Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of working memory in spontaneous recognition : neural correlates and behavioural influences in the memory Stroop paradigm

Research suggests that unintentional recognition of distracting non-target stimuli can bias goal-related, intentional recognition judgements to target stimuli encountered in the same environment. Spontaneous recognition (SR) effect can be defined as the unintentional recognition of stimuli and is measured by the effect of familiarity to distractors on a recognition task. This thesis investigated how previously seen or not-seen distractors affect recognition of targets when working memory (WM) resources are manipulated by a secondary WM load task (chapter 2), using both behavioural and ERP measures (Chapter 3). The findings suggest that when working memory resources are low, SR is then easier to observe. Additionally, neural and memory processes are dissociable for unintentional and intentional recognition and retrieval monitoring is found to be enhanced when the new targets were paired with old distractors. Furthermore, the findings on the early ERPs may suggest that the proactive control might be activated. Finally, a set of experiments revealed that, SR effect may not be related to conscious awareness since having a low or high confidence did not modulate the SR effect indicating a lack of conscious awareness of the SR effect (Chapter 4). Together these findings may help to understand the mechanisms underlying the SR effect.
China’s and Japan’s Foreign Aid Policies vis-à-vis Lusophone Africa

This article compares the evolution of China’s and Japan’s foreign policies to Lusophone Africa, focusing on the period post-2000. The lack of analysis on Beijing’s and Tokyo’s respective aid policies towards Portuguese-speaking African countries (Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa, PALOP) makes this study relevant. Arguably, Japan’s development “edge” over China in terms of the “aid model” approach towards PALOP countries is under threat. This raises questions about China’s changing pattern of aid, characterised by an increasing amount of “soft” aid towards PALOP states outside of trade and investment relations, which is much in line with Japan’s aid philosophy and, according to observers, less neocolonialist than Japan’s previous aid practices. This paper asks which model of cooperation is morally better and which is more effective, as both donors have interests in PALOP countries beyond development assistance. It finds complementarities in the two countries’ aid allocation to PALOP states, such as poverty eradication given the sectoral diversity of Chinese aid, and the empowerment of local communities fostered by Japanese aid’s emphasis on grassroots and human-security projects.
Novel Low-Cost Thermotherapy for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Peru

Thermotherapy is an accepted alternative therapy for new-world cutaneous leishmaniasis, but current heat-delivery modalities are too costly to be made widely available to endemic populations. We adapted a low-cost heat pack named the HECT-CL device that delivers safe, reliable, and renewable conduction heat. 25 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis completed treatment with the device at an initial temperature of 52°C±2°C for 3 minutes to each lesion, repeated daily for 7 days, and were followed up for 6 months by direct observation. The overall definitive clinical cure rate was 60%. Concurrently, 13 patients meeting minimally significant exclusion criteria received identical compassionate use treatment with a cumulative definitive cure rate of 68.4%, 75% for those who had experienced CL relapse after prior antimonial treatment. Therapy was well tolerated. Reversible second-degree burns occurred in two patients and no bacterial super-infections were observed. HECT-CL is a promising treatment and deserves further study to verify its safety and efficacy as adjuvant and mono- therapy.
Walking together: a decolonising experiment in bushfire management on Dja Dja Wurrung country

Within certain settler colonial nations, Indigenous peoples are increasingly becoming present and influential in the agencies legally responsible for the management of their ancestral territories, their environments and their hazards. On the Australian continent, for example, Aboriginal peoples are becoming more formally involved in the management of bushfire (or ‘wildfire’ elsewhere). This environmental phenomenon is at once of profound cultural significance to many Aboriginal peoples and a major natural hazard to human life and property, managed by an extensive professional bureaucracy of settler government agencies. Drawing upon a case study of collaborative bushfire management between Dja Dja Wurrung peoples and settler bushfire management agencies on Dja Dja Wurrung country (or, ancestral territory) in the southeast Australian state of Victoria, this article argues for an understanding of such collaborations as ‘decolonising experiments’. For geographers and others, this means paying attention to the open-ended character of collaborative initiatives, whether and how they materially improve the position of Indigenous peoples, as well as whether and how they give rise to new resources and strategies for the creation of other decolonising futures.
The Gallic Acid–Phospholipid Complex Improved the Antioxidant Potential of Gallic Acid by Enhancing Its Bioavailability

Gallic acid (GA) is well known for its antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity, though its effectiveness is restricted due to rapid metabolism and elimination. To overcome these problems, gallic acid–phospholipid complex was prepared and the effect of phospholipid complexation was investigated on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced oxidative damage in rat liver. The complex significantly reduced the hepatic marker enzymes in rat serum and restored the antioxidant enzyme levels with respect to CCl4-induced group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). Also, the complex improved the pharmacokinetics of GA by increasing the relative bioavailability and elimination half-life. The study therefore suggests that phospholipid complexation has enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of GA which may be due to its improved absorption and increased bioavailability in rat serum.
SIMPLE: developing a LBS positioning solution

The SIMPLE (Simple Indoor Multi-level Portable Location Engine) wireless location prototype runs on an IPAQ PDA equipped with an 802.11b wireless LAN interface and provides a handheld location system in conjunction with a number of access points. The system has been particularly developed to work within a museum or heritage scenario that spans multiple locations and may enable metropolitan wide location services. SIMPLE enables a wireless enabled PDA or in the future a cellular phone with WLAN functionality to download a wireless database and map and determine their location based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information. A number of techniques have been combined within SIMPLE to enable the PDA to function as an autonomous device with minimal interaction to the service provider infrastructure. This should enable more scalable middleware solutions to be created, where users only interact when requesting delivery of information.
Australian adult smokers’ responses to plain packaging with larger graphic health warnings 1 year after implementation: results from a national cross-sectional tracking survey

Background We assessed whether the Australian plain packs with larger graphic health warnings (GHWs) achieved three specific objectives of reducing the appeal of tobacco, increasing health warning effectiveness and reducing the ability of packaging to mislead about smoking harms. Methods We compared responses from continuous cross-sectional telephone surveys of n=2176 cigarette smokers during pre-plain packaging (April–September 2012, pre-PP) with n=759 surveyed in the transition period (October–November 2012) and n=4240 during the first year of implementation (December 2012–November 2013, PP year 1), using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results From pre-PP to PP year 1, more smokers disliked their pack (p<0.001), perceived lower pack appeal (p<0.001), lower cigarette quality (p<0.001), lower satisfaction (p<0.001) and lower value (p<0.001) and disagreed brands differed in prestige (p=0.003). There was no change in perceived differences in taste of different brands. More smokers noticed GHWs (p<0.001), attributed much motivation to quit to GHWs (p<0.001), avoided specific GHWs when purchasing (p<0.001), and covered packs (p<0.001), with no change in perceived exaggeration of harms. PP year 1 saw an increased proportion believing that brands do not differ in harmfulness (p=0.004), but no change in the belief that variants do not differ in strength or the perceived harmfulness of cigarettes compared with a year ago. Interactions signified greater change for four outcomes assessing aspects of appeal among young adults and two appeal outcomes among mid-aged adults. Conclusions The specific objectives of plain packaging were achieved and generally sustained among adult smokers up to 12 months after implementation.
Financial Structure, Liquidity, and Firm Locations

This paper investigates the relation between a firm's location and its corporate finance decisions. We develop a simple model where being located within an industry cluster increases opportunities to make acquisitions, and to facilitate those acquisitions, firms within clusters maintain more financial slack. Consistent with our model we find that firms that are located within industry clusters tend to make more acquisitions, and have lower debt ratios and larger cash balances than their industry peers located outside clusters. In addition, we document that firms in growing cities and technology centers also maintain more financial slack. Overall, these findings, which reveal systematic patterns between geography and corporate finance choices, suggest the importance of growth opportunities in firms' financial decisions.
Sensitivity to the Regularity of Letter Patterns Within Print Among Preschoolers: Implications for Emerging Literacy

ABSTRACT When learning to read, the developing mind is likely to cluster letters into frequency-based chunks. In the current study, the authors investigated the extent to which such chunking takes place among preschoolers (N = 54) by examining the association between sensitivity to subword orthographic regularity and preschooler age. A version of the wordlikeness judgment paradigm was administered to assess sensitivity to the frequency of particular grain sizes (unigram, bigram, and trigram), regardless of their positional frequency within words. The task manipulation affected bigram performance but not unigram or trigram performance and was observed only among older preschoolers. Results suggest that preschoolers first become sensitive to bigram frequency. The special status of bigrams within subword frequency sensitivity, over and above unigrams and trigrams, has practical implication for reading instruction and remediation.
The effect of portfolio approach and genre-based pedagogy on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners

This study was conducted to examine whether raising the awareness of EFL listeners about the generic structure of news through portfolio approach may significantly enhance the subjects’ listening comprehension performance. To this end, around 97 advanced Iranian EFL learners participated in this study. The first experimental group received explicit teaching of generic structures of the genre of news. The participants in the second experimental group (i.e. portfolio assessment group) were helped to develop their awareness of the genre of news through completing their portfolios. The subjects in the control group listened to the news and completed some conventional activities. Instrumentation included a listening comprehension test and an attitude questionnaire. The results showed that explicit teaching of the generic structures of the genre of news as well as the application of portfolio assessment did not have any significant effect on listening comprehension performance of EFL listeners. It is concludes that only skilled listeners may benefit from genre-based pedagogy and portfolio assessment.
Comparison of Correlation Techniques

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental comparison of different forms of SSD and normalised cross-correlation of image neighborhoods. Signal detection theory is used as a framework for analysis of correlation techniques. A sum of squared difference (SSD) of two image neighborhoods is shown to provide an optimal matching measure for tracking and registration in the case fo additive Gaussian noise. Correlation of the image, its gradient magnitude or its Laplacian are discussed. The relations between SSD and Cross Correlation are demonstrated, and different normalisation techniques are described. An experimental comparison is made of SSD, Normalized Cross Correlation, and Zero-Mean normalised cross correlation, in the presence of changes in light level, additive Gaussian noise, and salt-andpepper noise.
When Do Governance Mechanisms Matter Most ? 1

This paper investigates how various governance mechanisms present in the firm interact with industryspecific economic conditions. First, shareholder rights (absence of antitakeover protection) exhibit procyclical value shareholder rights primarily function to constrain managerial opportunism in economic upturns. This result lends insight into the operational strength of antitakeover protection over economic conditions, and its role as an insulating device. Second, aggregative measures of institutional ownership demonstrate countercyclical value large blocks of institutional investors are more effective monitors and offer greater oversight in industry-specific economic downturns. Third, board size exhibits countercyclical value large boards operate most efficiently in economic downturns when operational slack is minimal. This finding challenges the standard notion of small board optimality and offers new clarity on the trade-off between monitoring and coordination costs in board structure. In addition, the agency costs associated with these three findings are in congruence with the ‘quiet life’ hypothesis governance inefficiencies over economic states are associated with increases in administrative, overhead and input costs (safe decisions). Finally, no definite relation persists between economic conditions and other firm-level governance mechanisms.
The Role of p300 Histone Acetyltransferase in UV-Induced Histone Modifications and MMP-1 Gene Transcription

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 promotes ultraviolet (UV)-triggered long-term detrimental effects such as cancer formation and premature skin aging. Although histone modifications may play a crucial role in the transcriptional regulation of MMP-1, the relationship between UV-induced histone modification and MMP-1 expression is not completely understood. Here, we identify regulators of histone acetylation that may link UV-mediated DNA damage and MMP-1 induction by UV in cultured human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) in vitro. UV irradiation of HDFs induced MMP-1 expression and increased the level of phosphorylation of H2AX (γ-H2AX), p53 and the acetylation of histone H3 (acetyl-H3). Total histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymatic activity was decreased by UV irradiation, while histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity was increased. Suppression of p300 histone acetyltransferase (p300HAT) activity by the p300HAT inhibitor anacardic acid (AA) or by down-regulation of p300 by siRNA prevented UV-induced MMP-1 expression and inhibited UV-enhanced γ-H2AX, p53 level, and acetyl-H3. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we observed that γ-H2AX, p53, acetyl-H3, p300 and c-Jun were consistently recruited by UV to a distinct region (−2067/−1768) adjacent to the p300 binding site (−1858/−1845) in the MMP-1 promoter. In addition, these recruitments of γ-H2AX, p53, acetyl-H3, p300 and c-Jun to the p300-2 site were significantly abrogated by post-treatment with AA. Furthermore, overexpression of p300 increased the basal and UV-induced MMP-1 promoter activity. Our results suggest that p300HAT plays a critical role in the transcriptional regulation of MMP-1 by UV.
The Role of Sampling for Stability and Performance in Unconstrained Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

We investigate the impact of sampling on stability and performance estimates in nonlinear model predictive control without stabilizing terminal constraints or costs. Interpreting the sampling period as a discretization parameter, the relation between continuous and discrete time estimates depending on this parameter is analyzed. The technique presented in this paper allows us to determine the sampling rate required in order to approximate the continuous time suboptimality bound arbitrarily well and, thus, gives insight into the trade-off between sampling time and guaranteed performance.
Skipping transition conditions in a posteriori error estimates for finite element discretizations of parabolic equations

In this paper we derive a posteriori error estimates for the heat equation. The time discretization strategy is based on a θ-method and the mesh used for each time-slab is independent of the mesh used for the previous time-slab. The novelty of this paper is an upper bound for the error caused by the coarsening of the mesh used for computing the solution in the previous time-slab. The technique applied for deriving this upper bound is independent of the problem and can be generalized to other time dependent problems.
Current perspectives in the management of treatment-resistant depression

Depressive disorders are a leading cause of disability worldwide and greatly impact morbidity, health care utilization, and medical costs. Major depression that does not resolve with adequate antidepressant treatment is termed treatment-resistant depression (TRD), There is no universally accepted definition of TRD and several criteria have been suggested to define it. Multiple factors can contribute to treatment resistance, including unrecognized comorbid medical or psychiatric illness, the use of concomitant medications, noncompliance, and psychosocial stressors. TRD is associated with extensive use of depression-related and general medical services, and poses a substantial economic burden. Current approaches to its management include the use of antidepressant strategies, such as increasing the dose of the antidepressant, augmentation strategies, combination strategies, and switching strategies, electroconvulsive therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Although no definite algorithm exists for treating TRD, research in this area has advanced considerably in recent years. One approach to this is a clinical trial called STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression). This has the potential to increase our understanding about the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of TRD, to substantially reduce disability, and to enhance the quality of life in individuals with this condition.
From Sustainability to Integrated Reporting: The Legitimizing Role of the CSR Manager

This article aims to explore how an individual actor, embodying the role of the institutional entrepreneur, legitimizes new corporate reporting practices. This study is based on a longitudinal and explanatory case study of an Italian listed public utility, operating in the electricity sector, which has recently implemented Integrated Reporting. Findings were analysed through the lens of institutional entrepreneurship, revealing that Integrated Reporting can be implemented through the legitimizing activities carried out by the corporate social responsibility manager. This organizational professional, with strong competences and intrinsic engagement, efficiently uses available resources and gains support from various organizational groups through intense networking. A substantial change in corporate reporting practices can influence the position of the institutional entrepreneur who originally triggered the change process. The institutional entrepreneur first moves from the periphery to the centre of the organization and then shares such central role with other organizational professionals once the change has been implemented.
Poisson-Voronoi approximation.

Let $X$ be a Poisson point process and $K\subset\mathbb{R}^d$ a measurable set. Construct the Voronoi cells of all points $x\in X$ with respect to $X$, and denote by $v_X(K)$ the union of all Voronoi cells with nucleus in $K$. For $K$ a compact convex set the expectation of the volume difference $V(v_X(K))-V(K)$ and the symmetric difference $V(v_X(K)\triangle K)$ is computed. Precise estimates for the variance of both quantities are obtained which follow from a new jackknife inequality for the variance of functionals of a Poisson point process. Concentration inequalities for both quantities are proved using Azuma's inequality.
Lifetime nutrient dynamics reveal simultaneous capital and income breeding in a parasitoid

Models of host handling decisions and physiologically structured host–parasitoid population dynamics make diverging assumptions, untested as of this writing, about the allocation rules of nutrients to survival and reproduction. Our aim is to develop a data-rich multidimensional dynamical budget of nutrient acquisition and allocation in survival and reproduction in the host-feeding, synovigenic bruchid ectoparasitoid Eupelmus vuilletti (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) over the entire lifetime of the animal in order to address the above questions. We quantified sugar, glycogen, protein, and lipid reserves of single females at birth and death and their daily maintenance needs. We recorded each host-feeding and oviposition event over entire lifetimes and quantified the amounts acquired and invested in eggs using microcolorimetric techniques. We then built two nutrient budgets, with and without hosts, encompassing 20 measured biochemical parameters and tested their predictions using time of death. Carbohydrate reserv.
The Paradoxical Effects of Allelic Recombination on Fitness

Horizontal transfer (HT) plays a major role in bacterial evolution, providing a way for bacteria to take advantage of beneficial mutations found by other bacteria, possibly from other species. Within a given species, horizontal transfers allow bacteria to evade the clonal interference phenomenon (Hill and Robertson, 1966) through allelic recombination: when two different beneficial mutations are found concomitantly in two different lineages, horizontal transfer allows both mutations to be assembled into a single organism, thus speeding up evolution. Transfer also enables the isolation of the “ruby in the rubbish” (Peck, 1994): beneficial mutations being very rare compared to deleterious ones, it is likely that deleterious mutations will happen at the same time as a beneficial one, thus overwhelming the benefits of the latter. Transfer however, allows to solve this problem by breaking the linkage between the affected alleles. In this work, focusing on transfer involving recombination rather than simple plasmid exchange, we used the Aevol model to study the influence of HT on the evolution of both fitness and genomic architecture. The Aevol model is a digital genetics model which is realistic at the level of the genome but abstract at the phenotypic level: each individual has a double stranded genome upon which genes are detected through signal siquences and a transcriptiontranslation process. These genes are then interpreted in a mathematical formalism and combined to solve a curvefitting task (Knibbe et al., 2007).
Galaxy Rotation Curves in Covariant Horava-Lifshitz Gravity

Using the multiplicity of solutions for the projectable case of the covariant extension of Horava-Lifshitz Gravity, we show that an appropriate choice for the auxiliary field allows for an effective description of galaxy rotation curves. This description is based on static and spherically symmetric solutions of covariant Horava-Lifshitz Gravity and does not require Dark Matter.