Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does multicomponent physical exercise with simultaneous cognitive training boost cognitive performance in older adults? A 6-month randomized controlled trial with a 1-year follow-up

Background Cognitive impairment is a health problem that concerns almost every second elderly person. Physical and cognitive training have differential positive effects on cognition, but have been rarely applied in combination. This study evaluates synergistic effects of multicomponent physical exercise complemented with novel simultaneous cognitive training on cognition in older adults. We hypothesized that simultaneous cognitive–physical components would add training specific cognitive benefits compared to exclusively physical training. Methods Seniors, older than 70 years, without cognitive impairment, were randomly assigned to either: 1) virtual reality video game dancing (DANCE), 2) treadmill walking with simultaneous verbal memory training (MEMORY), or 3) treadmill walking (PHYS). Each program was complemented with strength and balance exercises. Two 1-hour training sessions per week over 6 months were applied. Cognitive performance was assessed at baseline, after 3 and 6 months, and at 1-year follow-up. Multiple regression analyses with planned comparisons were calculated. Results Eighty-nine participants were randomized to the three groups initially, 71 completed the training, while 47 were available at 1-year follow-up. Advantages of the simultaneous cognitive–physical programs were found in two dimensions of executive function. “Shifting attention” showed a time×intervention interaction in favor of DANCE/MEMORY versus PHYS (F[2, 68] =1.95, trend P=0.075, r=0.17); and “working memory” showed a time×intervention interaction in favor of DANCE versus MEMORY (F[1, 136] =2.71, trend P=0.051, R2=0.006). Performance improvements in executive functions, long-term visual memory (episodic memory), and processing speed were maintained at follow-up in all groups. Conclusion Particular executive functions benefit from simultaneous cognitive–physical training compared to exclusively physical multicomponent training. Cognitive–physical training programs may counteract widespread cognitive impairments in the elderly.
A Snapshot into the Past: The Utility of Volunteer-Employed Photography in Planning and Managing Heritage Tourism

Visual imagery is a critical constituent in the production and consumption of heritage tourism; yet researchers have been relatively slow to capitalise on the potential of visual data analysis techniques to assist its effective planning and management. While there is some research that uses industry generated images found in holiday brochures and on postcards, few studies have made use of photographic data that has been collected by tourists themselves in a self-directed manner. This technique, generally known as volunteer-employed photography (VEP), can be seen to hold a number of potential advantages over more traditional methods of visual data analysis; yet at the same time there are a number of potential drawbacks with the approach. This paper reviews the VEP technique and sets out its major strengths and potential weaknesses. A case study of resident and tourist perceptions of the image of a Welsh seaside town is then presented in order to illustrate the potential for VEP in the planning and management of tourism in the built-historic environment. The paper then presents some suggestions for potential applications of the technique in the planning and management of heritage tourism.
Impact of warning and brief intervention messages on knowledge of gambling risk, irrational beliefs and behaviour

This analog study examined whether warning and brief intervention messages would increase gamblers' knowledge of odds, alter level of irrational beliefs, and influence gambling behaviour on a computerized roulette game. College‐age participants (N = 101) were matched on level of gambling irrational beliefs and self‐efficacy and then randomly assigned to receive a warning message, a warning message plus information on limit setting and irrational beliefs, or a video about gambling history. Participants were then allowed to play roulette. In contrast to those who watched the video only, participants in the two message conditions showed greater knowledge of the risks of gambling. The limit‐setting strategy produced significant reductions in gambling‐related irrational beliefs. Across conditions, participants did not gamble differently. These results suggest that warning messages might have informational value and that limit‐setting strategies hold promise for producing cognitive change in gamblers. Under the present analog procedure, such messages did not significantly affect gambling behaviour.
Acceleration Compensation of MEMS Resonators using Electrostatic Tuning

A method of using electrostatic tuning to compensate the phase noise due to external vibrations in a MEMS oscillator is presented in this paper. An accelerometer measures the acceleration applied to a resonator, and a compensation signal generated by the accelerometer is added to the bias voltage. We achieve 91% reduction of the acceleration sensitivity for sinusoidal accelerations from 100 Hz to 300 Hz using a double-ended tuning fork resonator. This is the first demonstration of active acceleration compensation for MEMS resonators.
Estimating the history of a random recursive tree

This paper studies the problem of estimating the order of arrival of the vertices in a random recursive tree. Specifically, we study two fundamental models: the uniform attachment model and the linear preferential attachment model. We propose an order estimator based on the Jordan centrality measure and define a family of risk measures to quantify the quality of the ordering procedure. Moreover, we establish a minimax lower bound for this problem, and prove that the proposed estimator is nearly optimal. Finally, we numerically demonstrate that the proposed estimator outperforms degree-based and spectral ordering procedures.
Identity Ambiguity and Change in the Wake of a Corporate Spin-off

We report on the findings of an inductive, interpretive case study of organizational identity change in the spin-off of a Fortune 100 company's top-performing organizational unit into an independent organization. We examined the processes by which the labels and meanings associated with the organization's identity underwent changes during and after the spin-off, as well as how the organization responded to these changes. The emergent model of identity change revolved around a collective state of identity ambiguity, the details of which provide insight into processes whereby organizational identity change can occur. Additionally, our findings revealed previously unreported aspects of organizational change, including organization members' collective experience of “change overload” and the presence of temporal identity discrepancies in the emergence of the identity ambiguity.
Çok Uluslu Sınıflarda Yabancı Dil Türkçe Öğretiminde Karşılaşılan Sesletim Sorunları

Yabanci dil Turkce ogretiminde ogrenciler icin en onemli sorunlardan birisi sesbirimlerin dogru sesletimidir. Ozellikle degisik dil ailelerinden gelen ogrencilerin olusturdugu cok uluslu siniflarda Turkce sesbirimlerin sesletiminde zorluk yasandigi gorulmektedir. Bu durum, erek dilde urettikleri sesbirimlerin kendi anadillerindeki ya da ogrendikleri diger dillerdeki sesbirimlerden farkli, bu sesbirimlere benzer veya bu sesbirimlerle ayni olmasindan kaynaklanabilmektedir. Bu yuzden, bu calismanin amaci, degisik dil ailelerinden gelen ve egitimlerinin belirli bir donemini tamamlamak uzere Turkiye’de bulunan Erasmus ogrencilerinin, Turkce konusurken sesbirimlerinde yasadiklari problemlerin nedenlerini; sesbirimlerini olustururken en cok hangi dilden yararlandiklarini (anadil-D1/ogrendikleridiger yabanci diller-D2/D3/D4); sesbirimlerde ses dusmesi olup olmamasini; varsa dusurulen sesbirim yerine ses turemesi ya da kaymasi olup olmadigini; olumlu ve/veya olumsuz aktarimlarin nedenlerini ve son olarak da ogrencilerin problemleri cozmede ne tur teknik ya da strateji kullandiklarini arastirmaktir.
Reading Test-taking Strategies in General Training IELTS

The significance of gaining a better understanding of how test-taking strategies are used has been recognized by researchers. Considering this fact, this study aimed at investigating the test-taking strategies which were employed by IELTS candidates in reading comprehension test. Besides, it tried to take into account the differences among strategies used for different tasks. In order to gather data, two instruments were employed: the think-aloud protocol, and an IELTS reading test. The obtained data were analyzed and interpreted qualitatively by the researcher. The findings indicated that candidates employed 15 different strategies which were categorized in 3 stages, pre-reading, reading, and post-reading stages. Furthermore, it was revealed that test-takers used certain strategies differently, depending on the type of the task. The findings provide a better understanding of strategy use among IELTS candidates and help teachers to improve their approaches toward teaching and learning goals. Keywords: Test-taking Strategy, Test-taker, Reading Comprehension, Language Learning Strategy, IELTS
The Intrarenal Renin-Angiotensin System: From Physiology to the Pathobiology of Hypertension and Kidney Disease

In recent years, the focus of interest on the role of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the pathophysiology of hypertension and organ injury has changed to a major emphasis on the role of the local RAS in specific tissues. In the kidney, all of the RAS components are present and intrarenal angiotensin II (Ang II) is formed by independent multiple mechanisms. Proximal tubular angiotensinogen, collecting duct renin, and tubular angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptors are positively augmented by intrarenal Ang II. In addition to the classic RAS pathways, prorenin receptors and chymase are also involved in local Ang II formation in the kidney. Moreover, circulating Ang II is actively internalized into proximal tubular cells by AT1 receptor-dependent mechanisms. Consequently, Ang II is compartmentalized in the renal interstitial fluid and the proximal tubular compartments with much higher concentrations than those existing in the circulation. Recent evidence has also revealed that inappropriate activation of the intrarenal RAS is an important contributor to the pathogenesis of hypertension and renal injury. Thus, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms responsible for independent regulation of the intrarenal RAS. In this review, we will briefly summarize our current understanding of independent regulation of the intrarenal RAS and discuss how inappropriate activation of this system contributes to the development and maintenance of hypertension and renal injury. We will also discuss the impact of antihypertensive agents in preventing the progressive increases in the intrarenal RAS during the development of hypertension and renal injury.
Sexual Harassment in Law Enforcement

The present study was designed to examine the incidence, impact, and perception of sexual harassment in law enforcement by utilizing a mixed methods approach and two data sources. In Study 1, quantitative data were provided by 679 male and female personnel in a large law enforcement agency. In Study 2, 531 female police officers provided qualitative responses to a national survey addressing a range of professional experiences. Most respondents from these two studies experienced behaviors that could potentially be sexually harassing. Very few were reported with a formal complaint, but retaliation was common and often severe. Regression analyses demonstrate that such experiences have a negative impact on both personal and professional outcomes. Yet narrative responses reveal that respondents do not typically appraise them negatively. Patterns are explored for the various types of behavior, the organizational status of those involved, the response strategy employed, and the outcome of the situation.
Noisy Juxtacellular Stimulation In Vivo Leads to Reliable Spiking and Reveals High-Frequency Coding in Single Neurons

Single cells in the motor and somatosensory cortex of rats were stimulated in vivo with broadband fluctuating currents applied juxtacellularly. Unlike the DC current steps used previously, fluctuating stimulation currents reliably evoked spike trains with precise timing of individual spikes. Fluctuating currents resulted in strong cellular responses at stimulation frequencies beyond the inverse membrane time constant and the mean firing rate of the neuron. Neuronal firing was associated with high rates of information transmission, even for the high-frequency components of the stimulus. Such response characteristics were also revealed in additional experiments with sinusoidal juxtacellular stimulation. For selected cells, we could reproduce these statistics with compartmental models of varying complexity. We also developed a method to generate Gaussian stimuli that evoke spike trains with prescribed spike times (under the constraint of a certain rate and coefficient of variation) and exemplify its ability to achieve precise and reliable spiking in cortical neurons in vivo. Our results demonstrate a novel method for precise control of spike timing by juxtacellular stimulation, confirm and extend earlier conclusions from ex vivo work about the capacity of cortical neurons to generate precise discharges, and contribute to the understanding of the biophysics of information transfer of single neurons in vivo at high frequencies. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Nanostimulation of single identified neurons in vivo can control spike frequency parametrically and, surprisingly, can even bias the animal's behavioral response. Here, we extend this stimulation protocol to time-dependent broadband noise stimulation in sensory and motor cortices of rat. In response to such stimuli, we found increased temporal spike-time reliability. The information transmission properties reveal, both experimentally and theoretically, that the neurons support high-frequency stimulation beyond the inverse membrane time. Generating a stimulus using the neuron's response properties, we could evoke prescribed spike times with high precision. Our work helps to establish a novel method for precise temporal control of single-cell spiking and provides a simplified biophysical description of single-neuron spiking under time-dependent in vivo-like stimulation.
Responsibility judgments and responses to people living with AIDS in China: testing an attributional perspective

With one in five individuals in the world living in China, there is an urgent need for HIV prevention and understanding HIV/AIDS stigma in China. This study applies an attributional analysis to Chinese students' responses to AIDS, examining effects of attributions of causal controllability for HIV infection on reactions to people living with HIV/AIDS. Students (n = 309) read one of two scenarios describing an AIDS patient and manipulating controllability of AIDS onset. Controllability of AIDS onset contributed to responsibility judgments, less positive affect, and lower desires to personally interact with the patient. Responsibility judgments predicted interaction wishes directly and indirectly through positive affect. Results provide support for Weiner's interpersonal attributional model. Implications for responses to AIDS in China are discussed.
Jack Mezirow and Perspective Transformation: Toward an Understanding of Irish Educational Policy within a European Framework

This article considers important junctures in the evolution of Irish educational policy. For this purpose, the author makes appropriate references to the theoretical framework of Jack Mezirow. In particular, Mezirow's treatment of ‘meaning schemes’, ‘meaning perspectives’ and ‘paradigm shifts’ are applied toward a better understanding of recent developments in educational policy there. The principal ‘paradigms’ or ‘frames of reference’ which underpin the formulation of educational policy are considered. It is hoped that such an analysis will contribute to the on-going debate about the future role of education in society in Europe generally. Readers from outside Ireland have an opportunity to reflect on the various influences that have impacted the evolution of their educational policies, and may identify resonances with specific developments in the Irish context, as well as points of departure.
Chemokines in the balance: maintenance of homeostasis and protection at CNS barriers

In the adult central nervous system (CNS), chemokines and their receptors are involved in developmental, physiological and pathological processes. Although most lines of investigation focus on their ability to induce the migration of cells, recent studies indicate that chemokines also promote cellular interactions and activate signaling pathways that maintain CNS homeostatic functions. Many homeostatic chemokines are expressed on the vasculature of the blood brain barrier (BBB) including CXCL12, CCL19, CCL20, and CCL21. While endothelial cell expression of these chemokines is known to regulate the entry of leukocytes into the CNS during immunosurveillance, new data indicate that CXCL12 is also involved in diverse cellular activities including adult neurogenesis and neuronal survival, having an opposing role to the homeostatic chemokine, CXCL14, which appears to regulate synaptic inputs to neural precursors. Neuronal expression of CX3CL1, yet another homeostatic chemokine that promotes neuronal survival and communication with microglia, is partly regulated by CXCL12. Regulation of CXCL12 is unique in that it may regulate its own expression levels via binding to its scavenger receptor CXCR7/ACKR3. In this review, we explore the diverse roles of these and other homeostatic chemokines expressed within the CNS, including the possible implications of their dysfunction as a cause of neurologic disease.
Inverse application of the generalized Littlewood theorem concerning integrals of the logarithm of analytic functions: an easy method to establish equalities between different analytic functions

Recently, we have established and used the generalized Littlewood theorem concerning contour integrals of the logarithm of analytical function to obtain new criteria equivalent to the Riemann hypothesis. Later, the same theorem was applied to calculate certain infinite sums and study the properties of zeroes of a few analytical functions. In this Note, we discuss what, in a sense, are inverse applications of this theorem. We first prove an easy Lemma that if two meromorphic on the whole complex plane functions $f(z)$ and $g(z)$ have the same zeroes and poles, taking into account their orders, and have appropriate asymptotic for large $|z|$, then for some integer $n$, $d^n \ln(f(z)/dz^n = d^n\ln(g(z)/dz^n$. The use of this Lemma enables easy proofs of many identities between elliptic functions and their transformation rules. In particular, we show how for any complex number $a$, $\wp(z)-a$, where $\wp(z)$ is Weierstrass $\wp$-function, can be presented as a product and ratio of three elliptic $\theta_1$-functions of certain arguments.
Nerve growth factor exhibits an antioxidant and an autocrine activity in mouse liver that is modulated by buthionine sulfoximine, arsenic, and acetaminophen

Abstract Nerve growth factor (NGF) is one of the several structurally related proteins, named neurotrophins (NTs), that regulate neuronal survival, development, function, and plasticity. Moreover, NGF is an important activator of antioxidant mechanisms. These NGF functions are mediated by tropomyosin-related kinase receptor A (TrkA). Although NTs and their receptors have been shown to be expressed in visceral tissues, the extent to which NTs are involved in the physiology of visceral tissues is less clear. NGF is the most expressed NT in adult mouse livers. Although NGF is an important modulator of antioxidant mechanisms in neural tissues, few studies describe the relationship between oxidative stress and NGF expression in the liver. In this study, we demonstrate that ngfb mRNA is positively modulated in mouse livers after oxidative injury via intraperitoneal injection of 14 mg/kg sodium arsenite, 6 mmol/kg L-buthionine-S-R-sulfoximine (BSO), or 300 mg/kg acetaminophen (APAP). In addition to the upregulation of ngfb, we observed the phosphorylation of the NGF high-afﬁnity receptor TrkA in the liver as well as the downstream phosphorylation of Akt, NF-kB nuclear migration and iκbα and tx-1 mRNA upregulation. These effects were abolished when a neutralizing anti-NGF antibody was used. Furthermore, this anti-NGF antibody alone induced oxidative stress in the liver by decreasing the reduced glutathione, increasing the oxidized glutathione, and downregulating tx-1 mRNA. Thus, NGF plays a critical role in liver protection against oxidative stress and xenobiotic injury as well as maintains a reduced thiol state.
Double Standards in the Evaluation of Men and Women

This article presents the results from two expectation-states studies on gender and double standards for task competence. The emergence of such standards under several experimental conditions is investigated. In both studies, men and women, participating in opposite-sex dyads, worked first individually and then as a team in solving a perceptual task. As predicted, results from Experiment 1 show that although subjects of both sexes achieved equal levels of performance, women were held to a stricter standard of competence than men. This difference was more pronounced when the referent of the standard was the partner rather than self. Experiment 2 investigates the extent to which the double standard is affected by level of accountability for one's assessments. Results show a significant difference by sex of referent of standard when accountability was low, but not when it was increased. In both studies, measures of perceived competence in self and in partner reflected reported standards, as predicted. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Effect of Contaminating Red Blood Cells on OKT3-Mediated Polyclonal Activation of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

ABSTRACT Erythrocytes are typically present as impurities in the majority of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) preparations. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of contaminating red blood cells (RBC) on the ability of OKT3 to activate CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Surprisingly, the levels of gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) produced by PBMC upon stimulation by OKT3 were increased (P < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner when increasing amounts of autologous RBC (RBC-to-PBMC ratios of 2:1, 10:1, and 50:1) were spiked into PBMC preparations. The OKT3-driven induction of the IL-2 receptor (CD25) and the proliferation of T lymphocytes in response to phorbol myristate acetate were not affected by the addition of RBC.