Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Printed Dry EEG Electrodes

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a procedure that records brain activity in a non-invasive manner. The cost and size of EEG devices has decreased in recent years, facilitating a growing interest in wearable EEG that can be used out-of-the-lab for a wide range of applications, from epilepsy diagnosis, to stroke rehabilitation, to Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). A major obstacle for these emerging applications is the wet electrodes, which are used as part of the EEG setup. These electrodes are attached to the human scalp using a conductive gel, which can be uncomfortable to the subject, causes skin irritation, and some gels have poor long-term stability. A solution to this problem is to use dry electrodes, which do not require conductive gel, but tend to have a higher noise floor. This paper presents a novel methodology for the design and manufacture of such dry electrodes. We manufacture the electrodes using low cost desktop 3D printers and off-the-shelf components for the first time. This allows quick and inexpensive electrode manufacturing and opens the possibility of creating electrodes that are customized for each individual user. Our 3D printed electrodes are compared against standard wet electrodes, and the performance of the proposed electrodes is suitable for BCI applications, despite the presence of additional noise.
Patterns in the weak shear 3-point correlation function

We explore the scale and angular dependence of the cosmic shear three-point correlation function. The shear field is found to have a much more complex three-point function than the convergence field, but it also exhibits specific motifs which show signatures of gravitational lensing. Exact shear patterns are inferred analytically for some geometrical shear triplets configurations, when simple interpretations can be derived. A more complete description of their geometrical properties is then carried out from ray-tracing numerical simulations and simple models. These patterns reveal typical features that can be utilized for non-Gaussian signal detection in cosmic shear surveys. We test the robustness of these properties against complex noise statistics and non-trivial survey topologies. From these conclusive checks, we predict that the VIRMOS-DESCART survey should allow a detection of a non-Gaussian signal with a comfortable significance for a low matter density Universe.
Correlated equilibrium and Nash Equilibrium as an Observer's Assessment of the Game

Noncooperative games are examined from the point of view of an outside observer who believes that the players are rational and that they know at least as much as the observer. The observer is assumed to be able to observe many instances of the play of the game; these instances are identical in the sense that the observer cannot distinguish between the settings in which different plays occur. If the observer does not believe that he will be able to offer beneficial advice then he must believe that the players are playing a correlated equilibrium, though he may not initially know which correlated equilibrium. If the observer also believes that, in a certain sense, there is nothing connecting the players in a particular instance of the game then he must believe that the correlated equilibrium they are playing is, in fact, a Nash equilibrium.
Lipocalin 2 over-expression facilitates progress of castration-resistant prostate cancer via improving androgen receptor transcriptional activity

Background Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is the lethal phenotype of prostate cancer. Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is aberrantly expressed in many cancers including primary prostate cancer (PCa), but its role in CRPC has not been reported. Results LCN2 expression was upregulated in human primary PCa and CRPC tissues. Overexpression of LCN2 promoted C4-2B and 22RV1 cell proliferation while knockdown of LCN2 markedly inhibited C4-2B and 22RV1 cell growth. LCN2 overexpression led to increased AR downstream gene SLC45A3 without upregulating AR expression. In the xenograft model, overexpression of LCN2 significantly promoted tumor growth. Methods LCN2 expression was detected in primary PCa and CRPC tissues and cell lines C4-2B and 22RV1 using immunohistochemistry and western blotting, respectively. Serum LCN2 level was detected vi ELISA. Lentiviruses-mediated over-expression of LCN2 and LCN2 knockdown were performed in CRPC cell lines. Expressions of androgen receptor (AR) downstream genes was examined in cell lines, in CRPC tissues, and in animal models. Conclusion LCN2 could facilitate cell proliferation of CRPC via AR transcriptional activity. LCN2 could be a novel target in CRPC.
An Ab Initio Approach to Solar Coronal Loops

Data from recent numerical simulations of the solar corona and transition region are analyzed, and the magnetic field connections between the low corona and the photosphere are found to be close to those of a potential field. The field line-to-field line displacements follow a power-law distribution with typical displacements of just a few Mm. Three loops visible in simulated TRACE filters are analyzed in detail and found to have significantly different heating rates and distributions thereof, one of them showing a small-scale heating event. The dynamical structure is complicated, even though all the loops are visible in a single filter along most of their lengths. The loops are nonstatic and are in the process of evolving into loops with very different characteristics. Differential emission measure (DEM) curves along one of the loops illustrate that DEM curves have to be treated carefully if physical characteristics are to be extracted.
The Outcomes of a 12-Week Internet Intervention Aimed at Improving Fitness and Health-Related Quality of Life in Overweight Adolescents: The Young & Active Controlled Trial

Background Overweight and obesity among adolescents may have consequences, with potentially lasting effects on health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Excess weight is also associated with decreases in physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness. The aim of the current study was to investigate the short-term effects of a 12-week Internet intervention in a primary care setting intended to increase cardiorespiratory fitness and HRQoL among overweight and obese adolescents. Methods In this controlled trial, participants (13–15 years) were non-randomly allocated to an intervention- or a control group. The intervention group received 12-weeks access to an online program providing tailored physical activity counseling based on principles from Self-determination Theory and Motivational Interviewing. The control group received standard follow-up by the school nurses. The primary outcome measure of cardiorespiratory fitness was determined using a shuttle run test. The secondary outcomes: HRQoL, leisure time exercise, body image and self-determined motivation for physical activity and exercise, were assessed by self-report measures. Age- and gender-adjusted body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on measurements of height and weight. To compare pre-to post intervention differences within groups, a paired samples t-test was used while crude differences between groups were analyzed with an independent samples t-test. Results Of the 120 participants, 108 completed the study, 75 in the intervention group and 33 in the control group. Exposure to the intervention had a small effect on cardiorespiratory fitness (0.14; 95% CI [0.01;0.28]; P = 0.04), and a moderate effect on HRQoL (5.22; 95% CI [0.90; 9.53]; P = 0.02). Moreover, the control group increased significantly in BMI, yielding a moderate preventive effect on BMI (−0.39; 95% CI [−0.74;−0.03]; P = 0.03) for the intervention group. Conclusion The results suggest that the Internet intervention with tailored physical activity counseling can have beneficial short-term effect on cardiorespiratory fitness, HRQoL and BMI among adolescents with overweight and obesity. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01700309
A Random-path Markov Chain Algorithm for Simulating Categorical Soil Variables from Random Point Samples

All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher. S oil properties (or variables) are usually classifi ed into multiple classes (or intervals) and delineated as area-class (i.e., polygon) maps. Area-class soil maps are widely used in soil science and they are crucial data for natural resources management and environmental studies. Because exhaustive fi eld survey and sampling for accurate soil mapping are impractical, soil area-class mapping has to be based on limited samples and expert interpretations. Thus, hand-delin-eated maps are inevitably subject to map creators' personal understanding of the studied areas and classes. Furthermore, a single soil map cannot refl ect the inherent spatial uncertainty of soil occurrence at unsampled locations. Therefore, it is desirable to use quantitative stochastic simulation techniques for soil mapping because they may avoid subjectivity in map creation and reveal the spatial uncertainty associated with soil classes mapped from limited samples. Recently, a triplex Markov chain conditional simulation method was proposed for simulating soil classes from survey line data in the horizontal two dimensions (Li et al., 2004). While its practicality is limited, the method has demonstrated some special capabilities of multidimensional Markov chain models in dealing with soil classes. For example, interclass relationships (i.e., cross-correlations , neighboring relationships, and directional asymmetry of class patterns) can be simply incorporated into simulations through cross transition probabilities (i.e., transition probabilities between different classes) and large-scale soil patterns may be captured effectively when a simulation is conditioned on relatively abundant survey line data. To further extend Markov chains into a Markov-chain-based practical geostatistical technique, several major issues have to be solved, as mentioned in Li et al. (2004, p. 1488–1490) and Li and Zhang (2005): (i) parameter estimation from point samples; (ii) underestimation of small classes in simulated realizations (here small classes refers to classes that have area proportions less than the average); and (iii) algorithm design for dealing with point samples, particularly randomly or irregularly distributed point samples. With the proposition of the transiogram as a new spatial relationship measure for categorical data (Li, 2006), the parameter estimation problem in Markov chain conditional simulation was solved by using transiogram models …
ON ESTIMATING A DYNAMIC FUNCTION OF STOCHASTICSYSTEM WITH AVERAGINGLIPTSER

We consider a two-scaled diffusion system, when drift and diffusion parameters of the “slow” component are contaminated by the “ fast” unobserved component. The goal is to estimate the dynamic function which is defined by averaging the drift coefficient of the “slow” component w.r. t. the stationary distribution of the “fast” one. We apply a locally linear smoother with a datadriven bandwidth choice. The procedure is fully adaptive and nearly optimal up to a log log factor.
Role of romiplostim in splenectomized and nonsplenectomized patients with immune thrombocytopenia

Romiplostim is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TPO-RA) used for the treatment of adult primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). ITP is an autoimmune condition characterized by low platelet counts due to increased destruction and reduced platelet production. First-line interventions include corticosteroids, anti-D, and intravenous immunoglobulins, while second-line therapies comprise splenectomy, rituximab, cyclosporine A, and TPO-RAs. The recognition that compromised platelet production is a critical part of the pathogenesis of ITP prompted the development of therapeutic strategies based on the stimulation of the TPO receptor. TPO-RAs enhance megakaryocyte proliferation, increase platelet production, and lead to a reduction in bleeding episodes in ITP patients. This review will summarize current data on the TPO-RA romiplostim, with a particular focus on its relation to splenectomy.
Chlorpyrifos Induces MLL Translocations Through Caspase 3-Dependent Genomic Instability and Topoisomerase II Inhibition in Human Fetal Liver Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Household pesticide exposure during pregnancy has been associated with a more than 2-fold increased risk in infant leukemia, and chlorpyrifos (CPF) is among the most frequently applied insecticides. During early fetal development, liver is a hematopoietic organ with majority of cells being CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells (CD34(+)HSC). The in utero injury to CD34(+)HSC has been known to underlie the pathogenesis of several blood disorders, often involving rearrangements of the mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) gene on 11q23. In this study, we evaluated the leukemogenic potential of CPF in human fetal liver-derived CD34(+)HSC. Specifically, exposure to 10 μM CPF led to decrease in viability, inhibition in proliferation and induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and occurrence of MLL(+) rearrangements. In particular, we observed CPF-mediated cell cycle disturbance as shown by G0/G1 arrest, in contrast to etoposide (VP-16), an anticancer drug used as a positive control and known to induce G2/M arrest. Further study on mechanisms underlying DNA DSBs and MLL(+) rearrangements revealed that CPF might act as topoisomerase II poison, a mechanism of action similar to VP-16. On the other hand, CPF was also shown to induce early apoptosis through active caspase-3 activation, a pathway known to underlie DNA DSBs and MLL(+) translocations. Our data indicate that in utero injury of CD34(+)HSC by CPF may contribute to the increased risk of infant leukemia. Future work will elucidate the mechanism and the type of CPF-induced MLL(+) translocations in HSC.
Reverberation Measurements for 17 Quasars and the Size-Mass-Luminosity Relations in Active Galactic Nuclei

Correlated variations in the line and continuum emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be used to determine the size and geometry of the broad emission-line regions (BLRs). We have spectrophotometrically monitored a well-defined sample of 28 Palomar-Green quasars in order to obtain measurements of their BLRs and to investigate the relationships between quasar luminosity, central black hole mass, and BLR size in AGNs. Spectrophotometry was obtained every 1-4 months for 7.5 yr, yielding 20-70 observing epochs per object. Both the continuum and emission-line fluxes of all of the quasars were observed to change during the duration of the observing program. Seventeen of the 28 objects were observed with adequate sampling (≳20 independent observing epochs) to search for correlated variations between the Balmer emission lines and the continuum flux. For each of these 17 objects, a significant correlation was observed, with the Balmer-line variations lagging those of the continuum by ~100 days (rest frame). Our work increases the available luminosity range for studying the size-mass-luminosity relations in AGNs by 2 orders of magnitude and doubles the number of objects suitable for such studies. Combining our results with comparable published data available for Seyfert 1 galaxies, we find the BLR size scales with the rest-frame 5100 Å luminosity as L0.70±0.03. This determination of the scaling of the size of the BLR as a function of luminosity is significantly different from those previously published and suggests that the effective ionization parameter in AGNs may be a decreasing function of luminosity. We are also able to constrain, subject to our assumption that gravity dominates the motions of the BLR gas, the scaling relationship between the mass of the central black holes and the luminosity in AGNs. We find that the central mass scales with 5100 Å luminosity as M ∝ L0.5±0.1. This is inconsistent with all AGNs having optical luminosity that is a constant fraction of the Eddington luminosity.
Spurious Regressions in Financial Economics?

Even though stock returns are not highly autocorrelated, there is a spurious regression bias in predictive regressions for stock returns related to the classic studies of Yule (1926) and Granger and Newbold (1974). Data mining for predictor variables interacts with spurious regression bias. The two effects reinforce each other, because more highly persistent series are more likely to be found significant in the search for predictor variables. Our simulations suggest that many of the regressions in the literature, based on individual predictor variables, may be spurious.
Issue Bias: How Issue Coverage and Media Bias Affect Voter Perceptions of Elections

It is virtually a truism in American politics that a focus on some issue areas during election campaigns, like national security or traditional values, redounds to the benefit of Republicans, while emphasis on other areas, like education or social security, benefits Democrats. Political scientists refer to this phenomenon as “issue ownership” (Petrocik 1996, Ansolabehere and Iyengar 1994). To the extent that one or the other party benefits disproportionately from media emphasis on particular issues during election campaigns, it is possible that, whether intended or not, media coverage may disproportionately benefit one or the other party. If so, this would appear to be an important potential form of bias. Baum and Gussin (2004) find that typical individuals use media outlet labels as a heuristic, to assess the validity of information presented by different outlets. Liberals tended to “find” a conservative bias in outlets they believed, ex ante, have a conservative slant, even if the content was actually from an outlet that they believed to have a liberal slant. The opposite was true for conservatives. We extend that research by investigating how issue ownership and the Hostile Media Outlet Phenomenon mediate, separately and in interaction, voter perceptions of media campaign coverage. We look at the effects of story selection on individuals’ perceptions concerning which party benefits more from media issue coverage. To do so, we conducted an experimental content analysis in which we asked subjects to code transcripts and articles, from eight major network and cable news broadcasts and newspapers, about the 2000 presidential campaign. We modified the transcripts and articles to create three distinct sets of treatment stimuli. One set correctly identified the source of the material. The second incorrectly identified the source and, in the third, all identifying elements were removed. We investigate whether individuals with differing political preferences are more or less likely to view certain issues as favorable to one or the other party, as well as the extent to which their propensity to do so is mediated by media outlets’ “brand names,” independent of the true sources of news coverage. We find that, except when they have strong prior beliefs about the ideological orientation of a media outlet, our subjects rely far more on issue ownership as a heuristic than on the hostile media heuristic. However, when they do have strong prior beliefs regarding outlet ideology, the opposite pattern prevails, with subjects relying on the hostile media heuristic to evaluate news content.
Application of Hydro-ethanol Extract of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl) in the Treatment of Experimental Murine Oral Candidiasis

Background: Oral infection caused by Candida spp. is a major healthcare problem in dental and oral care. Treatment failure has been reported in cases of oral candidiasis as a result of resistance to common antifungals. Aim and Objective: In this study, the in vitro and in vivo activities of extract of Tithonia diversifolia against virulence factor-borne and antifungal resistant-Candida albicans were investigated. Candida albicans was isolated from the saliva of patients attending a tertiary hospital in Ekiti State. Methodology: Standard methods were used to determine the presence of virulence factors in the isolates. In vitro and in vivo anti-candidal activities of the hydro-ethanolic extract of T. diversifolia were also tested on the test fungus. Results: The virulence factors have varying percentage of occurrence in all the isolates with catalase having the highest. Itraconazole and nystatin were not effective against the isolates. Out of the six isolates selected (based on antifungal resistance) only three produced strong biofilm. The reduction in the population of the test organisms by the extract was time and concentration dependent. At the end of candidal challenge and treatment assays, extract of T. diversifolia has lower anti-candidal property compared to nystatin. Conclusion: This study has shown that C. albicans associated with the mouth carries virulence factors and are resistant to common antifungals. In this work, we noticed antifungal effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of T. diversifolia on C. albicans associated with oral infections.
The essential brand persona: storytelling and branding

Purpose – In communicating their brands, businesses need to tell a compelling story that connects with its audiences on an emotional level. Every story requires a clearly understood central character with which people can identify and create a long‐lasting emotional bond: the brand persona. Without a strong brand persona, the brand narrative lacks a focus. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to identify a brand persona that captures a brand's emotional story and builds long‐lasting value for a business.Design/methodology/approach – This article defines branding and explores how to construct a story and persona that is relevant, important, differentiating, and motivating. It explores what makes a good story and a good brand persona, how to understand and connect to an audience's implicit needs. Importantly, the article discusses new learning in neurology and how to communicate so that a brand speaks in an integrative fashion to both right‐ and left‐brain thinking.Findings – Companies that do .
A comparison of neutron star blackbody luminosities in LMXB with the theory of accretion flow spreading on the stellar surface

We present a comparison of the results of the ASCA survey of LMXB with the Inogamov & Sunyaev theory of accretion flow spreading on the surface of neutron stars. The ASCA survey of LMXB of Church & Baucinska-Church (2001) revealed a systematic variation of the luminosity of blackbody emission from the neutron star spanning 3 decades in total X-ray luminosity suggesting that the level of blackbody emission is controlled by the physics of the inner disk/stellar interface, which we can hope to understand. Two types of explanation exist: firstly that there is radial flow between the inner disk and star at all vertical positions above the orbital plane so that the height of the disk directly determines the area of star emitting. Secondly, the height of the emitting region on the star is not directly related to the disk properties but depends on the mass accretion rate as suggested by Inogamov & Sunyaev (1999) in their theory of accretion flow spreading on the stellar surface. We find that the survey results for the emitting area agree with this theory at the lowest luminosities. However, for higher luminosities, the blackbody emission is stronger than predicted by spreading theory suggesting that the emitting area is controlled by radial flow between disk and star.