Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cathodal HD-tDCS on the right V5 improves motion perception in humans

Brain lesions in the visual associative cortex are known to impair visual perception, i.e., the capacity to correctly perceive different aspects of the visual world, such as motion, color, or shapes. Visual perception can be influenced by non-invasive brain stimulation such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In a recently developed technique called high definition (HD) tDCS, small HD-electrodes are used instead of the sponge electrodes in the conventional approach. This is believed to achieve high focality and precision over the target area. In this paper we tested the effects of cathodal and anodal HD-tDCS over the right V5 on motion and shape perception in a single blind, within-subject, sham controlled, cross-over trial. The purpose of the study was to prove the high focality of the stimulation only over the target area. Twenty one healthy volunteers received 20 min of 2 mA cathodal, anodal and sham stimulation over the right V5 and their performance on a visual test was recorded. The results showed significant improvement in motion perception in the left hemifield after cathodal HD-tDCS, but not in shape perception. Sham and anodal HD-tDCS did not affect performance. The specific effect of influencing performance of visual tasks by modulating the excitability of the neurons in the visual cortex might be explained by the complexity of perceptual information needed for the tasks. This provokes a “noisy” activation state of the encoding neuronal patterns. We speculate that in this case cathodal HD-tDCS may focus the correct perception by decreasing global excitation and thus diminishing the “noise” below threshold.
A Typology of Virtual Teams

As the nature of work in today’s organizations becomes more complex, dynamic, and global, there has been increasing emphasis on distributed, “virtual” teams as organizing units of work. Despite their growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of work unit. The purpose of this article is to present a theoretical framework to focus research toward understanding virtual teams and identifying implications for effective leadership. The authors focus on delineating the dimensions of a typology to characterize different types of virtual teams. First, the authors distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams to identify where current knowledge applies and new research needs exist. Second, the authors distinguish among different types of virtual teams, considering the critical role of task complexity in determining the underlying characteristics of virtual teams and leadership challenges the different types entail. Propositions addressing leadership implications for the effective management of virtual teams are proposed and discussed.
Efficiency of the stimulus characteristics of ECT.

OBJECTIVE Greater ECT stimulus efficiency allows for a lower stimulus dose and should diminish the side effects of ECT. METHOD Four different ECT stimuli of identical charge (average mC=2.5 times age) with pulse widths of 0.5 msec and 1 msec and frequencies of 30 Hz and 60 Hz, respectively, were compared for efficiency. The stimuli were applied in a balanced order to each of 24 subjects. Asymmetric bilateral electrode placement was used. RESULTS Peak heart rates were higher with the 0.5-msec pulse width than the 1-msec pulse width. Seizure induction was more successful with the 0. 5-msec pulse width than the 1-msec pulse width. Stimulus frequency had no effect on heart rate or seizure induction. CONCLUSIONS The pulse width of 0.5 msec is more efficient than the 1-msec pulse width. The "half-age" dose for the first bilateral ECT treatment is usually successful for subsequent ECTs when the 0.5-msec pulse width is used.
Rapid Assessment of Visual Impairment in Urban Population of Delhi, India

Purpose To determine the prevalence, causes and associated demographic factors related to visual impairment amongst the urban population of New Delhi, India. Methods A population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in East Delhi district using cluster random sampling methodology. This Rapid Assessment of Visual Impairment (RAVI) survey involved examination of all individuals aged 40 years and above in 24 randomly selected clusters of the district. Visual acuity (VA) assessment and comprehensive ocular examination were done during the door-to-door survey. A questionnaire was used to collect personal and demographic information of the study population. Blindness and Visual Impairment was defined as presenting VA <3/60and <6/18 in the better eye, respectively. Descriptive statistics were computed along with multivariable logistic regression analysis to determine associated factors for visual impairment. Results Of 2421 subjects enumerated, 2331 (96.3%) were available for ophthalmic examination. Among those examined, 49.3% were males. The prevalence of visual impairment (VI) in the study population, was 11.4% (95% C.I. 10.1, 12.7) and that of blindness was 1.2% (95% C.I. 0.8, 1.6). Uncorrected refractive error was the leading cause of VI accounting for 53.4% of all VI followed by cataract (33.8%). With multivariable logistic regression, the odds of having VI increased with age (OR= 24.6[95% C.I.: 14.9, 40.7]; p<0.001). Illiterate participants were more likely to have VI [OR= 1.5 (95% C.I.: 1.1,2.1)] when compared to educated participants. Conclusions The first implementation of the RAVI methodology in a North Indian population revealed that the burden of visual impairment is considerable in this region despite availability of adequate eye care facilities. Awareness generation and simple interventions like cataract surgery and provision of spectacles will help to eliminate the major causes of blindness and visual impairment in this region.
Comparison of Mechanical Properties for Polymer Concrete with Different Types of Filler

Sustained research and development work on the utilization of waste (fly ash and silica fume) for various productive uses have been carried out. In the construction industry, major attention has been devoted to the use of fly ash and silica fume in concrete as addition to or as cement replacement. The utilization of a solid waste, fly ash and silica fume, in polymer concrete was reported in this paper including the effects on the compressive strength, flexural strength, and split tensile strength. The results show the influence of fly ash and silica fume content on the mechanical properties of polymer concrete with epoxy resin. The fillers improved the mechanical characteristics of polymer concrete compared to that of polymer concrete without filler: the compressive strength of polymer concrete with fly ash content was favorably influenced by the filler compound to polymer concrete with silica fume.
Ethnic Disparities in Stroke: Epidemiology, Acute Care, and Postacute Outcomes

Background and Purpose— Evidence for ethnic disparities in stroke incidence, severity, and mortality has continued to mount in recent years. However, the picture for disparities in acute management and rehabilitation remains more ambiguous. The objective of this report is to summarize current evidence from stroke epidemiology and studies focusing on disparities in stroke care and disability, suggesting courses for action. Methods— A comprehensive search of current literature on ethnic/racial variation in stroke incidence, mortality, and severity, as well as acute and postacute patient care was performed. Results— Recent evidence unambiguously reaffirms a greater burden of disease in stroke, greater mortality, and greater severity of strokes for blacks. Evidence for disparities in acute and postacute care is less conclusive, as is the evidence for disparities among other ethnic groups. Evidence for health disparities in stroke care across settings, regions, and the continuum of care varies considerably. Conclusions— Minority ethnic groups have higher rates or more severe stroke, but variations in prognosis for clinical outcomes other than mortality remain less certain. There is considerable need for more studies that take into account regional ethnic variations in treatment and outcomes, and for better documentation of stroke outcomes among groups in addition to blacks. Dealing with ethnic disparities in stroke will be served by sustained attention to quality improvement in high-impact areas in stroke care, complemented by initiatives that promote cultural competence.
Characterizing of Cooling Equipment for Closed Greenhouses

In order to develop new eco-sustainable technologies to set up biodegradable films for agricultural activities, spray mulching coating have been planned, prepared and tested on experimental fields. The suitable polymers used to this purpose were Arabic Gums and Agarose. Cellulose fibres were added to the polymeric water solution to improve the mulching power and to increase the tensile strength of the composite; glycerol as plasticizer was added in order to improve the mechanical response of mulching coatings. On the composites sprayed and naturally aged on the soil, both in greenhouse and in open field, mechanical, water vapor transmission rate and morphological analyses were carried out; the different environment influenced the outcomes of studied properties, evidencing better results and promising perspectives for composites employed and aged under controlled atmosphere of greenhouse.
Transforming Growth Factor Beta 2 and Heme Oxygenase 1 Genes Are Risk Factors for the Cerebral Malaria Syndrome in Angolan Children

Background Cerebral malaria (CM) represents a severe outcome of the Plasmodium falciparum infection. Recent genetic studies have correlated human genes with severe malaria susceptibility, but there is little data on genetic variants that increase the risk of developing specific malaria clinical complications. Nevertheless, susceptibility to experimental CM in the mouse has been linked to host genes including Transforming Growth Factor Beta 2 (TGFB2) and Heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1). Here, we tested whether those genes were governing the risk of progressing to CM in patients with severe malaria syndromes. Methodology/Principal Findings We report that the clinical outcome of P. falciparum infection in a cohort of Angolan children (n = 430) correlated with nine TGFB2 SNPs that modify the risk of progression to CM as compared to other severe forms of malaria. This genetic effect was explained by two haplotypes harboring the CM-associated SNPs (Pcorrec. = 0.035 and 0.036). In addition, one HMOX1 haplotype composed of five CM-associated SNPs increased the risk of developing the CM syndrome (Pcorrec. = 0.002) and was under-transmitted to children with uncomplicated malaria (P = 0.036). Notably, the HMOX1-associated haplotype conferred increased HMOX1 mRNA expression in peripheral blood cells of CM patients (P = 0.012). Conclusions/Significance These results represent the first report on CM genetic risk factors in Angolan children and suggest the novel hypothesis that genetic variants of the TGFB2 and HMOX1 genes may contribute to confer a specific risk of developing the CM syndrome in patients with severe P. falciparum malaria. This work may provide motivation for future studies aiming to replicate our findings in larger populations and to confirm a role for these genes in determining the clinical course of malaria.
Characterization of High Temperature Polymer Thin Films for Power Conditioning Capacitors

Abstract : Capacitor dielectrics that can operate above 150 deg C are needed for power electronics in military propulsion and weapons systems. This report characterized and compares two high temperature polymer film capacitor candidates, poly(ether imide) (PEI) and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), with poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), which offer limited performance at high temperature. Breakdown strength at room temperature was about 320 MV/m for PEEK, 500 MV/m for PPS and PEI, and 720 MV/m for BOPP. At 150 deg C, breakdown strength for PEI decreased about 16% and about 13% for PEEK, while PPS remained unchanged. BOPP's maximum test temperature was 100 deg C, at which breakdown strength decreased by about 11%. Dielectric loss measurements suggest PPS has greater electrical conductivity at 200 deg C than PEEK or PEI, and PEI has a lower loss than PEEK at temperatures above 150 deg C and frequencies higher than 1 kHz. The low E-field conductivity for PPS was 6.90x10(-14) S/m at 165 deg C and 1.72x10(-11) S/m at 200 deg C; the manufacturer listed room temperature conductivity as 2x10(-16) S/m. The effect of conductivity on the temperature rise of the capacitors was analyzed. More measurements are needed to determine the conductivity of PEEK and PEI. Based on the measured data for breakdown strength and dielectric properties, PEI appears to be the better candidate.
Economic Policy Uncertainty and Information Asymmetry ∗

This study examines whether economic policy uncertainty exacerbates information asymmetry among investors. We find that increased economic policy uncertainty is associated with decreased stock liquidity, especially for firms more exposed to economic policy uncertainty. Increased economic policy uncertainty also lowers investors’ reaction to earnings for firms with high liquidity risk. Management in turn increases voluntary disclosure, which only partly reverses the liquidity drop. These results suggest that information asymmetry is an important channel through which economic policy uncertainty affects asset pricing.
Structure of Bor 1 supports an elevator transport mechanism for SLC 4 anion exchangers

Boron is essential for plant growth because of its incorporation into plant cell walls; however, in excess it is toxic to plants. Boron transport and homeostasis in plants is regulated in part by the borate efflux transporter Bor1, a member of the solute carrier (SLC) 4 transporter family with homology to the human bicarbonate transporter Band 3. Here, we present the 4.1-Å resolution crystal structure of Arabidopsis thaliana Bor1. The structure displays a dimeric architecture in which dimerization is mediated by centralized Gate domains. Comparisons with a structure of Band 3 in an outward-open state reveal that the Core domains of Bor1 have rotated inwards to achieve an occluded state. Further structural comparisons with UapA, a xanthine transporter from the nucleobase-ascorbate transporter family, show that the downward pivoting of the Core domains relative to the Gate domains may access an inward-open state. These results suggest that the SLC4, SLC26, and nucleobase-ascorbate transporter families all share an elevator transport mechanism in which alternating access is provided by Core domains that carry substrates across a membrane.
The yeast enzyme Eht1 is an octanoyl-CoA:ethanol acyltransferase that also functions as a thioesterase

Fatty acid ethyl esters are secondary metabolites that are produced during microbial fermentation, in fruiting plants and in higher organisms during ethanol stress. In particular, volatile medium‐chain fatty acid ethyl esters are important flavour compounds that impart desirable fruit aromas to fermented beverages, including beer and wine. The biochemical synthesis of medium‐chain fatty acid ethyl esters is poorly understood but likely involves acyl‐CoA:ethanol O‐acyltransferases. Here, we characterize the enzyme ethanol hexanoyl transferase 1 (Eht1) from the brewer's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Full‐length Eht1 was successfully overexpressed from a recombinant yeast plasmid and purified at the milligram scale after detergent solubilization of sedimenting membranes. Recombinant Eht1 was functional as an acyltransferase and, unexpectedly, was optimally active toward octanoyl‐CoA, with kcat = 0.28 ± 0.02/s and KM = 1.9 ± 0.6 μm. Eht1 was also revealed to be active as a thioesterase but was not able to hydrolyse p‐nitrophenyl acyl esters, in contrast to the findings of a previous study. Low‐resolution structural data and site‐directed mutagenesis provide experimental support for a predicted α/β‐hydrolase domain featuring a Ser–Asp–His catalytic triad. The S. cerevisiae gene YBR177C/EHT1 should thus be reannotated as coding for an octanoyl‐CoA:ethanol acyltransferase that can also function as a thioesterase. © 2014 The Authors. Yeast published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do Oral Health Conditions Adversely Impact Young Adults?

This study assessed the extent to which clinically measured oral health conditions, adjusted for sociodemographic and oral health behavior determinants, impact adversely on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in a sample of Belgian young adults. The null hypothesis was that, among young adults, the oral health conditions would have no impact on their quality of life. The participants were 611 new patients aged 16-32 years seeking consultation at the Saint-Luc University Hospital in Brussels in 2010-2011. The patients (56.0% female) were examined for their oral health conditions and answered a validated questionnaire about sociodemographic and oral health behavior determinants in addition to questions about their OHRQoL. The abridged Oral Health Impact Profile-14 was used to assess the OHRQoL. Interexaminer reliability for caries was 0.86 (95% CI 0.84-0.89, nonweighted κ). The outcome was a high score on the OHRQoL (median split). Hierarchical logistic regression analysis showed that young adults with clinical absolute D1MFS scores between 9 and 16 (OR = 2.14, p = 0.031) and between 17 and 24 (OR = 3.10, p = 0.003) were significantly more likely to report a high impact on their quality of life than those with lower scores. Also, periodontal conditions compromised significantly (OR = 1.79, p = 0.011) the quality of life of young adults. In conclusion, this study identified oral health conditions with a significant adverse effect on the OHRQoL of young adults. However, the prevalence of young adults reporting impacts on at least 1 performance affected fairly often or very often was limited to 18.7% of the sample.
Binders unbound

Implementors of compilers, program refactorers, theorem provers, proof checkers, and other systems that manipulate syntax know that dealing with name binding is difficult to do well. Operations such as α-equivalence and capture-avoiding substitution seem simple, yet subtle bugs often go undetected. Furthermore, their implementations are tedious, requiring "boilerplate" code that must be updated whenever the object language definition changes. Many researchers have therefore sought to specify binding syntax declaratively, so that tools can correctly handle the details behind the scenes. This idea has been the inspiration for many new systems (such as Beluga, Delphin, FreshML, FreshOCaml, Cαml, FreshLib, and Ott) but there is still room for improvement in expressivity, simplicity and convenience. In this paper, we present a new domain-specific language, Unbound, for specifying binding structure. Our language is particularly expressive - it supports multiple atom types, pattern binders, type annotations, recursive binders, and nested binding (necessary for telescopes, a feature found in dependently-typed languages). However, our specification language is also simple, consisting of just five basic combinators. We provide a formal semantics for this language derived from a locally nameless representation and prove that it satisfies a number of desirable properties. We also present an implementation of our binding specification language as a GHC Haskell library implementing an embedded domain specific language (EDSL). By using Haskell type constructors to represent binding combinators, we implement the EDSL succinctly using datatype-generic programming. Our implementation supports a number of features necessary for practical programming, including flexibility in the treatment of user-defined types, best-effort name preservation (for error messages), and integration with Haskell's monad transformer library.
Activation of diatomic molecules at solid surfaces

The interaction of a diatomic molecule with a well-defined single crystal surface represents the prototype of the elementary processes involved in heterogeneous catalysis, and it can be studied down to atomic length and extremely short (fs) time-scales. Our present understanding is illustrated by examples concerning the activation of hydrogen (including also the breakdown of thermal equilibrium during rapid laser-induced associative desorption), the role of steps as ‘active sites’ in the dissociative adsorption of NO or N2, and the mechanism and kinetics of the catalytic oxidation of CO.
Contribution of Dopamine D1/5 Receptor Modulation of Post-Spike/Burst Afterhyperpolarization to Enhance Neuronal Excitability of Layer V Pyramidal Neurons in Prepubertal Rat Prefrontal Cortex

Dopamine (DA) receptors in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) modulate both synaptic and intrinsic plasticity that may contribute to cognitive processing. However, the ionic basis underlying DA actions to enhance neuronal plasticity in PFC remains ill-defined. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in layer V-VI pyramidal cells in prepubertal rat PFC, we showed that DA, via activation of D1/5, but not D2/3/4, receptors suppress a Ca2+-dependent, apamin-sensitive K+ channel that mediates post-spike/burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) to enhance neuronal excitability of PFC neurons. This inhibition is not dependent on HCN channels. The D1/5 receptor activation also enhanced an afterdepolarizing potential (ADP) that follows the AHP. Additional single-spike analyses revealed that DA or D1/5 receptor activation suppressed the apamin-sensitive post-spike mAHP, further contributing to the increase in evoked spike firing to enhance the neuronal excitability. Taken together, the D1/5 receptor modulates intrinsic mechanisms that amplify a long depolarizing input to sustain spike firing outputs in pyramidal PFC neurons.
New cache designs for thwarting software cache-based side channel attacks

Software cache-based side channel attacks are a serious new class of threats for computers. Unlike physical side channel attacks that mostly target embedded cryptographic devices, cache-based side channel attacks can also undermine general purpose systems. The attacks are easy to perform, effective on most platforms, and do not require special instruments or excessive computation power. In recently demonstrated attacks on software implementations of ciphers like AES and RSA, the full key can be recovered by an unprivileged user program performing simple timing measurements based on cache misses. We first analyze these attacks, identifying cache interference as the root cause of these attacks. We identify two basic mitigation approaches: the partition-based approach eliminates cache interference whereas the randomization-based approach randomizes cache interference so that zero information can be inferred. We present new security-aware cache designs, the Partition-Locked cache (PLcache) and Random Permutation cache (RPcache), analyze and prove their security, and evaluate their performance. Our results show that our new cache designs with built-in security can defend against cache-based side channel attacks in general-rather than only specific attacks on a given cryptographic algorithm-with very little performance degradation and hardware cost.
Ge/SiGe Quantum Well p-i-n Structures for Uncooled Infrared Bolometers

The temperature dependence of current is investigated experimentally for silicon-germanium (Si-Ge) multi-quantum-well p-i-n devices on Si substrates as uncooled bolometer active layers. Temperature coefficient of resistance values as high as -5.8%/K are recorded. This value is considerably higher than that of even commercial bolometer materials in addition to being well above the previous efforts based on CMOS compatible materials.