Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensory Functioning and Personality Development Among Older Adults

Deficits in sensory functioning, such as poor vision and hearing, take a significant toll on quality of life. Little is known, however, about their relation with personality development across adulthood. This study examined whether baseline and change in vision and hearing were associated with personality change over a 4-year period. Participants (N = 7,471; Mage = 66.89; 59% women) were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. They provided data on vision, hearing, and personality both at baseline and 4 years later. Poor vision and hearing at baseline and declines in vision and hearing over time were independently related to steeper declines in extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness, and less decline in neuroticism, controlling for demographic factors, disease burden, and depressive symptoms. Sensory functioning was generally a stronger predictor of personality change than disease burden or depressive symptoms. Consistent with evidence that poor and worsening sensory functions compromise individuals’ interactions with the social and physical environment, this study found deficits in hearing and vision were also associated with maladaptive personality trajectories in older adults.
Creating Virtually Mobile Nodes for Testing Ad Hoc Routing Protocols

Testing and evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols is typically performed by simulation or in very small scale tests on real devices. Indeed, it is difficult to perform repeatable large scale tests with physically moving nodes according to a predetermined movement scenario. However, it is critical to test these protocols on real devices and networks because simulations inevitably leave out some characteristics of a real network. We developed a testbed for virtually mobile nodes that will enable researchers to easily test ad hoc routing protocols and other mobile applications on real devices. The testbed consists of a mobility server and real node devices. The node devices are all within radio range of each other and the server. Prior to the start of the experiment, a movement scenario file is generated by the mobility server that describes which nodes are connected at every point in time. This file is distributed to all of the nodes, and once the experiment is started the nodes dynamically filter all packets they receive by silently dropping packets from nodes virtually out of range. This technique allows any mobility pattern to be realized accurately and consistently. The tested is also equipped with some simple tools for sending packets and analyzing performance of routing protocols.
Tip-enhanced near-field optical microscopy of single-walled carbon nanotube/polymer conjugates and improvements of the image contrast

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) are regarded as a promising candidate for a wide range of applications. Particularly, tailored blends of single-walled carbon nanotubes with polymers are ideally suited for organic solar cells (OSC) due to their inherent stability, high carrier mobility and the tunability of optical band gaps. In the past, the mixing of semiconducting and metallic SWCNTs and their aggregation into bundles strongly hindered their practical applications. More recently, many techniques have been developed to separate SWCNTs into chirality-pure single carbon nanotube samples. Nowadays, the most common approach is non-covalent polymer or surfactant wrapping. However, the characterization of these SWCNT samples is usually limited to a macroscopic level and few studies have looked into the interaction between SWCNTs and the wrapping agent on the single nanotube level. A comparison of the effects of different wrapping agents could provide useful guideline for device fabrication. Tip-enhanced near-field optical microscopy (TENOM) achieves 10 - 20 nm spatial resolution and substantial signal enhancement by employing an optical antenna such as a gold tip to localize and enhance light-matter interactions. In the first part of the thesis, we utilized TENOM to study the photoluminescence (PL) of single SWCNTs in different sample materials and investigated their optical heterogeneity. We introduced a statistical parameter to evaluate the intensity fluctuation of the near-field PL, which yields information on the occurrence of exciton trapping sites and quenching defects. We compared the results from different wrapping agents and post-synthesis treatment, and found that CVD synthesized SWCNTs, without further treatment together with PFO-BPy as wrapping agent exhibits the highest level of optical homogeneity. For TENOM and other types of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) as well, the presence of a far-field background from laser illumination of the sample lowers the signal to background ratio and decreases detection sensitivity. The second part of the thesis aims at suppressing the far-field background. We implemented a new tuning fork configuration in which the tip oscillates normal to the sample surface in a tuning-fork based TENOM setup, and drove an oscillation amplitude larger than the near-field decay length. A switch with a tunable threshold was used to extract the far-field part, which was subsequently subtracted from the total signal. Theoretical calculations were first performed to find the optimal tip modulation depth and switch threshold. The new configuration was finally applied to SWCNT PL imaging and was proven to significantly enhance the signal to background ratio.
Commentary: Cognitive reflection vs. calculation in decision making

The article of Sinayev and Peters (2015) proposes extensive and experimentally-grounded arguments able to shed light on the debate which compares (i) the hypothesis that Cognitive Reflection mirrors the human ability of suppressing automatic answers in favor of deliberate ones, with (ii) the hypothesis that numerical ability alone is able to predict superior decision making and to account for Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) (Frederick, 2005) results.
The Mtr Respiratory Pathway Is Essential for Reducing Flavins and Electrodes in Shewanella oneidensis

ABSTRACT The Mtr respiratory pathway of Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 is required to effectively respire both soluble and insoluble forms of oxidized iron. Flavins (riboflavin and flavin mononucleotide) recently have been shown to be excreted by MR-1 and facilitate the reduction of insoluble substrates. Other Shewanella species tested accumulated flavins in supernatants to an extent similar to that of MR-1, suggesting that flavin secretion is a general trait of the species. External flavins have been proposed to act as both a soluble electron shuttle and a metal chelator; however, at biologically relevant concentrations, our results suggest that external flavins primarily act as electron shuttles for MR-1. Using deletion mutants lacking various Mtr-associated proteins, we demonstrate that the Mtr extracellular respiratory pathway is essential for the reduction of flavins and that decaheme cytochromes found on the outer surface of the cell (MtrC and OmcA) are required for the majority of this activity. Given the involvement of external flavins in the reduction of electrodes, we monitored current production by Mtr respiratory pathway mutants in three-electrode bioreactors under controlled flavin concentrations. While mutants lacking MtrC were able to reduce flavins at 50% of the rate of the wild type in cell suspension assays, these strains were unable to grow into productive electrode-reducing biofilms. The analysis of mutants lacking OmcA suggests a role for this protein in both electron transfer to electrodes and attachment to surfaces. The parallel phenotypes of Mtr mutants in flavin and electrode reduction blur the distinction between direct contact and the redox shuttling strategies of insoluble substrate reduction by MR-1.
Peripheral Odor Coding in the Rat and Frog: Quality and Intensity Specification

In mammals, two recent studies have shown recently that one odor molecule can be recognized by several molecular olfactory receptors (ORs), and a single OR can recognize multiple odor molecules. In addition, one olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) may respond to different stimuli chosen as representative of distinct odor qualities. The aim of the present study was to analyze quality and intensity coding abilities of rat single ORNs, comparing them with previous extensive data gathered in the frog to get insight into the generality of olfactory coding mechanisms over vertebrates. Response properties of 90 rat ORNs to different odors or to one odor at different concentrations were analyzed. In the rat and the frog, odor quality appears to be specified through the identity of activated ORNs. However, rat ORNs have higher response thresholds. This lower sensitivity may be interpreted as an increase in selectivity of rat ORNs for low or medium odor intensities. In these conditions, the lower proportion of activated ORNs could be counterbalanced by their number, as well as by their higher glomerular convergence ratio in the olfactory bulb. From amphibians to mammals, the olfactory system appears to use universal mechanisms based on a combinatorial-coding mode that may allow quasi-infinite possibilities of adaptation to various olfactory environments.
Estrogen receptor ESR1 controls cell migration by repressing chemokine receptor CXCR4 in the zebrafish posterior lateral line system

The primordium that generates the embryonic posterior lateral line of zebrafish migrates from the head to the tip of the tail along a trail of SDF1-producing cells. This migration critically depends on the presence of the SDF1 receptor CXCR4 in the leading region of the primordium and on the presence of a second SDF1 receptor, CXCR7, in the trailing region of the primordium. Here we show that inactivation of the estrogen receptor ESR1 results in ectopic expression of cxcr4b throughout the primordium, whereas ESR1 overexpression results in a reciprocal reduction in the domain of cxcr4b expression, suggesting that ESR1 acts as a repressor of cxcr4b. This finding could explain why estrogens significantly decrease the metastatic ability of ESR-positive breast cancer cells. ESR1 inactivation also leads to extinction of cxcr7b expression in the trailing cells of the migrating primordium; this effect is indirect, however, and due to the down-regulation of cxcr7b by ectopic SDF1/CXCR4 signaling in the trailing region. Both ESR1 inactivation and overexpression result in aborted migration, confirming the importance of this receptor in the control of SDF1-dependent migration.
Piperaquine Resistance Is Associated with a Copy Number Variation on Chromosome 5 in Drug-Pressured Plasmodium falciparum Parasites

ABSTRACT The combination of piperaquine and dihydroartemisinin has recently become the official first-line therapy in several Southeast Asian countries. The pharmacokinetic mismatching of these drugs, whose plasma half-lives are ∼20 days and ∼1 h, respectively, implies that recrudescent or new infections emerging shortly after treatment cessation will encounter piperaquine as a monotherapy agent. This creates substantial selection pressure for the emergence of resistance. To elucidate potential resistance determinants, we subjected cloned Plasmodium falciparum Dd2 parasites to continuous piperaquine pressure in vitro (47 nM; ∼2-fold higher than the Dd2 50% inhibitory concentration [IC50]). The phenotype of outgrowth parasites was assayed in two clones, revealing an IC50 against piperaquine of 2.1 μM and 1.7 μM, over 100-fold greater than that of the parent. To identify the genetic determinant of resistance, we employed comparative whole-genome hybridization analysis. Compared to the Dd2 parent, this analysis found (in both resistant clones) a novel single-nucleotide polymorphism in P. falciparum crt (pfcrt), deamplification of an 82-kb region of chromosome 5 (that includes pfmdr1), and amplification of an adjacent 63-kb region of chromosome 5. Continued propagation without piperaquine selection pressure resulted in “revertant” piperaquine-sensitive parasites. These retained the pfcrt polymorphism and further deamplified the chromosome 5 segment that encompasses pfmdr1; however, these two independently generated revertants both lost the neighboring 63-kb amplification. These results suggest that a copy number variation event on chromosome 5 (825600 to 888300) is associated with piperaquine resistance. Transgene expression studies are underway with individual genes in this segment to evaluate their contribution to piperaquine resistance.
Resolving the conundrum of inbreeding depression but no inbreeding avoidance: Estimating sex‐specific selection on inbreeding by song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

Inbreeding avoidance among interacting females and males is not always observed despite inbreeding depression in offspring fitness, creating an apparent “inbreeding paradox. ” This paradox could be resolved if selection against inbreeding was in fact weak, despite inbreeding depression. However, the net magnitude and direction of selection on the degree to which females and males inbreed by pairing with relatives has not been explicitly estimated. We used long‐term pedigree data to estimate phenotypic selection gradients on the degree of inbreeding that female and male song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) expressed by forming socially persistent breeding pairs with relatives. Fitness was measured as the total numbers of offspring and grand offspring contributed to the population, and as corresponding expected numbers of identical‐by‐descent allele copies, thereby accounting for variation in offspring survival, reproduction, and relatedness associated with variation in parental inbreeding. Estimated selection gradients on the degree to which individuals paired with relatives were weakly positive in females, but negative in males that formed at least one socially persistent pairing. However, males that paired had higher mean fitness than males that remained socially unpaired. These analyses suggest that net selection against inbreeding may be weak in both sexes despite strong inbreeding depression, thereby resolving the “inbreeding paradox. ”
Surface and dynamic viscoelastic properties of cork from Quercus variabilis

Surface and dynamic viscoelastic properties of the reproduction cork from Quercus variabilis were studied in detail. There were 16 chemical elements in the Q. variabilis cork determined by the energy dispersive spectrometric (EDS) spectrum, and the contents of C and O were the highest. The mean colorimetric parameters L*, a*, and b* were 60.8, 14.0, and 30.6, respectively. The surface contact angles of Quercus variabilis cork were measured using an automatic contact angle meter. Three different types of liquid media (distilled water, formamide, and diiodomethane) were respectively dropped on the surface of corks using a microsyringe. The initial contact angles of water, formamide, and diiodomethane on the cork surface were 112.0°, 85.1°, and 75.2°, and the corresponding values decreased to 102.1°, 30.7°, and 72.1° when the liquids permeated the cork surface for 10 s. The moisture content values were 4.3%, 6.0%, and 9.0% when the dry cork samples were placed in the relative humidity conditions of 45%, 65%, and 85%, respectively, for 30 days. FT-IR spectra indicated the content of suberin in the sclereids and lenticels was much less than the content found in the pure corks. In the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) spectrum, three obvious relaxation processes could be observed in the tan δ curve.
Improved Nutritive Value of Kura Clover– and Birdsfoot Trefoil–Grass Mixtures Compared with Grass Monocultures

Improved dry matter (DM) production of cool-season grass monocultures may result from either N fertilization or the addition of legumes such as kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb.) or birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.). Such improvements could affect forage nutritive value and potential milk production from dairy cattle (Bos taurus). Laboratory estimates of forage nutritive value as well as potential milk production per unit mass and area were compared for six levels of N fertilizer on Kentucky bluegrass (KBG; Poa pratensis L.), smooth bromegrass (SBG; Bromus inermis Leyss.), and orchardgrass (OG; Dactylis glomerata L.) in monoculture or with either kura clover or birdsfoot trefoil in binary mixture with each grass. Experiments managed in a three-harvest system were conducted from 1994 through 1996 near Arlington and Lancaster, WI. Either legume reduced neutral detergent fiber and add detergent fiber and increased crude protein when added to grass. These effects increased with greater mixture legume DM proportions. Compared with grass monocultures averaged across years and locations and for any N rate, mixtures had greater potential milk production per megagram of DM and followed KBG > SBG > OG. Similarly, potential milk production per hectare for kura clover-grass mixtures exceeded that of monocultures by at least 49% for KBG and 12% for SBG while birdsfoot trefoil-grass mixtures were greater by at least 28% for KBG and 20% for SBG. Orchardgrass required maximum N rates to match milk production per hectare of the mixtures. Adding either kura clover or birdsfoot trefoil will improve potential milk production of these grasses while reducing reliance on fertilizer N in the North-Central USA.
Hemodynamic responses and energy expenditure during blood flow restriction exercise in obese population

The study investigated the acute effects of different initial restrictive pressures (IRP; tightness of cuffs before inflation with air) on heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and energy expenditure (EE) during constant‐load upright cycling.
Assessment and management of rapid-cycling bipolar affective disorder

& Pieve (1974). They arbitrarily defined rapid cycling as four or more mood episodes per year. Rapid cycling in relation to bipolar affective disorder has been defined by the DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)(Box 1). Some patients show cycling frequencies in the order of weeks to days, a phenomenon known as ultra-rapid cycling. Cycling of discrete mood phases of less than 24 hours has been described as ultra-ultra rapid cycling or ultra-radian cycling (Kramlinger & Post, 1996).
Numerical methods for least square problems

Preface 1. Mathematical and statistical properties of least squares solutions 2. Basic numerical methods 3. Modified least squares problems 4. Generalized least squares problems 5. Constrained least squares problems 6. Direct methods for sparse problems 7. Iterative methods for least squares problems 8. Least squares problems with special bases 9. Nonlinear least squares problems Bibliography Index.
Designing prospective cohort studies for assessing reproductive and developmental toxicity during sensitive windows of human reproduction and development--the LIFE Study.

The relationship between the environment and human fecundity and fertility remains virtually unstudied from a couple-based perspective in which longitudinal exposure data and biospecimens are captured across sensitive windows. In response, we completed the LIFE Study with methodology that intended to empirically evaluate a priori purported methodological challenges: implementation of population-based sampling frameworks suitable for recruiting couples planning pregnancy; obtaining environmental data across sensitive windows of reproduction and development; home-based biospecimen collection; and development of a data management system for hierarchical exposome data. We used two sampling frameworks (i.e., fish/wildlife licence registry and a direct marketing database) for 16 targeted counties with presumed environmental exposures to persistent organochlorine chemicals to recruit 501 couples planning pregnancies for prospective longitudinal follow-up while trying to conceive and throughout pregnancy. Enrolment rates varied from <1% of the targeted population (n = 424,423) to 42% of eligible couples who were successfully screened; 84% of the targeted population could not be reached, while 36% refused screening. Among enrolled couples, ∼ 85% completed daily journals while trying; 82% of pregnant women completed daily early pregnancy journals, and 80% completed monthly pregnancy journals. All couples provided baseline blood/urine samples; 94% of men provided one or more semen samples and 98% of women provided one or more saliva samples. Women successfully used urinary fertility monitors for identifying ovulation and home pregnancy test kits. Couples can be recruited for preconception cohorts and will comply with intensive data collection across sensitive windows. However, appropriately sized sampling frameworks are critical, given the small percentage of couples contacted found eligible and reportedly planning pregnancy at any point in time.
A viscoelastic constitutive model for thixotropic yield stress fluids: asymptotic and numerical studies of extension

This dissertation establishes a mathematical framework for analyzing a viscoelastic model that displays thixotropic behavior as a model parameter gets very small. The model is the partially extending strand convection model, originally derived for polymeric melts that have long strands that get in the way of fully retracting. A Newtonian solvent is added. The uniaxial and equibiaxial extensional flows are studied using combined asymptotic analysis and numerical simulations. An initial value problem with a prescribed elongational stress is solved in the limit of large relaxation time. This gives rise to multiple time scales. If the initial stress is less than a critical value, the initial elastic elongation is followed by settling to an unyielded state at the slow time scale. If the initial stress is larger than the critical value, then yielding ensues. The extensional flows produce delayed yielding and hysteresis, both associated with thixotropy in complex fluids. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. DMS-1311707.
Learning Behaviour Models of Human Activities

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the modelling and recognition of human activities involving highly structured and semantically rich behaviour such as dance, aerobics, and sign language. A novel approach is presented for automatically acquiring stochastic models of the high-level structure of an activity without the assumption of any prior knowledge. The process involves temporal segmentation into plausible atomic behaviour components and the use of variable length Markov models for the efficient representation of behaviours. Experimental results are presented which demonstrate the generation of realistic sample behaviours and evaluate the performance of models for long-term temporal prediction.