Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lucid dreaming during NREM sleep: Two case reports

Lucid dreams – dreams in which the dreamer is aware that is dreaming – most frequently occur during REM sleep, yet there is some evidence suggesting that lucid dreaming can occur during NREM sleep as well. By conducting a sleep laboratory study on lucid dreams, we found two possible instances of lucidity during NREM sleep which are reported here. While lucid dreaming during NREM sleep seems to be much rarer and more difficult to achieve, it appears to be possible and is most likely to occur during N1 sleep, somewhat less likely during N2 sleep and yet to be observed during N3 sleep. Future studies should explore induction methods, underlying neural mechanisms and perceptual/dream content differences between REM and NREM lucid dreams. Furthermore, a consensus agreement is needed to define what is meant by lucid dreaming and create a vocabulary that is helpful in clarifying variable psychophysiological states that can support self-reflective awareness.
Strategies of Parkour practitioners for executing soft precision landings

ABSTRACT Parkour landing techniques differ from performances of other sports as they are practiced in urban spaces with uncontrolled surfaces and drop heights. Due to the relatively young age of the sport, few studies have tried to understand how practitioners – called traceurs – succeed at performing these dynamic performances. In this paper, we focus on the precision landing technique, which has a fundamental role in most of the Parkour motions. We analyzed the lower limbs motion of traceurs executing the precision landings from two different heights and compared their performance with untrained participants. We found that traceurs perform a soft landing extending its duration twice than untrained participants do , increasing the range of motion and generating more mechanical energy to dissipate the impact. In the Parkour technique, the knee accounted for half of the energy dissipated. The peak joint torques and power were reduced in the Parkour technique. The increase of the landing height did not modify the proportion of individual joint mechanical energy contribution for dissipation. Our results could be used to enhance Parkour performance, and to understand new ways in which sport practitioners can land in order to prevent injuries.
History and development of methods in Recent benthic foraminiferal studies

Benthic foraminifera have proven to be suitable for environmental monitoring because of their high levels of adaptation, small size and high abundance in Recent sediments and the fossil record. Foraminifera are scarcely used in monitoring studies because a standardization of methods has not been achieved to date. When particular methods were introduced and why they were applied is often hidden in the literature. This paper reviews the development of field and laboratory methods, their constraints and consequences for faunal and data analyses. Multiple and box corers and some grab samplers retrieve reliable surface sediment samples provided the bow wave is minimized as the sampler approaches the sea floor. Most disturbances are created during handling of the unit on deck and subsampling. Ethanol for preservation, rose Bengal as vital stain and a mesh size of 63 µm to wash foraminiferal samples are used extensively. Faunal analyses of a larger size fraction are occasionally necessary. The fractions >125 µm and >150 µm are often preferentially chosen even though this may artificially reduce specimen numbers and faunal diversity. Generally, a much lower level of common practice prevails in sample preparation and faunal analyses than in sampling or laboratory procedures. Increasing preference has been given to quantitative methods and the acquisition of independently revisable census data during recent decades.
Exploring student mobility and graduate migration: undergraduate mobility propensities in two economic crisis contexts

Abstract This article explores the issue of mobility propensity among undergraduates, focusing on plans for long-term and short-term movement, including migration after the completion of present course of study. We also assess the strength of the relationship between a decision to move abroad and the personal impact of the ongoing economic crisis, using evidence from two recent surveys conducted with students in the capital cities of Portugal and the Republic of Ireland. Results provide an indication of the popularity of moving abroad and identify justifications for seeking an exit, potential destinations and anticipated lengths of stays. Regression analysis further confirms that the crisis is having a significant bearing on mobility decisions among respondents in Portugal but not the Republic of Ireland, with the concluding discussion integrating the main findings into existing debates on international student mobility.
Surgical Instrument Vibrations are a Construct-Valid Measure of Technical Skill in Robotic Peg Transfer and Suturing Tasks

Traditional surgical skill assessment relies on observation of a surgeon’s performance, a method that is both subjective and time consuming. The growing demand for robotic minimally invasive surgery has increased the need for objective methods of assessing technical skill for surgical training [1,2]. Several prior skill assessment studies have analyzed the kinematic motion of the robot to calculate performance metrics such as economy of motion and instrument speed [3,4]. However, these metrics do not account for interactions between the instruments and the surgical environment.
Explicit Modeling of Human-Object Interactions in Realistic Videos

We introduce an approach for learning human actions as interactions between persons and objects in realistic videos. Previous work typically represents actions with low-level features such as image gradients or optical flow. In contrast, we explicitly localize in space and track over time both the object and the person, and represent an action as the trajectory of the object w.r. t. to the person position. Our approach relies on state-of-the-art techniques for human detection [32], object detection [10], and tracking [39]. We show that this results in human and object tracks of sufficient quality to model and localize human-object interactions in realistic videos. Our human-object interaction features capture the relative trajectory of the object w.r. t. the human. Experimental results on the Coffee and Cigarettes dataset [25], the video dataset of [19], and the Rochester Daily Activities dataset [29] show that 1) our explicit human-object model is an informative cue for action recognition; 2) it is complementary to traditional low-level descriptors such as 3D--HOG [23] extracted over human tracks. We show that combining our human-object interaction features with 3D-HOG improves compared to their individual performance as well as over the state of the art [23], [29].
Structural basis of outer dynein arm intraflagellar transport by the transport adaptor protein ODA16 and the intraflagellar transport protein IFT46

Motile cilia are found on unicellular organisms such as the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, on sperm cells, and on cells that line the trachea and fallopian tubes in mammals. The motility of cilia relies on a number of large protein complexes including the force-generating outer dynein arms (ODAs). The transport of ODAs into cilia has been previously shown to require the transport adaptor ODA16, as well as the intraflagellar transport (IFT) protein IFT46, but the molecular mechanism by which ODAs are recognized and transported into motile cilia is still unclear. Here, we determined the high-resolution crystal structure of C. reinhardtii ODA16 (CrODA16) and mapped the binding to IFT46 and ODAs. The CrODA16 structure revealed a small 80-residue N-terminal domain and a C-terminal 8-bladed β-propeller domain that are both required for the association with the N-terminal 147 residues of IFT46. The dissociation constant of the IFT46-ODA16 complex was 200 nm, demonstrating that CrODA16 associates with the IFT complex with an affinity comparable with that of the individual IFT subunits. Furthermore, we show, using ODAs extracted from the axonemes of C. reinhardtii, that the C-terminal β-propeller but not the N-terminal domain of CrODA16 is required for the interaction with ODAs. These data allowed us to present an architectural model for ODA16-mediated IFT of ODAs.
AMP-activated Protein Kinase Deficiency Blocks the Hypoxic Ventilatory Response and Thus Precipitates Hypoventilation and Apnea.

RATIONALE Modulation of breathing by hypoxia accommodates variations in oxygen demand and supply during, for example, sleep and ascent to altitude, but the precise molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon remain controversial. Among the genes influenced by natural selection in high-altitude populations is one for the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) α1-catalytic subunit, which governs cell-autonomous adaptations during metabolic stress. OBJECTIVES We investigated whether AMPK-α1 and/or AMPK-α2 are required for the hypoxic ventilatory response and the mechanism of ventilatory dysfunctions arising from AMPK deficiency. METHODS We used plethysmography, electrophysiology, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and immediate early gene (c-fos) expression to assess the hypoxic ventilatory response of mice with conditional deletion of the AMPK-α1 and/or AMPK-α2 genes in catecholaminergic cells, which compose the hypoxia-responsive respiratory network from carotid body to brainstem. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS AMPK-α1 and AMPK-α2 deletion virtually abolished the hypoxic ventilatory response, and ventilatory depression during hypoxia was exacerbated under anesthesia. Rather than hyperventilating, mice lacking AMPK-α1 and AMPK-α2 exhibited hypoventilation and apnea during hypoxia, with the primary precipitant being loss of AMPK-α1 expression. However, the carotid bodies of AMPK-knockout mice remained exquisitely sensitive to hypoxia, contrary to the view that the hypoxic ventilatory response is determined solely by increased carotid body afferent input to the brainstem. Regardless, functional magnetic resonance imaging and c-fos expression revealed reduced activation by hypoxia of well-defined dorsal and ventral brainstem nuclei. CONCLUSIONS AMPK is required to coordinate the activation by hypoxia of brainstem respiratory networks, and deficiencies in AMPK expression precipitate hypoventilation and apnea, even when carotid body afferent input is normal.
Does leisure‐time physical activity attenuate or eliminate the positive association between obesity and high blood pressure?

We examine the joint association of weight status and leisure‐time physical activity on high blood pressure in a nationally representative sample of adults and older adults in Brazil. This was a national cross‐sectional survey conducted in Brazil in 2013 (Brazilian Health Survey). The sample consisted of 59 402 participants (56% women, aged 18 to 100 years). Outcome was objectively assessed blood pressure. Body mass index (BMI) was objectively measured, while self‐reported information on leisure‐time physical activity, TV viewing, chronological age, race, educational status, tobacco smoking, sodium consumption, and hypertension medication was obtained using questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis with adjusted odds ratio was conducted to test the joint association of BMI and leisure‐time physical activity categories on high blood pressure. Overall, compared to normal weight (NW) and physically active group, the NW/inactive (OR = 1.28; 1.04 to 1.58), overweight/active (OR = 1.38; 1.08 to 1.78), overweight/inactive (OR = 1.89; 1.53 to 2.33), obese/active (OR = 2.19; 1.59 to 3.01) and obese/inactive (OR = 2.54; 2.05 to 3.15) groups were 28% to 254% more likely to have high blood pressure. The attenuation and high blood pressure was greater for women and adults than for men and older adults. Thus, leisure‐time physical inactivity and being overweight and obesity were associated with high blood pressure in Brazilian population. Engaging in sufficient level of physical activity during leisure could attenuate, but not eliminate, the negative influence of obesity on high blood pressure in Brazilian adults and older adults.
Cosmic Microwave Background Quadrupole and Ellipsoidal Universe

Recent Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data confirm the cosmic microwave background (CMB) quadrupole anomaly. We further elaborate our previous proposal that the quadrupole power can be naturally suppressed in axis-symmetric universes. In particular, we discuss in greater detail the CMB quadrupole anisotropy and considerably improve our analysis. As a result, we obtain tighter constraints on the direction of the axis of symmetry as well as on the eccentricity at decoupling. We find that the quadrupole amplitude can be brought in accordance with observations with an eccentricity at decoupling of about 0.64x10{sup -2}. Moreover, our determination of the direction of the symmetry axis is in reasonable agreement with recent statistical analyses of cleaned CMB temperature fluctuation maps obtained by means of improved internal linear combination methods as galactic foreground subtraction technique.
The Neurosurgical Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: A Review

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating neurological illness of increasing prevalence. Because many patients are affected and current treatments have limited effectiveness, other therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Objectives: Here we provide a review of the neurosurgical approaches that have been attempted or are currently being investigated for the treatment of AD. Methods: Computerized database searches identified all of the published studies in the English-language literature examining the surgical treatment of AD since 1950. Results: The following 5 categories of neurosurgical treatment were identified: cerebrospinal fluid shunting, intraventricular infusions, tissue grafting, gene therapy, and electrical neural stimulation. Conclusions: While none of the neurosurgical approaches applied to the treatment of AD have proven effective to date, recent trials involving gene therapy and electrical neural stimulation are showing promising early results. Larger trials investigating these treatments have been proposed or are currently under way.
Adopting the Brisoux-Larouche Model of Brand Categorization to Correlate Brand Social Responsibility in National and In-house Coffee Shops

In-house food service brands operating on college campuses struggle to build brand image with limited consumer awareness. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities may enhance brand image for the customers, employees and stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to determine if a non-branded social-responsible retail food offering will be accepted (evoked) by the campus consumer. The quantitative methodology used here involves three different survey instruments designed to be interpreted using structured equation modeling (SEM) and regression analysis. This study confirms that an in-house coffee brand offering a high-quality product, deploying a brand social responsible strategy can be coveted by the college campus customer with little or no previous experience of the brand.
collaborative brain-computer interface for improving human performance.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) have been studied since the 1970s. Currently, the main focus of BCI research lies on the clinical use, which aims to provide a new communication channel to patients with motor disabilities to improve their quality of life. However, the BCI technology can also be used to improve human performance for normal healthy users. Although this application has been proposed for a long time, little progress has been made in real-world practices due to technical limits of EEG. To overcome the bottleneck of low single-user BCI performance, this study proposes a collaborative paradigm to improve overall BCI performance by integrating information from multiple users. To test the feasibility of a collaborative BCI, this study quantitatively compares the classification accuracies of collaborative and single-user BCI applied to the EEG data collected from 20 subjects in a movement-planning experiment. This study also explores three different methods for fusing and analyzing EEG data from multiple subjects: (1) Event-related potentials (ERP) averaging, (2) Feature concatenating, and (3) Voting. In a demonstration system using the Voting method, the classification accuracy of predicting movement directions (reaching left vs. reaching right ) was enhanced substantially from 66% to 80%, 88%, 93%, and 95% as the numbers of subjects increased from 1 to 5, 10, 15, and 20, respectively. Furthermore, the decision of reaching direction could be made around 100–250 ms earlier than the subject’s actual motor response by decoding the ERP activities arising mainly from the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), which are related to the processing of visuomotor transmission. Taken together, these results suggest that a collaborative BCI can effectively fuse brain activities of a group of people to improve the overall performance of natural human behavior. The and the conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Army or the U. S. Government. The U. S. is authorized to and for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. in development or marketed products and does not alter the all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and 10 subjects, and . 70% in six subjects. These results indicate that
Cold Dust Emission from X-ray AGN in the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: Dependence on Luminosity, Obscuration and AGN Activity

We study the 850um emission in X-ray selected AGN in the 2 sq-deg COSMOS field using new data from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey. We find 19 850um bright X-ray AGN in a high-sensitivity region covering 0.89 sq-deg with flux densities of S850=4-10 mJy. The 19 AGN span the full range in redshift and hard X-ray luminosity covered by the sample - 0.71 X-ray AGN - S850=0.71+/-0.08mJy. We explore trends in the stacked 850um flux densities with redshift, finding no evolution in the average cold dust emission over the redshift range probed. For Type 1 AGN, there is no significant correlation between the stacked 850um flux and hard X-ray luminosity. However, in Type 2 AGN the stacked submm flux is a factor of 2 higher at high luminosities. When averaging over all X-ray luminosities, no significant differences are found in the stacked submm fluxes of Type 1 and Type 2 AGN as well as AGN separated on the basis of X-ray hardness ratios and optical-to-infrared colours. However, at log10(LX) >44.4, dependences in average submm flux on the optical-to-infrared colours become more pronounced. We argue that these high luminosity AGN represent a transition from a secular to a merger-driven evolutionary phase where the star formation rates and accretion luminosities are more tightly coupled. Stacked AGN 850um fluxes are compared to the stacked fluxes of a mass-matched sample of K-band selected non-AGN galaxies. We find that at 10.5<log10(M*/M0)<11.5, the non-AGN 850um fluxes are 1.5-2x higher than in Type 2 AGN of equivalent mass. We suggest these differences are due to the presence of massive dusty, red starburst galaxies in the K-band selected non-AGN sample, which are not present in optically selected catalogues covering a smaller area.
HIV knowledge and use of health services among people from South‐East Asia and sub‐Saharan Africa living in Western Australia

BACKGROUND HIV notifications among people born in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia have increased in Australia in the last decade. People born in these regions have the highest rates of HIV diagnosis by region of birth and are overrepresented in late or advanced presentation of HIV infection. METHODS This study developed and tested a questionnaire for reliability through test-retest. A cross-sectional survey using intercept and online recruitment of HIV knowledge and use of health services was then undertaken among people born in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, who had arrived in Australia less than 10 years ago and were living in Western Australia (n = 209). Results were reported on by gender and length of time in Australia. RESULTS Participants had a reasonable knowledge of HIV transmission, but held a number of incorrect beliefs. Two-thirds (65%) of participants reported a barrier to accessing health services in Australia. Just over a third (34%) of participants had ever tested for HIV, despite indicating that they believed HIV testing was important. CONCLUSIONS This project indicates a very low rate of HIV testing among this priority population. Further action is required to improve early diagnosis of HIV and reduce onward transmission of HIV infection within these communities. SO WHAT? : We need targeted interventions that extend beyond knowledge to increase HIV testing rates among this population.
Non‐Fickian dispersion in porous media: 1. Multiscale measurements using single‐well injection withdrawal tracer tests

We present a set of single‐well injection withdrawal tracer tests in a paleoreef porous reservoir displaying important small‐scale heterogeneity. An improved dual‐packer probe was designed to perform dirac‐like tracer injection and accurate downhole automatic measurements of the tracer concentration during the recovery phase. By flushing the tracer, at constant flow rate, for increasing time duration, we can probe distinctly different reservoir volumes and test the multiscale predictability of the (non‐Fickian) dispersion models. First we describe the characteristics, from microscale to meter scale, of the reservoir rock. Second, the specificity of the tracer test setup and the results obtained using two different tracers and measurement methods (salinity‐conductivity and fluorescent dye–optical measurement, respectively) are presented. All the tracer tests display strongly tailed breakthrough curves (BTC) consistent with diffusion in immobile regions. Conductivity results, measured over 3 orders of magnitude only, could have been easily interpreted by the conventional mobile‐immobile (MIM) diffusive mass transfer model of asymptotic log‐log slope of −2. However, the fluorescent dye sensor, which allows exploring much lower concentration values, shows that a change in the log‐log slope occurs at larger time with an asymptotic value of −1.5, corresponding to the double‐porosity model. These results suggest that the conventional, one‐slope MIM transfer rate model is too simplistic to account for the real multiscale heterogeneity of the diffusion‐dominant fraction of the reservoir.
ALGORITHM XXX: ALPHACERTIFIED: CERTIFYING SOLUTIONS TO POLYNOMIAL SYSTEMS

Smale’s α-theory uses estimates related to the convergence of Newton’s method to certify that Newton iterations will converge quadratically to solutions to a square polynomial system. The program alphaCertified implements algorithms based on α-theory to certify solutions of polynomial systems using both exact rational arithmetic and arbitrary precision floating point arithmetic. It also implements algorithms that certify whether a given point corresponds to a real solution, and algorithms to heuristically validate solutions to overdetermined systems. Examples are presented to demonstrate the algorithms.