Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Exercise on Oxidative Stress in Rats Induced by Ozone

Oxidative stress (OS) induced by acute exercise is reduced by chronic exercise. Ozone (O3) exposure produces OS. The aim of this study was to determine if aerobic exercise (AE) reduced OS produced by O3. A pilot experiment was performed with male Wistar rats submitted to AE (trained to swim 90 min/day). Adaptation to exercise was demonstrated three weeks after training by means of changes in reduced nitrates (NOx) in plasma. Therefore, two-week training was chosen for the following experiments. Six of twelve trained rats were exposed to O3 (0.5 ppm, 4 h/day, one hour before exercise). Two groups of sedentary animals (n = 6 each) were used as controls, one of which was exposed to O3. At the end of the experiments NOx, 8-isoprostane (8-IP), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and carbonyls (CBs) were measured in plasma. CBs did not change in any group. O3-induced OS was manifested by reduced NOx and SOD activity, as well as increased 8-IP and MDA. Exercise significantly blocked O3 effects although SOD was also decreased by exercise (a greater drop occurring in the O3 group). It is concluded that AE protects against OS produced by O3 and the effect is independent of SOD.
Aluminum phosphide (Phostoxin) as a burrow fumigant for ground squirrel control

Author(s): Salmon, Terrell P.; Gorenzel, W. Paul; Bentley, Walter J. | Abstract: The California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) is widely distributed throughout California. It causes serious damage to agricultural crops. Tests were conducted to evaluate the fumigant aluminum phosphide (Phostoxin®) and to compare it to the commonly used gas cartridge. Treatments consisted of applying either a single-dose (two 3-gm tablets) or double-dose (four 3-gm tablets) of aluminum phosphide, or 1 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gas cartridge in each burrow in the study plots. The burrow opening was then plugged with 1 sheet of newspaper and sealed with soil. Burrows in the control plot were plugged with newspaper and sealed in the same manner. All plots were retreated 4 days after the initial treatment. Overall, the aluminum phosphide treatments were more effective than the gas cartridge treatments in terms of the reduction in the number of ground squirrels seen and in reopened burrows observed after treatment. The single-dose aluminum phosphide treatment was as effective as the double-dose treatment. The gas cartridge treatment required a greater amount of time for application and did not achieve very effective control. Many aspects of this fumigation technique remain unknown and continued research is necessary.
COTSon: infrastructure for full system simulation

Simulation has historically been the primary technique used for evaluating the performance of new proposals in computer architecture. Speed and complexity considerations have traditionally limited its applicability to single-thread processors running application-level code. This is no longer sufficient to model modern multicore systems running the complex workloads of commercial interest today. COTSon is a simulator framework jointly developed by HP Labs and AMD. The goal of COTSon is to provide fast and accurate evaluation of current and future computing systems, covering the full software stack and complete hardware models. It targets cluster-level systems composed of hundreds of commodity multicore nodes and their associated devices connected through a standard communication network. COTSon adopts a functional-directed philosophy, where fast functional emulators and timing models cooperate to improve the simulation accuracy at a speed sufficient to simulate the full stack of applications, middleware and OSs. This paper describes the changes in simulation philosophy we embraced in COTSon to address these new challenges. We base functional emulation on established, fast and validated tools that support commodity OSs and complex multitier applications. Through a robust interface between the functional and timing domain, we can leverage other existing simulators for individual sub-components, such as disks or networks. We abandon the idea of "always-on" cycle-based simulation in favor of statistical sampling approaches that can trade accuracy for speed. COTSon opens up a new dimension in the speed/accuracy space, allowing simulation of a cluster of nodes several orders of magnitude faster with a minimal accuracy loss.
Foreign direct investment and wages in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper explores the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and wages in three countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. The objective of the study is twofold. It tries to detect (1) whether higher levels of foreign investment in a local market are associated with higher wages for the market as a whole and (2) whether a higher foreign presence is also associated with higher domestic firms` wages. Results indicate that higher levels of foreign activity are associated with higher local wages in all countries. Moreover, evidence supports the existence of positive FDI spillovers from foreign to domestic producers in Poland, but not in Bulgaria and Romania. Evidence also suggests that there is a link between the FDI impact on wages and the sector of activity in which foreign and domestic firms operate. FDI effects seem to vary substantially across sectors of the economy.
Different Topological Properties of EEG-Derived Networks Describe Working Memory Phases as Revealed by Graph Theoretical Analysis

Several non-invasive imaging methods have contributed to shed light on the brain mechanisms underlying working memory (WM). The aim of the present study was to depict the topology of the relevant EEG-derived brain networks associated to distinct operations of WM function elicited by the Sternberg Item Recognition Task (SIRT) such as encoding, storage, and retrieval in healthy, middle age (46 ± 5 years) adults. High density EEG recordings were performed in 17 participants whilst attending a visual SIRT. Neural correlates of WM were assessed by means of a combination of EEG signal processing methods (i.e., time-varying connectivity estimation and graph theory), in order to extract synthetic descriptors of the complex networks underlying the encoding, storage, and retrieval phases of WM construct. The group analysis revealed that the encoding phase exhibited a significantly higher small-world topology of EEG networks with respect to storage and retrieval in all EEG frequency oscillations, thus indicating that during the encoding of items the global network organization could “optimally” promote the information flow between WM sub-networks. We also found that the magnitude of such configuration could predict subject behavioral performance when memory load increases as indicated by the negative correlation between Reaction Time and the local efficiency values estimated during the encoding in the alpha band in both 4 and 6 digits conditions. At the local scale, the values of the degree index which measures the degree of in- and out- information flow between scalp areas were found to specifically distinguish the hubs within the relevant sub-networks associated to each of the three different WM phases, according to the different role of the sub-network of regions in the different WM phases. Our findings indicate that the use of EEG-derived connectivity measures and their related topological indices might offer a reliable and yet affordable approach to monitor WM components and thus theoretically support the clinical assessment of cognitive functions in presence of WM decline/impairment, as it occurs after stroke.
The Unification of Post-Compulsory Education: Towards a Conceptual Framework

The drive to ‘unify’post-compulsory education and training systems is one of the most important current developments in education policy. However the concept of ‘unification’ lacks clarity, is not widely recognised, and is pursued through different measures in different countries. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework with which to analyse the different meanings of and debates about unification. Using England and Scotland as examples, we show how the framework may be used to analyse existing systems, reform strategies, and processes and pressures for change. The framework is exploratory and will need to be tested and developed in relation to a wider variety of education systems.
Current Approach to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Femoral-Popliteal Arterial Disease. A Systematic Review

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common manifestation of atherosclerosis affecting 5 million adults in the United States, with an age-adjusted prevalence of 4% to 15% and increasing up to 30% with age and the presence of cardiovascular risk factors. In this article we focus on lower extremity PAD and specifically on the superficial femoral and proximal popliteal artery (SFPA), which are the most common anatomic locations of lower extremity atherosclerosis. We summarize current evidence and perform a systematic review on the diagnostic evaluation as well as the medical, endovascular and surgical management of SFPA disease.
Scalable backup configurations creation for IP fast reroute

IP Fast Reroute techniques have been proposed to achieve fast failure recovery in just a few milliseconds. The basic idea of IP Fast Reroute is to reduce recovery time after failure by precomputing backup routes. A multiple routing configurations (MRC) algorithm has been proposed for obtaining IP Fast Reroute. MRC prepares backup configurations, which are used for finding a detour route after failures. However, this current algorithm requires too many backup configurations to recover from failures. We propose a new backup configuration computation algorithm for reducing configurations as much as possible. The basic idea is to construct a spanning tree excluding failure links in each backup configuration. We show that the effectiveness of our algorithm is especially high in large-scale power-law networks.
Detection of power quality disturbances with overcomplete dictionary matrix and ℓ1-norm minimization

In this paper, we present a new automatic transient detection and localization for analysis of power quality disturbances. The proposed method is based on an over-complete dictionary (OCD) matrix and an ℓ1-norm minimization algorithm. The OCD matrix is constructed using the spike-like (or identity) bases and discrete-cosine bases. The proposed method is validated using the four types of transient events and the results are compared with wavelet-based method. Experiment results show that the proposed method provides accurate time-information of impulsive and oscillatory transients under high levels of noise, and also preserves signature of transient events.
Evolutionary economics: In defence of ‘vagueness’

Evolutionary economics is an increasingly influential but vaguely defined field of economic research. This article discusses different ways of defining evolutionary economics: at its object level, at the level of core concepts and, distinguishing between meaning determinist and meaning finitist interpretations, as a social institution. A meaning finitist interpretation of ‘evolutionary economics’, referring to evolutionary economics as a social institution, is suggested to provide a positive account of the diversity of attempts to define evolutionary economics, drawing from an evolutionary framework of the diffusion of labels denoting fields of research.
Prosopagnosia: current perspectives

Prosopagnosia is a selective visual agnosia characterized by the inability to recognize the identity of faces. There are both acquired forms secondary to brain damage and developmental forms without obvious structural lesions. In this review, we first discuss the diagnosis of acquired and developmental prosopagnosia, and the challenges present in the latter case. Second, we discuss the evidence regarding the selectivity of the prosopagnosic defect, particularly in relation to the recognition of other objects, written words (another visual object category requiring high expertise), and voices. Third, we summarize recent findings about the structural and functional basis of prosopagnosia from studies using magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and event-related potentials. Finally, we discuss recent attempts at rehabilitation of face recognition in prosopagnosia.
Air‐sea gas transfer velocity for oxygen derived from float data

We estimated the air-sea gas transfer velocity for oxygen using three consecutive years (Sept. 2003 to Aug. 2006) of high-quality oxygen measurements from profiling floats in the central Labrador Sea. Mixed layer oxygen concentrations exhibit strong seasonality characterized by biologically and thermally driven evasion during spring/summer and invasion during fall/winter caused by cooling and ventilation of oxygen-deficient subsurface waters. Mixed layer oxygen budgets entirely excluding the spring bloom period are employed to estimate the air-sea transfer velocity for oxygen. By using co-located wind speed data acquired by scatterometry from the QuikSCAT satellite, wind speed dependent parameterizations for the air-sea gas transfer velocity k660 (CO2 at 20◦C and salinity 35) are established and compared with prominent parameterizations from the literature. Quadratic, cubic and quartic functions are fitted to the data for short-term and long-term wind speed averages separately. In both cases the quadratic functions yield the poorest fit to the observations. Overall, the stronger curvature of the cubic functions provides the best fit, while the quartic function also fits the data less well. Our results generally confirm the stronger wind speed dependencies among the suite of published parameterizations. Also the better fits found for cubic function points at the strong importance of very high wind speed for airsea gas exchange of O2.
Characterization and comparison of Metarhizium strains isolated from Rhynchophorus ferrugineus.

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is considered the worst pest of palm species, and few natural enemies are reported for this parasite in its area of origin. Here, we report the first recovery of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium pingshaense associated with R. ferrugineus from Vietnam. The morphological, biochemical, and toxicological features of this strain were studied and compared with those of another Metarhizium strain associated with this weevil in Sicily (Italy), an area of recent introduction. The potential use of these fungi as biocontrol agents was tested against adult insects in laboratory trials and a similar mortality rate was found. Both strains were able to produce toxins and cuticle-degrading proteases, but they showed dissimilar enzymatic and toxicological profiles, suggesting a different virulence activity.
A sword in a madman's hand: professional opposition to popular consumption in the waters literature of southern England and the Midlands, 1570-1870.

Although the major spas have received attention for their role in the development of resort towns, especially in the period before the invention of the seaside resorts, and the medical literature has been examined by historians of chemical analysis, spas have yet to be fully integrated into medical history. The legacy of medical antiquarianism may be partly responsible for this omission or perhaps historians regard the subject as well-known and unproblematic. Nevertheless, it is a little startling to read general histories of medicine in this period that mention medical waters only in passing, if at all. Spas in this period were scattered throughout most of the country, they were used by large numbers of both sick and healthy people, and the books that discussed their use were among the most widely read of all medical texts. Spa literature is part of medical literature as a whole, and displays many of the same preoccupations as other types of medical writing intended mainly for a lay audience. When English physicians first publicized the benefits of drinking water or bathing in it, they followed European examples and attempted to integrate water into a Galenic scheme. The pioneering work of John Jones on Bath, after listing diseases, endeavoured "to shew the causes of the paynes before declared, that you may the reedyer cosult, with your Phisicions thereof, as of all other things hereafter to bee mencioned, before ye seeke the ayde, of the Bathes. ". 1 To this end, Jones included large diagrams showing the pervasive importance of the naturals and the nonnaturals in securing good health. Jones did not provide graphic accounts of the perils of unsupervised bathing but when he wrote of the waters of Buxton, located rather closer than Bath to his own Midlands practice, he asserted that they acted "more sweetly, more delicatly, more finely, more daintly, and more temperatly: not bringing halfe so many grievouse accidentes as Bath doth, yit lesse speedly . ". 2 The secularization of holy wells is less prominent, as a subject, in southern than in northern authors, although it is undoubtedly present as a sub-text. IfThomas Hobbes
On the positive side of error processing: error‐awareness positivity revisited

Performance errors are indexed in the brain even if they are not consciously registered, as demonstrated by the error‐related negativity (ERN or Ne) event‐related potential. It has recently been shown that another response‐locked potential, the error positivity (Pe), follows the Ne, but only in those trials in which the participants consciously detect making the error (‘Aware Errors’). In the present study we generalize these findings to an auditory task and investigate possible caveats in the interpretation of the Pe as an index of error awareness. In an auditory Go/No‐Go error‐awareness task (auditory EAT) participants pressed an additional ‘fix error’ button after noticing that they had made an error. As in visual tasks, the Ne was similar for aware (‘fixed’) and unaware (‘unfixed’) errors, while the Pe was enhanced only for Aware Errors. Within subjects, the Ne and Pe behaved in similar fashions for auditory and visual errors. A control condition confirmed that the awareness effect was not due to the requirement to report error awareness. These results reinforce the evidence in favor of the Pe as a correlate of conscious error processing, and imply that this process is not modality‐specific. Nevertheless, single‐trial analysis suggested that the Pe may be a delayed P3b related to stimulus processing rather than to response monitoring.
Computerized sociometric and peer assessment

A systematic analysis and comparison was conducted of the psychometric properties of standard (paper-and-pencil) and computerized sociometry and peer assessments. The standard assessment took place with 817 children (47.5% boys) in 34 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms of 28 elementary schools. The computerized assessment took place with 893 children (52.3% boys) in 35 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms of 30 elementary schools. The computerized method yielded more nominations given and received and fewer missing data. Correlations among behavioural and relational constructs followed similar patterns in both methods, but were generally stronger in the computerized method. Voter agreement was the same in both methods. The computerized method resulted in higher internal consistency of sociometric and peer assessment constructs. The methods were validated by predicting preference and popularity from behavioural and relational characteristics. The two methods yielded the same pattern of results. The advantages and disadvantages of both assessment methods were discussed.
Enhancing Athletic Performance Using Digital Video in Consulting

Video has been used successfully in psychosocial interventions to help train communication skills, document behaviors, and as a feedback tool for behavior modification strategies. The need for equipment portability, together with editing expertise, has limited video use in sport psychology. Newer digital video systems help overcome these problems, meaning that sport psychologists can readily use this technology in the field. We discuss and provide experiential observations of how digital video can be used to improve player, coach, and team performance. Also reviewed are new consultation opportunities for sport psychologists with video skills. These new areas center on perceptual skills training and talent identification using perceptual skills testing.
Analgesia for newborn infants during mechanical ventilation : a clinical and pharmacokinetic study


Characteristics of the Opinion Leader: A New Dimension

Abstract This study empirically examined the role of a personality trait, public individuation, in furthering our understanding of opinion leadership. Relevance of this new psychological dimension, and past findings on characteristics of opinion leaders are discussed. Discriminant analysis revealed that, in addition to personal involvement and product familiarity, public individuation was the only other variable which was important in distinguishing opinion leaders from non-leaders. Risk preference, open-mindedness, and mass media exposure, though correlated with opinion leadership, were not found to be important predictors of opinion leadership. Implications for advertisers are discussed.
Early allograft dysfunction after liver transplantation: an intermediate outcome measure for targeted improvements.

BACKGROUND The term early allograft dysfunction (EAD) identifies liver transplant (LT) allografts with initial poor function and portends poor allograft and patient survival. Aims of this study are to use EAD as an intermediate outcome measure in a large single center cohort and identify donor, recipient and peri-operative risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS In 1950 consecutive primary LT, donor, recipient and peri-operative data were collected. EAD was defined by the presence of one or more of the following: total bilirubin ≥ 10 mg/dL (171 μmol/L) or, INR ≥ 1.6 on day 7, and ALT/AST > 2,000 IU/L within the first 7 days. RESULTS The incidence of EAD was 26.5%. 1-, 3-, and 5-year allograft and patient survival for patients who developed EAD were significantly inferior to those who did not (P < 0.01 at all time points). Multivariate analysis demonstrated associations in the development of EAD with recipient pre-operative ventilator status, donation after cardiac death allografts, donor age, allograft size, degree of steatosis, operative time and intra-operative transfusion requirements (all P < 0.01). Patients with EAD had a significantly longer hospitalization at 20.9 ± 38.9 days (median: 9; range: 4-446) compared with 10.7 ± 13.5 days (median: 7; range: 3-231) in patients with no EAD (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS This is the largest single center experience demonstrating incidence of EAD and identifying factors associated with development of EAD. EAD is a useful intermediate outcome measure for allograft and patient survival. Balancing recipient pretransplant conditions, donor risk factors and intra-operative conditions are necessary for avoiding EAD.