Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women: a study with Portuguese women with and without sexual difficulties

Abstract Sexual satisfaction is considered a sexual health indicator, closely linked to sexual distress, and subsequently, to sexual problems, in women. The Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS-W) was developed for assessing sexual satisfaction and distress in women, and principal component analysis support a five-factor structure (Contentment, Communication, Compatibility, Relational Concern, and Personal Concern). Our goal was to translate and validate the SSS-W for Portuguese women. For that purpose, participants completed the SSS-W, the Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI), and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. A sample constituted by 329 women was collected through an online survey (56 women with sexual difficulties according to the FSFI cutoff score). According to confirmatory factor analysis, a five-factor model fits the Portuguese version of the SSS-W, which supports the original factorial structure. Reliability, as well as concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity have shown good to excellent values. In sum, Portuguese version of the SSS-W provides relevant clinical information on sexual satisfaction, namely communication, contentment, and compatibility dimensions, as well as concerns on personal and relational topics. Moreover, current findings suggested that the Portuguese version of the SSS-W presented adequate psychometric properties and its use as valid and reliable measure for assessing sexual satisfaction in women is recommended.
How an Advertising Disclosure Alerts Young Adolescents to Sponsored Vlogs: The Moderating Role of a Peer-Based Advertising Literacy Intervention through an Informational Vlog

Sponsored vlogs (video blogs that embed advertising) are increasingly targeting young adolescents and challenging their abilities to critically process advertising. This study examined the impact of an advertising disclosure on young adolescents’ advertising literacy (i.e., advertising recognition and affective advertising literacy) for sponsored vlogs. In addition, the underlying mechanisms, including advertising literacy and influencer effects (i.e., influencer trustworthiness and parasocial interaction [PSI]), that can explain the influence on advertising effects (i.e., purchase intention) were examined. Finally, the moderating impact of a peer-based advertising literacy intervention was investigated through an informational vlog about advertising. The results of a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental study (advertising disclosure: no disclosure versus disclosure; peer-based advertising literacy intervention: regular versus informational vlog) with 160 young adolescents (ages 11 to 14) showed that an advertising disclosure increased young adolescents’ recognition of advertising and their affective advertising literacy for sponsored vlogs, and that only affective advertising literacy negatively affected influencer effects (influencer trustworthiness and PSI) and subsequently purchase intention. Regarding the moderating role of this peer-based advertising literacy intervention, this study showed that an advertising disclosure can also have positive effects on the influencer and subsequently on advertising effects when young adolescents are informed about advertising through an informational vlog.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES EDUCATION AND NONMARKET OUTCOMES

I explore the effects of education on nonmarket outcomes from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Examples of outcomes considered include general consumption patterns at a moment in time, savings and the rate of growth of consumption over time, own (adult) health and inputs into the production of own health, fertility, and child quality or well-being reflected by their health and cognitive development. I pay a good deal of attention to the effects of education on health because they are the two most important sources of human capital: knowledge capital and health capital. There is a large literature addressing the nature of their complementarities. In the conceptual foundation section, I consider models in which education has productive efficiency and allocative efficiency effects. I then modify these frameworks to allow for the endogenous nature of schooling decisions, so that observed schooling effects can be traced in part to omitted "third variables" such as an orientation towards the future. An additional complication is that schooling may contribute to a future orientation. The empirical review provides a good deal of evidence for the proposition that the education effects are causal but is less conclusive with regard to the identification of specific mechanisms. Michael Grossman PhD Program in Economics CUNY Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue, 5 Floor New York, NY 10016-4309 and NBER mgrossman@gc.cuny. edu
‘I’m about to get my tamp on.’ Framing tampons in We Media promotion posts targeting Chinese females

ABSTRACT With much silence around menstruation, certain superstitions and beliefs still prevail in Confucian East Asian cultures such as China. As a result, domestic tampon brands did not appear until 2016. This study examines the promotion posts of tampons that are new to Chinese females on We Media channels. Specifically, a content analysis was conducted on the frames used in these promotion posts composed by different types of public accounts, guided by the intersectional perspective. Besides the commonly used generic frames, the issue-specific frames reflected how public accounts symbolized the use of the product. More than half of the promotion posts focused on the health benefits of tampons, and about a quarter portrayed them as being trendy. Despite their relative small amounts, the care and independence frames were also worth further attention, considering that contemporary Chinese society is increasingly normalizing gender equality and females’ economic independence. While a spectrum of values and ideas co-exist, these posts reflect the gender equality wave of the current kaleidoscopic Chinese society.
Oncostatin M Protects Rod and Cone Photoreceptors and Promotes Regeneration of Cone Outer Segment in a Rat Model of Retinal Degeneration

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of photoreceptor degenerative disorders that lead to loss of vision. Typically, rod photoreceptors degenerate first, resulting in loss of night and peripheral vision. Secondary cone degeneration eventually affects central vision, leading to total blindness. Previous studies have shown that photoreceptors could be protected from degeneration by exogenous neurotrophic factors, including ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), a member of the IL-6 family of cytokines. Using a transgenic rat model of retinal degeneration (the S334-ter rat), we investigated the effects of Oncostatin M (OSM), another member of the IL-6 family of cytokines, on photoreceptor protection. We found that exogenous OSM protects both rod and cone photoreceptors. In addition, OSM promotes regeneration of cone outer segments in early stages of cone degeneration. Further investigation showed that OSM treatment induces STAT3 phosphorylation in Müller cells but not in photoreceptors, suggesting that OSM not directly acts on photoreceptors and that the protective effects of OSM on photoreceptors are mediated by Müller cells. These findings support the therapeutic strategy using members of IL-6 family of cytokines for retinal degenerative disorders. They also provide evidence that activation of the STAT3 pathway in Müller cells promotes photoreceptor survival. Our work highlights the importance of Müller cell-photoreceptor interaction in the retina, which may serve as a model of glia-neuron interaction in general.
Mechanisms of contour perception in monkey visual cortex. I. Lines of pattern discontinuity

We have studied the mechanism of contour perception by recording from neurons in the visual cortex of alert rhesus monkeys. In order to assess the relationship between neural signals and perception, we compared the responses to edges and lines with the responses to patterns in which human observers perceive a contour where no line or edge is given (anomalous contour), such as the border between gratings of thin lines offset by half a cycle. With only one exception out of 60, orientation-selective neurons in area V1 did not signal the anomalous contour. Many neurons failed to respond to this stimulus at all, others responded according to the orientation of the grating lines. In area V2, 45 of 103 neurons (44%) signaled the orientation of the anomalous contour. Sixteen did so without signaling the orientation of the inducing lines. Some responded better to anomalous contours than to the optimum bars or edges. Preferred orientations and widths of tuning for anomalous contour and bar or edge were found to be highly correlated, but not identical, in each neuron. Similar to perception, the neuronal responses depended on a minimum number of lines inducing the contour, but not so much on line spacing, and tended to be weaker when the lines were oblique rather than orthogonal to the border. With oblique lines, the orientations signaled were biased towards the orientation orthogonal to the lines, as in the Zollner illusion. We conclude that contours may be defined first at the level of V2. While the unresponsiveness of neurons in V1 to this type of anomalous contour is in agreement with linear filter predictions, the responses of V2 neurons need to be explained. We assume that they sum the signals of 2 parallel paths, one that defines edges and lines and another that defines anomalous contours by pooling signals from end-stopped receptive fields oriented mainly orthogonal to the contour.
Hematological and Biochemical Reference Values for the Endangered Kiso Horse

To establish blood and biochemical references for the endangered Kiso horse, blood samples were collected from 111 adult Kiso horses, 74.5% of the existing breed. The samples were analyzed for 23 hematological and biochemical parameters to determine their means and standard deviations (SD). We compared the mean ± 2SD with the reference values cited in one of the most commonly used veterinary textbooks in Japan. The hematology of Kiso horses is characterized by lower erythrocyte count and hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. In addition, their serum biochemistry showed lower levels of aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, and γ-glutamyl transferase. Whether these propensities are attributed to breed-specific factors or are acquired factors remains unclear. Nevertheless, this study provides useful diagnostic indices for the endangered Kiso horse.
Research Paper Series Globalisation and Labour Markets Ethnic Networks and U.s. Exports Non-technical Summary

Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge the comments and suggestions of Howard Shatz and other participants at the annual conference of the System Committee for Regional Analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and would like to thank Lesli Ott for her research assistance. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System. Abstract This paper provides new estimates of the effects of ethnic network on U.S. exports. In line with recent research, our dataset is a panel of exports from U.S. states to 29 foreign countries. Our analysis departs from the literature in two ways, both of which show that previous estimates of the ethnic-network elasticity of trade are sensitive to the restrictions imposed on the estimated models. Our first departure is to control for unobserved heterogeneity with properly specified fixed effects, which we can do because our dataset contains a time dimension absent from previous studies. Our second departure is to remove the restriction that the network effect is the same for all ethnicities. We find that ethnic-network effects are much larger than has been estimated previously, although they are important only for a subset of countries. In recent years researchers have paid increasing attention to trade costs. Examples of trade costs are transportation costs, governmentally-imposed barriers (e.g., tariffs), information costs, contract enforcement costs, foreign exchange transactions costs, and distribution costs. This paper is focused on the extent to which information barriers and contract enforcement costs are mitigated by ethnic networks. In other words, it is possible that a network of immigrants might stimulate international trade by providing information on trading opportunities and reducing the costs of enforcing contracts. Information is essential for identifying advantageous exchange possibilities. In addition to information, confidence or trust that the parties involved in an exchange will perform according to their commitments is crucial before transactions are agreed upon. A lack of information and a lack of trust are frequently identified as informal barriers to trade. These informal barriers to trade likely deter international trade to a larger extent than domestic trade and, therefore, contribute to explaining why, even after adjusting for economic size and distance, intra-national trade flows tend to swamp international trade flows. Prior research, theoretical as well as empirical, has identified immigrant networks as an important intermediary that can …
The Stimulative Effect of Yangjing Capsule on Testosterone Synthesis through Nur77 Pathway in Leydig Cells

Yangjing Capsule (YC), an innovative Chinese medicine based on traditional prescription, promotes testosterone synthesis by upregulating the expression of steroidogenic enzymes. Nur77 as a nuclear receptor is known to regulate the expression of many steroid synthetases. This study aimed to explore the potential mechanisms by which YC regulates testosterone synthesis in Leydig cells. Real-time PCR and Western blot analysis were employed to assess the expressions of steroidogenic enzymes and Nur77 after treating MLTC-1 cells with YC. The luciferase reporter gene assay was performed to detect the activity of Nur77 gene promoter. Also, the expressions of steroid synthases were detected after Nur77 gene was knocked down. YC significantly stimulated Nur77 production and upregulated StAR and HSD3B expression, and this agrees with the activity of Nur77 gene promoter that was significantly enhanced by YC. Interestingly, knockdown of Nur77 blocked the above YC's effects and consequently inhibited testosterone synthesis in MLTC-1 cells. YC promotes StAR and HSD3B expression and upregulates testosterone synthesis in Leydig cells, which is mediated by Nur77 pathway.
THE RFID TECHNOLOGY AND ITS CURRENT APPLICATIONS

The paper gives an overview of the current state of the art in the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Aside from a brief introduction to the principles of the technology, a survey is given on major classes of RFID tags and readers, commonly used frequencies and identifier systems, current and envisaged fields of application, as well as advantages, concerns and limitations of use.
An automatic framework for extracting and classifying near-miss clone genealogies

Extracting code clone genealogies across multiple versions of a program and classifying them according to their change patterns underlies the study of code clone evolution. While there are a few studies in the area, the approaches do not handle near-miss clones well and the associated tools are often computationally expensive. To address these limitations, we present a framework for automatically extracting both exact and near-miss clone genealogies across multiple versions of a program and for identifying their change patterns using a few key similarity factors. We have developed a prototype clone genealogy extractor, applied it to three open source projects including the Linux Kernel, and evaluated its accuracy in terms of precision and recall. Our experience shows that the prototype is scalable, adaptable to different clone detection tools, and can automatically identify evolution patterns of both exact and near-miss clones by constructing their genealogies.
Switching to and combining offline-adapted cluster acoustic models based on unsupervised segment classification

The performance of automatic speech recognition system degrades significantly when the incoming audio differs from training data. Maximum likelihood linear regression has been widely used for unsupervised adaptation, usually in a multiple-pass recognition process. Here we present a novel adaptation framework for which the offline, supervised, high-quality adaptation is applied to clustered channel/speaker conditions that are defined with automatic and manual clustering of the training data. Upon online recognition, each speech segment is classified into one of the training clusters in an unsupervised way, and the corresponding top acoustic models are used for recognition. Recognition lattice outputs are combined. Experiments are performed on the Wall Street Journal data, and a 37.5% relative reduction of Word Error Rate is reported. The proposed approach is also compared with a general speaker adaptive training approach.
Risk factors for polyoma virus nephropathy

Background. Polyoma virus-associated nephropathy (PVN) is a common cause of renal transplant failure. The risk factors for the development of PVN have not yet been studied in large cohorts of patients for periods of 20 years. Methods. We collected clinical, renal biopsy and urinary cytology data from all patients with renal transplantations performed at the University Hospital of Basel from 1985 to 2005. All patients with a renal biopsy and urine cytology were included (n = 880). Renal transplants were divided into three groups, according to evidence of polyoma virus (PV) infection (decoy cells in the urine) and biopsy-proven PVN: Renal transplants without evidence of a PV infection (n = 751). Renal transplants with PV reactivation, e.g. decoy cell (DC) found by urinary cytology, but without PVN (n = 90). Renal transplants with PVN (n = 39). Results. The prevalence of biopsy-proven PVN in this cohort of patients was 3.3%. Immunosuppression with mycophenolate and/or tacrolimus, ATGAM, male gender of the recipient and a higher number of transplant rejection episodes were factors significantly associated with PVN development. Conclusions. The most important risk factors for the development of PVN are acute rejection and ATGAM used as induction therapy as well as tacrolimus and mycophenolate as maintenance therapy. Therefore, we conclude that patients with tacrolimus and mycophenolate maintenance therapy should be carefully monitored for the development of PVN.
An Extended Burst Tail from SGR 1900+14 with a Thermal X-Ray Spectrum

The soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 entered a new phase of activity in 2001 April initiated by the intermediate flare recorded on April 18. Ten days following this flare, we discovered an abrupt increase in the source flux between consecutive Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) orbits. This X-ray flux excess decayed over the next several minutes and was subsequently linked to a high fluence burst from SGR 1900+14 recorded by other spacecraft (Ulysses and Wind/Konus) while the SGR was Earth-occulted for RXTE. We present here spectral and temporal analysis of both the burst of April 28 and the long X-ray tail following it. We find strong evidence of an exclusively thermal X-ray tail in this event and bring this evidence to bear on other bursts and flares from SGR 1900+14 that have shown extended X-ray excesses (e.g., 1998 August 29). We include in this comparison a discussion of the physical origins of SGR bursts and extended X-ray tails.
Distributed Utility-Based Power Control: Objectives and Algorithms

This paper deals with the problem of medium access control (MAC)-layer fair power control in a wireless mesh network with an established network topology. The notion of MAC-layer fairness is defined along similar lines as end-to-end fairness for elastic traffic, except that instead of end-to-end flows, MAC-layer flows are considered, being that one hop flows between neighboring nodes. In this paper, we identify a class of utility functions of link rates that allows for a convex problem formulation. The convexity property is a key prerequisite for implementing power control algorithms in practice. We present a novel distributed algorithmic solution to the power control problem based on gradient-projection methods, prove its global convergence, and provide sufficient conditions for a geometric convergence rate. The main novelty of our scheme lies in the use of the so-called adjoint network in such a way that each transmitter can estimate its current update direction from the received signal power. This mitigates the problem of global coordination of the transmitters when carrying out gradient-projection algorithms in distributed wireless networks. The price for this are possible estimation errors so that the proposed scheme is analyzed within the framework of stochastic approximation.
Neural Mechanisms of Expert Skills in Visual Working Memory

Expertise can increase working memory (WM) performance, but the cognitive and neural mechanisms of these improvements remain unclear. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the degree to which expertise acquisition is supported by tuning of occipitotemporal object representations and tuning of prefrontal and parietal networks that may support domain-specific WM skills. We trained subjects to become experts in a novel category of complex visual objects and examined brain activity while they performed a WM task with objects from the expert category and from an untrained category. Visual expertise training resulted in improved recognition of expert, compared with untrained objects, and this effect was eliminated in a behavioral experiment by stimulus inversion. These behavioral changes were accompanied by increased recruitment of bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal, posterior parietal, and occipitotemporal cortices during WM encoding and maintenance. Across subjects, behavioral measures of expertise reliably predicted increased activation during maintenance of expert objects in all three regions. These neural expertise effects could not be attributed to differences in low-level stimulus characteristics between the two categories, familiarity with features of expert-domain objects, or familiarity with the WM task. These results are consistent with the idea that visual expertise improves WM performance through tuning of occipitotemporal object representations and through development of lateral prefrontal and posterior parietal networks that mediate the application of domain-specific mnemonic skills.
A Novel Wideband Common-Mode Suppression Filter for Gigahertz Differential Signals Using Coupled Patterned Ground Structure

A wideband and compact filter design for common-mode noise suppression in high-speed differential signals is proposed based on two U-shaped and one H-shaped coupled patterned ground structure. An equivalent model of three coupled LC resonators to predict the common-mode suppression characteristics is also developed with good agreement to the full-wave simulation and measurement result. A test sample is designed and fabricated on a standard printed circuit board (PCB). It is found the common-mode noise can be reduced by the filter over 15 dB from 3.6 to 9.1 GHz and over 75% of amplitude in the time domain. More important, the differential signal integrity, in terms of insertion loss and group delay in the frequency domain and eye diagrams in the time domain, is not degraded within the wide bandwidth. The fractional bandwidth of the stopband can reach 87% and the filter size is about 0.44 lambdag times 0.44 lambdag. The radiation caused by the common-mode current on the attached I/O cables is also efficiently suppressed by 10 dB on average within the designed stopband. To our best knowledge, it is the first low-cost common-mode filter designed for the gigahertz high-speed signals with the largest fractional bandwidth and most compact size on a PCB.