images. This is accomplished by a model-based criterion that selects the number of the mixture components. We present numerical experiments with artificial and real data where we compare the proposed approach with previous ones and existing software tools for microarray image analysis and demonstrate its advantages.
Religion Does Matter for Climate Change Attitudes and Behavior

Little research has focused on the relationship between religion and climate change attitudes and behavior. Further, while there have been some studies examining the relationship between environmental attitudes and religion, most are focused on Christian denominations and secularism, and few have examined other religions such as Buddhism. Using an online survey of 1,927 Australians we examined links between membership of four religious groupings (Buddhists, Christian literalists and non-literalists, and Secularists) and climate change attitudes and behaviors. Differences were found across religious groups in terms of their belief in: (a) human induced climate change, (b) the level of consensus among scientists, (c) their own efficacy, and (d) the need for policy responses. We show, using ordinal regression, that religion explains these differences even after taking into account socio-demographic factors, knowledge and environmental attitude, including belief in man’s dominion over nature. Differences in attitude and behavior between these religious groups suggest the importance of engaging denominations to encourage change in attitudes and behavior among their members.
Influence of Rack Slope and Approaching Conditions in Bottom Intake Systems

The study analyzes the flow over bottom racks made of longitudinal T-shaped bars. A clear water flow is considered in a laboratory flume. Free surface profiles, wetted rack lengths, and discharge coefficients are measured, changing parameters such as longitudinal slope, void ratio, and approaching flow. The present work complements existing experimental studies, considering the influence of the approaching flow conditions. The velocity field measured with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and the pressure field with Pitot tubes are quantified. Numerical simulations (CFD) are used to complement laboratory data. The energy head along the rack is calculated and compared with the hypothesis of horizontal energy level with minimum energy at the beginning of the rack. A discharge coefficient adjustment that considers the slope, the void ratio, and the position along the rack is proposed and presented with the results of other works. Theoretical proposals to calculate the pressure field along the flow are compared with measurements in the laboratory. The relation between the static pressure head in the space of bars and the discharge coefficient is used as an alternative method to define the discharge.