Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Dynamic Yield Curve Model with Stochastic Volatility and Non-Gaussian Interactions: An Empirical Study of Non-Standard Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

We develop an econometric methodology for the study of the yield curve and its interactions with measures of non-standard monetary policy during possibly turbulent times. The yield curve is modeled by the dynamic Nelson-Siegel model while the monetary policy measurements are modeled as non-Gaussian variables that interact with latent dynamic factors, including the yield factors of level and slope. Yield developments during the financial and sovereign debt crises require the yield curve model to be extended with stochastic volatility and heavy tailed disturbances. We develop a flexible estimation method for the model parameters with a novel implementation of the importance sampling technique. We empirically investigate how the yields in Germany, France, Italy and Spain have been affected by monetary policy measures of the European Central Bank. We model the euro area interbank lending rate EONIA by a log-normal distribution and the bond market purchases within the ECB's Securities Markets Programme by a Poisson distribution. We find evidence that the bond market interventions had a direct and temporary effect on the yield curve lasting up to ten weeks, and find limited evidence that purchases changed the relationship between the EONIA rate and the term structure factors.
What’s the story? Narration and comprehension in Swedish preschool children with language impairment

This study investigated the possibility of identifying narrative problems at an early age (5-year-old children with language impairment). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between the comprehension of a story and the ability to structure the contents of the same story in a group of preschool children with language impairment. The results showed that the participants did not exhibit age-appropriate narrative skills. We also found that good comprehension of the narrative is a prerequisite for the ability to produce a story with a content structure in a retelling task. Methodological issues are discussed and the clinical implications highlighted.
Effect of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Cognition and Mood in Stroke Patients: A Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial

Kim BR, Kim DY, Chun MH, Yi JH, Kwon JS: Effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on cognition and mood in stroke patients: A double-blind, sham-controlled trial. Objective:This study examined whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) affected cognition or mood in poststroke patients. Design:The study was a single-center, prospective, double-blind, sham-controlled preliminary study. Eighteen patients (10 males and 8 females; average age, 62.9 yrs) were enrolled. All participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: low-frequency (1 Hz) stimulation, high-frequency (10 Hz) stimulation, and sham stimulation (control). Each patient underwent 10 consecutive treatment sessions (five times per week for 2 wks). A Computerized Neuropsychological Test was used to evaluate cognitive function, the Tower of London test was used to assess executive function, the Modified Barthel Index score was used to assess activity of daily living function, and the Beck Depression Inventory was used to assess mood status. These evaluations were conducted in all patients before and after treatment. Results:Treatment had no significant effect on any cognitive function parameter, including the Tower of London scores, in any of the three groups. In contrast, high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation resulted in significantly lower Beck Depression Inventory scores compared with baseline and compared with the other two groups. The Modified Barthel Index scores significantly increased in all three groups. Conclusions:These preliminary data suggest that there was a positive effect on mood, but the study was not powered to detect any measurable effect on cognition.
Computational foundations of image interpolation algorithms

Image interpolation is an important image processing operation applied in diverse areas ranging from computer graphics, rendering, editing, medical image reconstruction, to online image viewing. Image interpolation techniques are referred in literature by many terminologies, such as image resizing, image resampling, digital zooming, image magnification or enhancement, etc. Basically, an image interpolation algorithm is used to convert an image from one resolution (dimension) to another resolution without loosing the visual content in the picture. Image interpolation algorithms can be grouped in two categories, non-adaptive and adaptive. The computational logic of an adaptive image interpolation technique is mostly dependent upon the intrinsic image features and contents of the input image whereas computational logic of a non-adaptive image interpolation technique is fixed irrespective of the input image features. In this paper, we review the progress of both non-adaptive and adaptive image interpolation techniques. We also proposed a new algorithm for image interpolation in discrete wavelet transform domain and shown its efficacy. We describe the underlying computational foundations of all these algorithms and their implementation techniques. We present some experimental results to show the impact of these algorithms in terms of image quality metrics and computational requirements for implementation.
Risk factors for breast cancer. Case-control study results.

The great importance of knowing the risk factors for breast pathology in order to reveal the risk categories is well known. In many geographical areas breast cancer is the most common female neoplasm. Recent Italian statistics point out that every year 83 women out of 100,000 develop breast cancer and that its incidence is increasing. Every year in Italy 10,000 women die of breast cancer. In our retrospective study 146 women suffering from breast cancer, treated in our Institute from 1970 to 1993, were enrolled. We excluded 4 patients, surgically treated in another Institute and 35 who presented a second or a third gynaecological cancer. We considered age, menarche, parity and menopausal age in all patients in order to evaluate the association of these risk factors with breast cancer development. The average age when neoplasm was first diagnosed was 53.07 years (between 30-84 years), with a 9.4% incidence in patients under 35 years old. In 41.1% of the cases, menarche was present under 12 years and in only 14.1% after 14 years, therefore confirming the reduction of mammary cancer risk in women with late menarche. Twenty one point five per cent of the patients were nulliparous. In our case series no protective factor seemed to be related with 1 or 2 pregnancies (43.9%). The menopausal average age was 50.2, with an average fertile life period of 37.1 years. Our study also considered the location of the primary neoplasia (60.7% in the upper-outer quadrant), the tumor size (3.08 cm average diameter) and the histological type (81.3% ductal form). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Information encoding and the responses of single neurons in the primate temporal visual cortex.

1. The possibility of temporal encoding in the spike trains of single neurons recorded in the temporal lobe visual cortical areas of rhesus macaques was analyzed with the use of principal component and information theory analyses of smoothed spike trains. The neurons analyzed had responses selective for faces. 2. Provided that a correction was applied to earlier methods of principal component analysis used for neuronal spike trains, it was shown that the first principal component provides by a great extent the most information, with the second and third adding only small proportions (on average 18.8 and 8.4%, respectively). 3. It was shown that the magnitude of the second and higher principal components is even smaller if the spike train analysis is started after the onset of the neuronal response, instead of before the neuronal response has started. This suggests that variations in response latency are at least a part of what is reflected by the second and higher principal components. 4. The first principal component was correlated with the mean firing rate of the neurons. The second and higher principal components reflected at least partly the onset properties of the neuronal responses, such as response latency differences between the stimuli. 5. A considerable proportion of the information available from principal components 1-3 is available in the firing rate of the neuron. 6. Periods of the firing rate of as little as 50 or even 20 ms are sufficient to give a reasonable estimate of the firing rate of the neuron. 7. Information theory analysis showed that in short epochs (e.g., 50 ms) the information available from the firing rate can be as high, on average, as 84.4% of that available from the firing rate calculated over 400 ms, and 52.0% of that available from principal components 1-3 in the 400-ms period. It was also found that 44.0% of the information calculated from the first three principal components is available in the firing rates calculated over epochs as short as 20 ms. 8. More information was available near the start of the neuronal response, and the information available from short epochs became less later in the neuronal response. 9. Taken together, these analyses provide evidence that a short period of firing taken close to the start of the neuronal response provides a reasonable proportion of the total information that would be available if a long period of neuronal firing (e.g., 400 ms) were utilized to extract it, even if temporal encoding were used. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Identification of Competencies for Professional Staff of Public Libraries

Abstract This study identified and validated competencies required for public library professionals by seeking the views of public librarians themselves. Competencies relating to management and customer service received high ratings, while traditional competencies related to reference service and collection management seemed much lower in importance. In addition, technological competencies also did not seem to be a priority among public library staff in Singapore. Experienced public librarians who had formal library education and were in managerial positions required significantly different sets of competencies as compared with inexperienced librarians who had no formal library qualifications, particularly those who were not holding management positions at the time of the study. These differing competencies were usually those required for higher level management and planning work.
Association between apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele and apathy in probable Alzheimer's disease

Objective: There have been inconclusive results to date on the association between the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether ApoE ɛ4 allele is associated with NPS in probable AD.
Hope, happiness, and reciprocity: A thematic analysis of preservice teachers' relationships with their reading buddies

Abstract Tutoring is an important and effective means of helping young readers and writers who are experiencing difficulties. However, little is known about what kinds of relational qualities might accompany successful tutoring or how we might identify them. To address these issues, we analyzed the reflective writings of tutors in 10 tutor‐student pairs classified as “very successful” or “less successful” by student achievement assessments. Results suggest that very successful tutoring pairs were deeply engaged in the human activity of caring and reciprocity. They also expressed a deep commitment by envisioning their students’ futures in a hopeful manner and engaged in continual revision of their teaching. Less successful tutors had more conflicted relationships. Results suggest that helping tutors with strategy instruction and developing strong positive relationships with those they tutor may increase benefits for children.
The chicken RaxL gene plays a role in the initiation of photoreceptor differentiation

The paired type homeodomain gene, Rax, was previously identified as a key molecule in early eye formation in mice and humans. We report the expression patterns of two Rax family members from chicken, Rax and RaxL, and on the function of RaxL in photoreceptor development. Both Rax and RaxL are expressed in early retinal progenitor cells, with Rax being expressed at a significantly higher level than RaxL. At the time that photoreceptors begin to form, RaxL appears at a relatively high level in a subset of cells within the zone of proliferating progenitor cells. Subsequently, it is expressed in cells migrating to the photoreceptor layer, where it is highly expressed during the initial, but not late, stages of photoreceptor differentiation. To test the function of RaxL, a putative dominant-negative allele of RaxL comprising a fusion of the engrailed repressor domain and a region of RaxL (EnRaxLΔC) was introduced in vivo into the early chick eye using a retroviral vector. EnRaxLΔC, but not the dominant negative Rax (EnRaxΔC), caused a significant reduction in expression of early markers of photoreceptor cells. Examination of the transactivation activity of RaxL on a reporter construct bearing a canonical photoreceptor-specific enhancer element showed that RaxL exhibited significant activation activity, and that this activity was severely diminished in the presence of EnRaxLΔC. The effect on photoreceptor gene expression in vivo was specific in that other cell types were unaffected, as was general proliferation in the retina. The reduction in numbers of cells expressing photoreceptor markers was probably due to decreased survival of developing photoreceptor cells, as there was increased apoptosis among cells of the retina expressing dominant-negative RaxL. We propose that RaxL plays a role in the initiation of differentiation, and also possibly commitment, of photoreceptor cells in the chicken retina.
The Sacred Self: A Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing

How does religious healing work, if indeed it does? In this study of the contemporary North American movement known as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Thomas Csordas investigates the healing practices of a modern religious movement to provide a rich cultural analysis of the healing experience. This is not only a book about healing, however, but also one about the nature of self and self- transformation. Blending ethnographic data and detailed case studies, Csordas examines processes of sensory imagery, performative utterance, orientation, and embodiment. His book forms the basis for a rapprochement between phenomenology and semiotics in culture theory that will interest anthropologists, philosophers, psychologists, physicians, and students of comparative religion and healing.
Alterations in Retinal Microvascular Geometry in Young Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To describe retinal microvascular geometric parameters in young patients with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Patients with type 1 diabetes (aged 12–20 years) had clinical assessments and retinal photography following standardized protocol at a tertiary-care hospital in Sydney. Retinal microvascular geometry, including arteriolar and venular tortuosity, branching angles, optimality deviation, and length-to-diameter ratio (LDR), were measured from digitized photographs. Associations of these geometric characteristics with diabetes duration, A1C level, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and other risk factors were assessed. RESULTS Of 1,159 patients enrolled, 944 (81.4%) had gradable photographs and 170 (14.7%) had retinopathy. Older age was associated with decreased arteriolar (P = 0.024) and venular (P = 0.002) tortuosity, and female subjects had larger arteriolar branching angle than male subjects (P = 0.03). After adjusting for age and sex, longer diabetes duration was associated with larger arteriolar branching angle (P ≤ 0.001) and increased arteriolar optimality deviation (P = 0.018), higher A1C was associated with increased arteriolar tortuosity (>8.5 vs. ≤8.5%, P = 0.008), higher SBP was associated with decreased arteriolar LDR (P = 0.002), and higher total cholesterol levels were associated with increased arteriolar LDR (P = 0.044) and decreased venular optimality deviation (P = 0.044). These associations remained after controlling for A1C, retinal vessel caliber, and retinopathy status and were seen in subjects without retinopathy. CONCLUSIONS Key diabetes-related factors affect retinal microvascular geometry in young type 1 diabetes, even in those without evidence of retinopathy. These early retinal alterations may be markers of diabetes microvascular complications.
Auditory and visual processing of novel stimuli are affected by subjective connotations of Danger and Usefulness

The automatic evaluation literature and the survivability memory enhancement effect (Nairne et al., 2007) suggest that stimuli might be automatically categorized along an approach/withdraw dimension. Duckworth et al. (2002) showed that such effects hold even for novel stimuli. The current study is a more rigorous test of the idea that such effects reflect a general organizing principle of cognitive-perceptual processing. Participants performed auditory (Experiment 1) or visual (Experiment 2) lexical decision. The pseudowords had been previously rated by different participants on subjective Danger and Usefulness. RTs for the pseudowords showed the same Danger × Usefulness interaction observed several times for real words: increasing Danger speeded RTs for words lower on Usefulness but slowed RTs for words higher on Usefulness. Danger and Usefulness classifications are an integral part of routine stimulus processing from the very first exposure. Results are discussed in terms of a general organizing principle of human cognition.
Metformin prevents LYRM1-induced insulin resistance in 3T3-L1 adipocytes via a mitochondrial-dependent mechanism

We previously proposed that LYR motif containing 1 (LYRM1)-induced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production contributes to obesity-related insulin resistance. Metformin inhibits ROS production and promotes mitochondrial biogenesis in specific tissues. We assessed the effects of metformin on insulin resistance in LYRM1-over-expressing 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Metformin enhanced basal and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and GLUT4 translocation, reduced IRS-1 and Akt phosphorylation and ROS levels, and affected the expression of regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis in LYRM1-over-expressing adipocytes. Metformin may ameliorate LYRM1-induced insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction in part via a direct antioxidant effect and in part by activating the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-PGC1/NRFs pathway.
‘The best education in the world’: reality, repetition or cliché? International students' reasons for choosing an English university

Universities and students collaborate in a shared language of excellence, quality and choice, and become part of the same discourse of marketisation, commodification and globalisation, where each plays their part as provider and consumer in a highly competitive international area. Whilst there are an increasing number of studies which focus on the use of the Internet and websites, there are still very few articles on the use of websites in the context of higher education and university choice. This study uses a sample of 60 personal statements from online postgraduate applications submitted by international students. The extracts are coded for analysis and compared against the website information provided on university and British Council websites during the time period of the applications. Applicants used specific nouns, adjectives and phrases published on the British Council website and the website of their target university as reasons for choosing a university.
Cell wall assembly in Bacillus subtilis: development of bacteriophage-binding properties as a result of the pulsed incorporation of teichoic acid

Addition of a pulse of excess phosphate to a phosphate-limited culture of Bacillus subtilis W23 resulted in the synthesis and incorporation of wall material that contained teichoic acid. Consequently, the bacteria regained the ability to bind phage SP50 although maximum phage-binding properties did not develop until approximately half a generation time after incorporation of teichoic acid had ceased. The present findings strongly support our earlier suggestion that newly synthesized receptor material is incorporated at the inner surface of the wall and becomes exposed at the outer surface only during subsequent growth.
Bacillus cereus-type polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthetic gene cluster contains R-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase gene

Bacillus cereus and Bacillus megaterium both accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) but their PHA biosynthetic gene (pha) clusters that code for proteins involved in PHA biosynthesis are different. Namely, a gene encoding MaoC-like protein exists in the B. cereus-type pha cluster but not in the B. megaterium-type pha cluster. MaoC-like protein has an R-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase (R-hydratase) activity and is referred to as PhaJ when involved in PHA metabolism. In this study, the pha cluster of B. cereus YB-4 was characterized in terms of PhaJ’s function. In an in vitro assay, PhaJ from B. cereus YB-4 (PhaJYB4) exhibited hydration activity toward crotonyl-CoA. In an in vivo assay using Escherichia coli as a host for PHA accumulation, the recombinant strain expressing PhaJYB4 and PHA synthase led to increased PHA accumulation, suggesting that PhaJYB4 functioned as a monomer supplier. The monomer composition of the accumulated PHA reflected the substrate specificity of PhaJYB4, which appeared to prefer short chain-length substrates. The pha cluster from B. cereus YB-4 functioned to accumulate PHA in E. coli; however, it did not function when the phaJYB4 gene was deleted. The B. cereus-type pha cluster represents a new example of a pha cluster that contains the gene encoding PhaJ.
Modeling integrated magnetic gears using a magnetic equivalent circuit

This paper introduces an integrated magnetic gear intended as direct-drive. Next, a magnetic equivalent circuit for the presented gear topology is proposed. This approach uses the principle of virtual work for torque calculation and takes magnetic leakage and saturation into account. Thereby, the approach focuses on a reduction of the computation time compared to finite element simulation. Finally, the suggested approach is verified by the results of a finite element simulation.
Conceptual Changes in Religious Concepts of Elementary Schoolchildren: The case of the house where God lives

The present paper was part of a larger project, which investigated the process of knowledge acquisition in Christian religion. The concept of God in particular is a core construct in any religion and it has been involved in a number of changes in the history of religions. Some of those changes were observed in the children's constructions of the house that God lives in. Among children's drawings we found changes which imply, in terms of Thagard (1992) not only belief revision, but also a conceptual change. However, hierarchy reinterpretation, in which the concept of God changes from the part of the cosmos to the creator (ontologically different from the creatures) we did not observe among the primary school children. The development of the different hierarchies we constructed on the basis of children's drawings seems to follow the developmental changes, which took place in the history of Greek religions. Finally, there were some implications for Religious Education.