Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive Ability in Late Adolescence and Disability Pension in Middle Age: Follow-Up of a National Cohort of Swedish Males

Low cognitive ability in late adolescence has previously been shown to be associated with disability pension (DP) in young adulthood. However, most DP’s are granted later in working life, and the mechanisms of the association are not fully understood. We aimed to investigate the association between cognitive ability in late adolescence and DP at ages 40-59, and investigate the role of individual and socioeconomic factors. Information on cognitive ability, health status, personality aspects and health behaviours at age 18-20 was obtained from the 1969-70 conscription cohort, comprising 49 321 Swedish men. Data on DP’s 1991-2008 was obtained from the Longitudinal Database of Education, Income and Employment. Information on socioeconomic and work-related factors in childhood and adulthood was obtained from national sociodemographic databases. Hazard ratios for DP during follow-up were estimated by Cox proportional hazards models. We found a graded relationship between cognitive ability in late adolescence and DP in middle age. One step decrease on the nine-point stanine scale of cognitive ability was associated with a crude hazard ratio of 1.26 (95 % CI 1.24-1.27). Socioeconomic and work-related circumstances in adulthood explained much of the association, but factors measured already in late adolescence also showed importance. The findings suggest an accumulation of risks over the life course. Although attenuated, the graded relationship remained after adjusting for all factors.
Neuronal Hypertrophy in Rat Colon Caused by Protein Deficiency

The effects of different protein levels associated with vitamin deprivation have been evaluated on tissues of high and low cell renewal. This study aimed to investigate the effects of available diet with 4% protein content associated with the maintenance of vitamin levels on the morphology of NADPH dp+ myenteric neurons of rats descending colon. Sixteen animals were randomly distributed into two groups, one that was fed with chow with 26% protein content (CG), and the other was fed with a 4% protein content diet (EG) during 12 weeks. Total preparations were used to make the myenteric plexus neurons of the descending colon evident when submitted to NADPH-diaphorase. The cellular bodies and nucleus of 300 neurons from each animal was measured. The diet with 4% protein and maintenance of vitamin and mineral content, similar to the ones found in normal protein diets, causes metabolic alterations that result in body weight loss. The myenteric neurons of the descending colon have non-significant reduction in the nucleus size whereas the cytoplasm presents a significant increase of the area. The importance of vitamin maintenance and the increase of the neuronal area are discussed as a possible compensating mechanism to keep neurotransmitter synthesis. Corresponding author: Marcelo Biondaro Gois, Department of Morphological Sciences, State University of Maringa, street: Jose Barao Neto, number 526; Maringa, Parana, Brazil, Zip code: 87080-030, Tel: +55 44 9958-0392; E-mail: marcelobiondaro@gmail.com Received Date: Nov 18, 2014 Accepted Date: Nov 25, 2014 Published Date: Nov 28, 2014 Citation: Gois, M.B. , et al. Neuronal Hypertrophy in Rat Colon Caused by Protein Deficiency (2014) J Food Nutr Sci 1(1): 1-4. Int J Food Nutr Sci | Volume 1: Issue 2 www.ommegaonline. com
The Nature of the Nuclear H2O Masers of NGC 1068: Reverberation and Evidence for a Rotating Disk Geometry

We report new (1995) Very Large Array (VLA) observations and (1984-1999) Effelsberg 100 m monitoring observations of the 22 GHz H2O maser spectrum of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068. The sensitive VLA observations provide a registration of the 22 GHz continuum emission and the location of the maser spots with an accuracy of ~5 mas. Within the monitoring data, we find evidence that the nuclear masers vary coherently on timescales of months to years, much more rapidly than the dynamical timescale. We argue that the nuclear masers are responding in reverberation to a central power source, presumably the central engine. Between 1997 October and November, we detected a simultaneous flare of the blueshifted and redshifted satellite maser lines. Reverberation in a rotating disk naturally explains the simultaneous flaring. There is also evidence that near-IR emission from dust grains associated with the maser disk also responds to the central engine. We present a model in which an X-ray flare results in both the loss of maser signal in 1990 and the peak of the near-IR light curve in 1994. In support of rotating disk geometry for the nuclear masers, we find no evidence for centripetal accelerations of the redshifted nuclear masers; the limits are ±0.006 km s-1 yr-1, implying that the masers are located within 2° of the kinematic line of nodes. We also searched for high-velocity maser emission like that observed in NGC 4258. In both VLA and Effelsberg spectra, we detect no high-velocity lines between approximately ±350 and ±850 km s-1 relative to systemic, arguing that masers only lie outside a radius of ~0.6 pc (1.9 lt-yr) from the central engine (assuming a distance of 14.4 Mpc). We also consider possible models for the jet masers near radio continuum component C. We favor a shock precursor model, in which the molecular gas surrounding the jet is heated by X-ray emission from a shock front between the jet and a molecular cloud.
The Role of the Peripheral Sympathetic Nervous System in Cerebral Blood Flow Autoregulation

The effect of chronic, unilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy on cerebral blood flow and blood flow autoregulation to changes in perfusion pressure was examined in seven phencyclidine anesthetized monkeys. Ten to 14 days prior to the experiments Doppler ultrasonic flow transducers were placed on both carotid arteries after ligation of the external carotid branches and removal of one superior cervical ganglion. Autoregulation was tested by exsanguination and metaraminol infusion with the monkeys inspiring room air, 9% and 12% carbon dioxide in air. Immediately following experimentation the cerebral vessels were examined for the presence of noradrenergic fibers. The results of the study demonstrate that: (1) superior cervical ganglionectomy produces a significant reduction in the noradrenergic innervation of ipsilateral extraparenchymal arteries; (2) the peripheral sympathetic nervous system contributes to overall cerebral vascular resistance primarily by affecting resistance in extraparenchymal arteries; and (3) as a result, it determines the contribution of the extraparenchymal arteries to overall cerebral blood flow autoregulation.
A model predictive control approach to trajectory tracking problems via time-varying level sets of Lyapunov functions

We discuss a model predictive control approach to trajectory tracking problems of constrained nonlinear continuous time systems, where the reference trajectory is a priori known and asymptotically constant. The proposed NMPC scheme is able to explicitly consider input and state constraints while guaranteeing recursive feasibility. To handle the time-varying nature of the tracking problem we advocate the use of time-varying level sets of Lyapunov functions as terminal regions. We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for positive invariance of these sets and show how these sets can be efficiently computed, if a quadratic Lyapunov function is available. As an example we consider a nonlinear CSTR reactor.
Gender Differences in the Commute to School and Work through Time and Space in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Previous research on gender and mobility has pointed to differences between male and female travel patterns, but little attention has been paid in transportation planning practice to gender differences in travel demand. This thesis explores gender differences in the school and work commute through the life cycle and over time and space in effort to inform policies that begin to address the needs of a diverse population. The results suggest that school-aged males use active modes more than females, but females use active modes more than males during the years of labour force participation. Adult men continue to use the automobile to travel to work, while females make up a greater proportion of transit riders than males. Mode share differences increase with age, but have decreased since the 1980s. The relationship between male and female travel mode also differs depending on many factors including distance, time, and place.
Drawing on the discursive resources from psychological contracts to construct imaginary selves: A psychoanalytic perspective on how identity work drives psychological contracts

The study contributes novel theoretical perspectives for a more comprehensive and processual understanding of psychological contracts in the context of identity work. It builds on a psychoanalytic, specifically Lacanian, perspective to analyze 106 psychological contract narratives by employees of a wide range of organizations. Based on this analysis, the study suggests that psychological contracts can be understood as providing discursive resources on which narrators draw in complex and non-linear fashion to construct imaginary selves. Their inevitable unsettlement prompts both imaginary and symbolic responses that seem independent of the viability and type of psychological contract narrated. This suggests that identity work drives psychological contracts in surprising ways and empowers individuals as contract and identity-makers. Implications for psychological contract research are discussed.
Investigating the Users' Approach to ICT Platforms in the City Management

The increasing relevance of technology and its impact on our everyday life requires multi- and trans-disciplinary studies in order to investigate the ways in which the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools are affected by users’ features and by the external environment. In order to enrich existing contributions on this topic, the paper focuses its attention on the city as example of service systems, in order to investigate dimensions and dynamics that influence the city employees’ evaluation and satisfaction in the use of ICT platforms. By adopting the interpretative lens offered by Service Science and Systems Thinking, the domain of city as a service system is analysed and some hypotheses are formulated with reference to the relationships between environment, users, and ICT platform. The hypotheses are investigated through a questionnaire survey on a sample of 1032 municipalities in the Czech Republic and the results are tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The research shows that users’ features and external environment affect the evaluation and the satisfaction of city stakeholders about the use of ICT platforms by underlining the need for enlarging the study on informatics tools, in order to also include subjective variables. The findings are discussed from both theoretical and practical points of view.
Relationship Patterns between Leader-Subordinate Similarity and Subordinate Satisfaction: a Case Study

The leadership literature is voluminous. This study adopted the contingency model to explain the relationship between the leader-subordinate similarity and subordinate satisfaction. The effects of selected intervening variables namely age, educational level, race and sex were also analyzed. The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between leader-subordinate similarity and subordinates’ satisfaction. However, this significance was determined only after accounting for the demographic variables, i.e. age, subordinates’ sex, race and educational level. Once the demographic variables were accounted for, the consideration and initiating structure dimensions of leadership showed significant relationship with subordinates’ satisfaction with work.
A general s-domain hierarchical network reduction algorithm

This paper presents an efficient method to reduce complexities of a linear network in s-domain. The new method works on circuit matrices directly and reduces the circuit complexities by eliminating subcircuits in a hierarchical way. The resulting admittances in the reduced networks are kept as rational functions of s with reduced order. Some theoretical results are characterized for the presence of common factors coming from the suppression of sub-circuits. A novel common factor removal (de-cancellation) strategy based on a graph-based hierarchical subcircuit reduction process is proposed. The resulting reduction algorithm is applicable to any linear circuits in s-domain. The stability of the reduced system is enforced by applying the Hurwitz polynomial approximation. The reduced systems can be used for fast s-domain analysis and for time domain waveform evaluation. Experimental results on both linear analog circuits and RLC circuits, and comparison with SPICE in s-domain analysis are also provided.
An imaging study of the globular cluster systems of NGC 1407 and 1400

We present wide-field Keck telescope imaging of the globular cluster (GC) systems around NGC 1407 and 1400 in the Eridanus galaxy cloud. This is complemented by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images from the Advanced Camera for Surveys of NGC 1407 and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 images of NGC 1400. We clearly detect bimodality in the GC colour distribution of NGC 1407. The blue GC subpopulation has a mean colour of B - I = 1.61 and a relative contribution of around 40 per cent, whereas the red subpopulation with B - I = 2.06 contributes 60 per cent to the overall GC system. Assuming old ages, this corresponds to [Fe/H] = -1.45 and -0.19. Both subpopulations are intrinsically broad in colour (indicating a range in ages and/or metallicities), with the red subpopulation being broader than the blue. The GC colour distribution for NGC 1400 is less clear cut than for NGC 1407, however, we also find evidence for a bimodal distribution. We find the NGC 1407 red GCs to be 20 per cent smaller in size than the blue ones. This is consistent with the expectations of mass segregation in an old coeval GC system. Half a dozen large objects (20-40 pc), with GC-like colours are identified, which are probably background galaxies. The HST data sets allow us to probe to small galactocentric radii. Here we find both GC systems to possess a GC surface density distribution which is largely constant in these inner galaxy regions. We fit isothermal-like profiles and derive GC system core radii of 9.4 kpc for NGC 1407 and 5.8 kpc for NGC 1400. For NGC 1407 we are able to separate the surface density distribution into blue and red subpopulations, giving 17.8 and 7.6 kpc, respectively. Outside this central region, the radial profile of the GC surface density is similar to that of the galaxy light for NGC 1407 but it is flatter for NGC 1400. The mean GC magnitude appears to be constant with galactocentric radius. We find that for both galaxies, the GC systems have a similar ellipticity and azimuthal distribution as the underlying galaxy starlight. A fit to the GC luminosity function gives a distance modulus of 31.6, which is in good agreement with distances based on the Faber-Jackson relation and the Virgo infall corrected velocity.
Willingness to Wait and Altered Encoding of Time-Discounted Reward in the Orbitofrontal Cortex with Normal Aging

Normal aging has been associated with cognitive changes, including shifts in responding for time-discounted rewards. The orbitofrontal cortex, an area previously associated with aging-related cognitive changes, is critical for normal discounting. Previously we have shown in a choice task that rats prefer immediate over delayed reward and that neural representations of delayed reward in orbitofrontal cortex were attenuated, whereas immediate reward elicited strong responses. Changes in choice performance were correlated with changes in firing rate in orbitofrontal neurons, suggesting that these reward representations were critical to the rats' ability to wait for reward. Here we asked whether age-dependent changes in discounting behavior were related to changes in the representation of delayed reward in the orbitofrontal cortex. Young (3–6 months) and aged (22–26 months) rats were trained on the same discounting paradigm used previously. We found that aged rats showed less sensitivity to increasing delay preceding reward delivery, shifting behavior away from the delayed reward more slowly than younger rats. This sensitivity was specific to delay, since choice performance did not differ between the two groups when delay was held constant and reward size varied. Aged rats exhibited a corresponding increase in the prevalence of neurons that fired more strongly for delayed reward. Again this change was specific to delay; there was no change in encoding of different-sized rewards. These results suggest that natural aging results in altered representations of reward in orbitofrontal cortex. These changes may relate to the increased ability to delay gratification and reduced impulsivity associated with aging.
Development of a measure of adolescents’ online prosocial behavior

ABSTRACT Research on adolescents’ media use has focused predominantly on its negative aspects (risks) and far less on its positive side (opportunities). This is reflected in the lack of validated instruments to assess adolescents’ online prosocial behavior. To address this issue, we developed the Online Prosocial Behavior Scale (OPBS) to assess adolescents’ involvement in online prosocial behavior. Two subscales (performing and receiving online prosocial behavior) were constructed and their factor structure was evaluated and confirmed through parallel analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. The OPBS-subscales displayed good reliability and correlated positively with offline prosocial behavior and use of digital media, supporting the scale’s construct validity. Unexpectedly, the subscales also correlated positively with online antisocial behavior, which may be understood within the framework of the online disinhibition theory. The scale can be a useful tool for researchers and practitioners who need a global instrument to assess adolescents’ online prosocial behavior.
WORD FREQUENCY, COLLOCATIONAL FREQUENCY, L1 CONGRUENCY, AND PROFICIENCY IN L2 COLLOCATIONAL PROCESSING

Abstract This study investigated the effects of word frequency, collocational frequency, L1 congruency, and L2 proficiency, on L2 collocational processing. Two groups of L1 Japanese speakers of English (intermediate and advanced) and one group of English native speakers (NSs) performed an online acceptability judgment task on four types of adjective-noun constructions: (1) congruent collocations, (2) English-only collocations, (3) Japanese-only collocations, and (4) baseline items. Response times were analyzed using mixed-effects modeling and correlations. In contrast to NSs, nonnative speakers (NNSs) processed congruent collocations significantly faster than English-only collocations. As for frequency, all three groups demonstrated sensitivity to both word-level and collocation-level frequency. However, the distributions differed across the three groups. We concluded that age/order of acquisition effects (Carroll & White, 1973) provided the best explanation for the congruency results. Regarding the frequency results, we concluded that the findings conflict with claims that NNSs may process formulaic sequences differently than NSs (e.g., Wray, 2002, 2008).
Air Pollutant Characterization in Tula Industrial Corridor, Central Mexico, during the MILAGRO Study

Pollutant emissions and their contribution to local and regional air quality at the industrial area of Tula were studied during a four-week period as part of the MILAGRO initiative. A recurrent shallow stable layer was observed in the morning favoring air pollutants accumulation in the lower 100 m atmospheric layer. In the afternoon the mixing layer height reached 3000 m, along with a featuring low level jet which was responsible of transporting air pollutants at regional scales. Average PM10 at Jasso (JAS) and Tepeji (TEP) was 75.1 and 36.8 μg/m3, respectively while average PM2.5 was 31.0 and 25.7 μg/m3. JAS was highly impacted by local limestone dust, while TEP was a receptor of major sources of combustion emissions with 70% of the PM10 constituted by PM2.5. Average hourly aerosol light absorption was 22 Mm−1, while aerosol scattering (76 Mm−1) was higher compared to a rural site but much lower than at Mexico City. δ 13C values in the epiphyte Tillandsia recurvata show that the emission plume directly affects the SW sector of Mezquital Valley and is then constrained by a mountain range preventing its dispersion. Air pollutants may exacerbate acute and chronic adverse health effects in this region.
Hippocampal PET activations of memory encoding and retrieval: The HIPER model

A meta‐analysis of experimentally induced changes in blood flow (“activations”) in positron emission tomography (PET) studies of memory has revealed an orderly functional anatomic pattern: Activations in the hippocampal region associated with episodic memory encoding are located primarily in the rostral portions of the region, whereas activations associated with episodic memory retrieval are located primarily in the caudal portions. These findings are based on an analysis of a sample of 54 “hippocampal encoding and retrieval” activations that were culled from an overall database consisting of 52 published PET studies of memory. We refer to this general pattern of rostrocaudal gradient of encoding and retrieval PET activations as the HIPER (Hippocampal Encoding/Retrieval) model. The model suggests a division of memory‐related labor between the rostral and caudal portions of the hippocampal formation. Because functional anatomic pattern of encoding and retrieval activation that defines the HIPER model was unprecedented and unexpected, it is difficult to relate the model to what is already known or thought about functional neuroanatomy of episodic memory in the hippocampal regions. The model is interesting primarily because its exploration may yield fresh insights into the neural basis of human memory. Hippocampus 1998;8:313–322. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Using destination-set prediction to improve the latency/bandwidth tradeoff in shared-memory multiprocessors

Destination set prediction can improve the latency/bandwidth tradeoff in shared memory multiprocessors. The destination set is the collection of processors that receive a particular coherence request. Snooping protocols send requests to the maximal destination set (i.e., all processors), reducing latency for cache to cache misses at the expense of increased traffic. Directory protocols send requests to the minimal destination set, reducing bandwidth at the expense of an indirection through the directory for cache to cache misses. Recently proposed hybrid protocols tradeoff latency and bandwidth by directly sending requests to a predicted destination set. We explore the destination set predictor design space, focusing on a collection of important commercial workloads. First, we analyze the sharing behavior of these workloads. Second, we propose predictors that exploit the observed sharing behavior to target different points in the latency/bandwidth tradeoff. Third, we illustrate the effectiveness of destination set predictors in the context of a multicast snooping protocol. For example, one of our predictors obtains almost 90% of the performance of snooping while using only 15% more bandwidth than a directory protocol (and less than half the bandwidth of snooping).