Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of nature on physiology and phenomenological experienced stress and anxiety during bronchoscopy : using an HMD

According to earlier research, patients undergoing a bronchoscopy appear to profit from nature. It provides positive distraction from stressful situations and enables directed attention to rest and recover from depletion of sources. Especially nature views that are soft-fascinating (SF) appear to be beneficial. The present research aimed to study the effects of two different nature scenes (high vs. low on SF) delivered through an HMD on phenomenologically and physiologically experiences of the bronchoscopy with a quasi-experimental 2 (between subjects) x 2 (within subjects) design. It was expected that both the nature scenes would lead to a significant improvement of self-reported mood, and a reduction in self-reported arousal and mean amplitude of SCRs. Those effects were believed to be stronger for the condition high-SF compared to the condition low-SF. Quantitative analyses seemed to show a trend in the reduction of the mean amplitude of SCRs, but the reduction was non-significant. The reduction also did not differ between the two conditions. All quantitative analyses of all self-report constructs showed non-significant results on the main effect of nature and the differences between the conditions. It is strongly recommended to include a control group in further research that focuses on physiology.
Analysis of Polymer Surface Modifications due to Discharges Initiated by Water Droplets under High Electric Fields

This paper investigates the influence of various parameters on the behaviour of water droplets on polymeric surfaces under high electric fields. An inclined plane test was carried out to understand the droplet behaviour in strong electric field. Parameters such as water droplet conductivity, droplet volume, polymeric surface roughness and droplet positioning with respect to the electrodes were studied. The flashover voltage is affected by all aforementioned parameters. The droplet positioning is in some cases more vital than the droplet volume. Surface damages were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies and by Energy dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX). It is observes that magnitude of discharge have direct influence on amount of surface damage. Keywords—Water droplet, polymeric surface, hydrophobicity, partial discharges, SEM, EDAX.
Influence of 3 D cloud effects on satellite derived solar irradiance estimation

3D cloud effects influencing the surface solar irradiance are investigated using the radiative transfer model SHDOM. The calculations are motivated by improving the Heliosat method which is used for the estimation of surface solar irradiance from satellite data. The modelled results lead to the assumption that it is possible to find a correction for moderate viewing and solar geometries for the current Heliosat method. Based on these results an empirical study is done, comparing ground measurements with Heliosat derived data. It is shown that a correction of the current Heliosat method for 3D cloud effects is possible. The proposed corrections decrease the error of the irradiance derived by the Heliosat method in a range of about 2 %. The use of a site specific correction for other locations shows that the corrections depend on the specific local ”cloud” climate, which governs e.g. the existence of certain cloud types.
A comparative phase 1 clinical trial to identify anti-infective mechanisms of vitamin D in people with HIV infection

Objectives:To determine if there is a biological mechanism that explains the association between HIV disease progression and increased mortality with low circulating vitamin D levels; specifically, to determine if restoring vitamin D levels induced T-cell functional changes important for antiviral immunity. Design:This was a pilot, open-label, three-arm prospective phase 1 study. Methods:We recruited 28 patients with low plasma vitamin D (<50 nmol/l 25-hydroxyvitamin D3), comprising 17 HIV+ patients (11 on HAART, six treatment-naive) and 11 healthy controls, who received a single dose of 200 000 IU oral cholecalciferol. Advanced T-cell flow cytometry methods measured CD4+ T-cell function associated with viral control in blood samples at baseline and 1-month after vitamin D supplementation. Results:One month of vitamin D supplementation restored plasma levels to sufficiency (>75 nmol/l) in 27 of 28 patients, with no safety issues. The most striking change was in HIV+ HAART+ patients, where increased frequencies of antigen-specific T cells expressing macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1&bgr; – an important anti-HIV blocking chemokine – were observed, with a concomitant increase in plasma MIP-1&bgr;, both of which correlated significantly with vitamin D levels. In addition, plasma cathelicidin – a vitamin D response gene with broad antimicrobial activity – was enhanced. Conclusion:Vitamin D supplementation modulates disease-relevant T-cell functions in HIV-infected patients, and may represent a useful adjunct to HAART therapy.
Analysis of 26 barium stars - II. Contributions of s-, r-, and p-processes in the production of heavy elements

Context. Barium stars show enhanced abundances for the slow neutron capture ( s -process) heavy elements, so they are suitable objects for studying s -process elements. Aims. The aim of this work is to quantify the contributions of the s -, r -, and p -processes for the total abundance of heavy elements from abundances derived for a sample of 26 barium stars. The abundance ratios between these processes and neutron exposures were studied. Methods. The abundances of the sample stars were compared to those of normal stars, thus identifying the fraction relative to the main component of the s -process. Results. The fittings of the $\sigma N$ curves (neutron-capture cross-section times abundance, plotted against atomic mass number) for the sample stars suggest that the material from the companion asymptotic giant branch star had approximately the solar isotopic composition as concerns fractions of abundances relative to the s -process main component. The abundance ratios of heavy elements, hs, ls, and s and the computed neutron exposure are similar to those of post-AGB stars. For some sample stars, an exponential neutron exposure fits the observed data well, whereas a single neutron exposure provides a better fit for others. Conclusions. The comparison of barium and AGB stars supports the hypothesis of binarity for the barium star formation. Abundances of r -elements that are part of the s -process path in barium stars are usually higher than those in normal stars, so barium stars also seemed to be enriched in r -elements, although to a lower degree than s -elements. No dependence on luminosity classes was found in the abundance-ratio behaviour among the dwarfs and giants of the sample of barium stars.
Structural Change of Production and Consumption: A Micro to Macro Approach to Economic Growth and Income Distribution

The paper aims to analyse the effect of initial structural conditions in the organisation and composition of production and in demand patterns, via changes in wages distribution, as affecting economic growth and income inequality. We develop an evolutionary model with agent-based micro-foundations and analyse the link between structural change and growth taking into account (i) firm-level organisational differences and technological changes, (ii) their impact on the structure of earnings and income of workers-consumers, and (iii) the consequent changes in consumption. The model articulates the links between production and organisation structures on the supply side, and the endogenous evolution of income distribution on the demand side. Simplied scenarios are identified via numerical simulations, in which patterns of aggregate growth are obtained as an emerging property of different structures of firms' organisation and production, functional composition of employment, income distribution and patterns of consumption.
Understanding Risk and Return

This paper uses an equilibrium multifactor model to interpret the cross-sectional pattern of postwar U.S. stock and bond returns. Priced factors include the return on a stock index, revisions in forecasts of future stock returns (to capture intertemporal hedging effects), and revisions in forecasts of future labor income growth (proxies for the return on human capital). Aggregate stock market risk is the main factor determining excess returns; but in the presence of human capital or stock market mean reversion, the coefficient of relative risk aversion is much higher than the price of stock market risk.
Authoritative classroom climate and its relations to bullying victimization and bystander behaviors

Authoritative school climates have been associated with less school bullying and other antisocial behaviors. However, studies focusing on the classroom level, as well as on bystander behaviors, are lacking. The aim of the current study was to examine whether authoritative classroom climates were associated with bullying victimization and various bystander behaviors (reinforcer, outsider, and defender behaviors) in school bullying. We included gender as a covariate at the individual and classroom levels. Participants were 1540 5th-grade students (824 girls) from 104 classrooms in Sweden who completed a questionnaire. The findings revealed that girls and students in classes with greater authoritative classroom climates were more inclined to defend. Boys reinforced more as did students in classes with more boys and more authoritative classroom climates. Boys showed more outsider behaviors as did students in classes with less authoritative classroom climates. Students in classrooms with less authoritative climates were victimized to a higher degree. Thus, the current findings suggest that a warm, caring, supportive, controlled, demanding, and cohesive classroom climate should be considered a vital protective factor against bullying victimization and negative bystander responses, and a facilitator of defending and supporting victims.
Public Communication and Information Acquisition

This paper models the tradeoff, perceived by central banks and other public actors, between providing the public with useful information and the risk of overwhelming it with excessive communication. An information authority chooses how many signals to provide regarding an aggregate state and agents respond by choosing how many signals to observe. When agents desire coordination, the number of signals they acquire may decrease in the number released. The optimal quantity of communication is positive, but does not maximize agents' acquisition of information. In contrast to a model without information choice, the authority always prefers to provide more precise signals.
Meter and Autocorrelation∗

This paper introduces a novel way to detect metrical structure in music. We introduce a way to compute autocorrelation such that the distribution of energy in phase space is preserved in a matrix. The resulting autocorrelation phase matrix is useful for several tasks involving metrical structure. First we can use the matrix to enhance standard autocorrelation by calculating the Shannon entropy at each lag. This approach yields improved results for autocorrelation-based tempo induction. Second, we can efficiently search the matrix for combinations of lags that suggest particular metrical hierarchies. This approach yields a good model for predicting the meter of a piece of music. Finally we can use the phase information in the matrix to align a candidate meter with music, making it possible to perform beat induction with an autocorrelation-based model. We argue that the autocorrelation phase matrix is a good, relatively efficient representation of temporal structure that is useful for a variety of applications. We present results for several relatively large meter prediction and tempo induction datasets, demonstrating that the approach is competitive with models designed specifically for these tasks. We also present preliminary beat induction results on a small set of artificial patterns. ∗Presented at Rhythm Perception Production Workshop (RPPW) 2005. Draft. Do Not Cite.
Mining democracy

Switzerland has a long tradition of direct democracy, which makes it an ideal laboratory for research on real-world politics. Similar to recent "open government" initiatives launched worldwide, the Swiss government regularly releases datasets related to state affairs and politics. In this paper, we propose an exploratory, data-driven study of the political landscape of Switzerland, in which we use opinions expressed by candidates and citizens on a web platform during the recent Swiss parliamentary elections, together with fine-grained vote results and parliament votes. Following this purely data-driven approach, we show that it is possible to uncover interesting patterns that would otherwise require both tedious manual analysis and domain knowledge. In particular, we show that traditional cultural and/or ideological idiosyncrasies can be highlighted and quantified by looking at vote results and pre-election opinions. We propose a technique for comparing the candidates' opinions expressed before the elections with their actual votes cast in the parliament after the elections. This technique spots politicians that do not vote consistently with the opinions that they expressed during the campaign. We also observe that it is possible to predict surprisingly precisely the outcome of nationwide votes, by looking at the outcome in a single, carefully selected municipality. Our work applies to any country where similar data is available; it points to some of the avenues created by user-generated data emerging from open government initiatives, which enable new data-mining approaches to political and social sciences.
Bases, Bullets and Ballots: The Effect of U.S. Military Aid on Political Conflict in Colombia

Does foreign military assistance strengthen or further weaken fragile states facing internal conflict? Aid may strengthen the state by bolstering its repressive capacity vis-a-vis armed non-state actors, or weaken it if resources are diverted to these very groups. We examine how U.S. military aid affects political violence in Colombia. We exploit the allocation of U.S. military aid to Colombian military bases, and compare how aid affects municipalities with and without bases. We use an instrument based on worldwide increases in U.S. military aid (excluding Latin America). We find that U.S. military assistance leads to differential increases in attacks by paramilitaries, but has no effect on guerrilla attacks. Aid also results in more paramilitary (but not guerrilla) homicides during election years, particularly in politically competitive municipalities. The findings suggest that foreign military assistance may strengthen armed non-state actors, undermining domestic political institutions.
An empirical study of software development productivity in C and C + + 1

The object-oriented language C++ is claimed to be a better C. We analyzed data extracted from a database of 90 commercial, industrial software projects developing client-server type business applications in C++ and C, respectively. We investigated whether C++ improved the productivity of software development. We did not find any empirical evidence of improved productivity. This is in line with previous studies that to date have found no convincing empirical support in favor of object-oriented development.
Deactivation of Contraction by Quick Releases in the Isolated Papillary Muscle of the Cat: Effects of Lever Damping, Caffeine, and Tetanization

In the isolated cat papillary muscle, the time course of activation during isometric contraction was measured using instantaneous velocity of shortening after quick releases at constant contractile element length and controlled load. Activation rose and declined ahead of isometric force. This course of activation could be altered by the mode of the quick release. Undamped quick releases increasingly deactivated contraction with time. Deactivation was reduced by damping the rapid movement of the lever after the release and by increasing the afterloads to which the releases were made, thus lessening the extent of the releases. The curves of activation obtained from releases to different afterloads converged after the first half of the rising phase of the twitch. Deactivation from quick releases was eliminated by tetanizing the muscle. Hence, the instantaneous relation of force and velocity of shortening was not unique relative to time except when the muscle was tetanized. Deactivation was also reduced by lowering the temperature, by adding 10 mM caffeine, or by increasing the Ca2+ concentration in the bathing medium in the presence of 10 mM caffeine. These results suggest that quick releases deactivate contraction by uncoupling crossbridges which can be reformed if the Ca2+ available to activate contractile sites is not sequestered elsewhere.
SPS and Beyond: Innovating Acquisition Through Intelligent Electronic Contracting

Abstract : The Standard procurement System (SPS) uses information technologies (IT) to support defense procurement through workflow technology. Although SPS has overcome many of the severe pathologies associated with the Defense procurement process, it is only a humble beginning for the application of state of the art in electronic contracting. This article outlines key aspects and limitations of next generation information technology including waivers of cost and pricing data and other price analysis methods. SPS officials are challenged to investigate and incorporate these powerful technologies into future electronic contracting systems to improve procurement process performance.
Differentiation of mixed biological traces in sexual assaults using DNA fragment analysis

During the investigation of sexual abuse, it is not rare that mixed genetic material from two or more persons is detected. In such cases, successful profiling can be achieved using DNA fragment analysis, resulting in individual genetic profiles of offenders and their victims. This has led to an increase in the percentage of identified perpetrators of sexual offenses. The classic and modified genetic models used, allowed us to refine and implement appropriate extraction, polymerase chain reaction and electrophoretic procedures with individual assessment and approach to conducting research. Testing mixed biological traces using DNA fragment analysis appears to be the only opportunity for identifying perpetrators in gang rapes.
Protective Effects of Estradiol on Myocardial Contractile Function Following Hemorrhagic Shock and Resuscitation in Rats

Background:Hemorrhagic shock (HS) results in myocardial contractile dysfunction. Studies showed that 17&bgr;-estradiol protects the myocardium against contractile dysfunction. The study investigated the cardioprotective effects of treatment with 17&bgr;-estradiol before resuscitation following 1 h of HS and resuscitation. Methods:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to 2 sets of experimental protocols: Ex vivo and in vivo treatment and resuscitation. Each set had three experimental groups (n = 6 per group): Normotensive (N), HS and resuscitation (HS-R) and HS rats treated with 17&bgr;-estradiol (E) and resuscitated (HS-E-R). Rats were hemorrhaged over 60-min to reach a mean arterial blood pressure of 40 mmHg. In the ex vivo group, hearts were resuscitated by perfusion in the Langendorff system. In the 17&bgr;-estradiol treated group, 17&bgr;-estradiol 280 µg/kg was added for the first 5 min. Cardiac function was measured. Left ventricular generated pressure (LVGP) and +dP/dt were calculated. In the in vivo group, rats were treated with 17&bgr;-estradiol 280 µg/kg s.c. after 60-min HS. Resuscitation was performed in vivo by the reinfusion of the shed blood for 30-min to restore normotension. Results:Treatment with 17&bgr;-estradiol before resuscitation in ex vivo treated and resuscitated isolated hearts and in the in vivo treated and resuscitated rats following HS improved myocardial contractile function. In the in vivo treated group, LVGP and +dP/dt max were significantly higher in 17&bgr;-estradiol treated rats compared to the untreated group (LVGP 136.40 ± 6.61 compared to 47.58 ± 17.55, and +dP/dt 661.85 ± 49.88 compared to 88.18 ± 0.85). Treatment with 17&bgr;-estradiol improved LVGP following HS. Conclusions:The results indicate that treatment with 17&bgr;-estradiol before resuscitation following HS protects the myocardium against dysfunction.
Observing Descriptive Social Norm and Conformity: Experimental Evidence

People often conform to others either pro-socially or self-interestedly. This study investigates how observing othersʼ behaviors influences individualsʼ behaviors. Specifically, by conducting modified dictator game experiments where subjects observe othersʼ behaviors, we measure subjectsʼ conforming/non-conforming and pro-social/self-interested behavioral changes and examine factors that influence such behavioral changes. The main results are as follows: (1) self-interested conformity was most frequently observed, followed by pro-social conformity, self-interested non-conformity, and pro-social non-conformity; (2) observational learning induces both pro-social conformity and self-interested conformity; and (3) observational learning enhances the degree of self-interested conformity, but not pro-social conformity. These results suggest that a subjectʼs utility increases with oneʼs payoff and decreases with non-conformimg to the descriptive social norm. (Received: July 10, 2017; Accepted January 31, 2018)
Higher level of faecal SCFA in women correlates with metabolic syndrome risk factors

SCFA provide energy to the host and influence lipid and glucose metabolism, suggesting that they may have an impact on the occurrence of metabolic risk factors. The aim of the present study was to determine the concentration of SCFA in faeces of lean and obese individuals and to analyse whether associations between faecal SCFA and metabolic syndrome parameters are present. Lean (n 20) and obese (n 20) women of similar age (28·5 (sd 7·6) v. 30·7 (sd 6·5) years, P= 0·33) participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements, body composition, blood pressure and biochemical parameters were assessed. SCFA were extracted from faeces and quantified by GC. Blood pressure and blood glucose, although within the normal limits, were higher in the obese group compared to lean subjects (P< 0·05). Lower HDL concentration and higher insulin and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index were observed in the obese than in the lean group (P< 0·05). The median values of SCFA (% w/w) from the lean and obese groups were butyric (0·021 v. 0·044, P= 0·024), propionic (0·021 v. 0·051, P= 0·007) and acetic (0·03 v. 0·061, P= 0·01). SCFA correlated positively with metabolic syndrome risk factors such as adiposity, waist circumference and HOMA index (P< 0·05), and inversely with HDL (P< 0·05). Our results suggest that the higher faecal concentration of SCFA is associated with metabolic risk factors and thus may influence metabolic homeostasis.