Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preserved Discrimination Performance and Neural Processing during Crossmodal Attention in Aging

In a recent study in younger adults (19-29 year olds) we showed evidence that distributed audiovisual attention resulted in improved discrimination performance for audiovisual stimuli compared to focused visual attention. Here, we extend our findings to healthy older adults (60-90 year olds), showing that performance benefits of distributed audiovisual attention in this population match those of younger adults. Specifically, improved performance was revealed in faster response times for semantically congruent audiovisual stimuli during distributed relative to focused visual attention, without any differences in accuracy. For semantically incongruent stimuli, discrimination accuracy was significantly improved during distributed relative to focused attention. Furthermore, event-related neural processing showed intact crossmodal integration in higher performing older adults similar to younger adults. Thus, there was insufficient evidence to support an age-related deficit in crossmodal attention.
Predictors of Post-Traumatic Growth: The Role of Social Interest and Meaning in Life

Abstract: The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) defines a traumatic event as exposure to threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Considerable research on the prevalence of traumatic experiences in college students has revealed that more than half of students enter college with a history of traumatic events. Although much evidence has accumulated for post-traumatic stress in survivors of various traumatic events, there is also a growing body of empirical evidence that trauma can provide the opportunity for personal and social transformation (i.e., post-traumatic growth).
Three New Genetic Loci (R1210C in CFH, Variants in COL8A1 and RAD51B) Are Independently Related to Progression to Advanced Macular Degeneration

Objectives To assess the independent impact of new genetic variants on conversion to advanced stages of AMD, controlling for established risk factors, and to determine the contribution of genes in predictive models. Methods In this prospective longitudinal study of 2765 individuals, 777 subjects progressed to neovascular disease (NV) or geographic atrophy (GA) in either eye over 12 years. Recently reported genetic loci were assessed for their independent effects on incident advanced AMD after controlling for 6 established loci in 5 genes, and demographic, behavioral, and macular characteristics. New variants which remained significantly related to progression were then added to a final multivariate model to assess their independent effects. The contribution of genes to risk models was assessed using reclassification tables by determining risk within cross-classified quintiles for alternative models. Results Three new genetic variants were significantly related to progression: rare variant R1210C in CFH (hazard ratio (HR) 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–5.3, P = 0.01), and common variants in genes COL8A1 (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.5, P = 0.02) and RAD51B (HR 0.8, 95% CI 0.60–0.97, P = 0.03). The area under the curve statistic (AUC) was significantly higher for the 9 gene model (.884) vs the 0 gene model (.873), P = . 01. AUC’s for the 9 vs 6 gene models were not significantly different, but reclassification analyses indicated significant added information for more genes, with adjusted odds ratios (OR) for progression within 5 years per one quintile increase in risk score of 2.7, P<0.001 for the 9 vs 6 loci model, and OR 3.5, P<0.001 for the 9 vs. 0 gene model. Similar results were seen for NV and GA. Conclusions Rare variant CFH R1210C and common variants in COL8A1 and RAD51B plus six genes in previous models contribute additional predictive information for advanced AMD beyond macular and behavioral phenotypes.
How do teachers learn together? A study of school-based teacher learning in China from the perspective of organisational learning

Abstract Studies of professional development have examined the influence of school-based approaches on in-service teacher learning and change but have seldom investigated teachers’ job-embedded learning processes. This paper explores the dynamic processes of teacher learning in school-based settings. A qualitative comparative case study based on the framework of organisational learning was conducted to analyse the ways that 17 teachers from two school-based communities in a secondary school in Shanghai, China, experienced learning through various learning activities. The findings showed that the two group teachers had actively developed implementation-oriented and experimentation-oriented processes of learning. The former process is referred to as exploitation learning. Exploitation learning helps teachers by creating a stable environment to learn the existing knowledge and norms of practice of a school organisation. The latter process is referred to as exploration learning. Exploration or exploratory learning provides a platform for new knowledge construction aimed at improving existing practices in a more radical way. Teachers’ perceptions of and participation in school-based learning activities shape their learning experiences in different ways. Specifically, the support of school leaders is necessary to promote teachers’ exploratory learning in school-based settings. However, the leadership strategies that best support teachers’ learning require further investigation.
Evidence for an association of the big five personality factors with recurrence of depressive symptoms in later life

Although it is well known that recurrence of late‐life depression is very common, little is known about the characteristics of older people who are vulnerable for recurrence. In order to identify characteristics of those who are at risk, the present study aimed to investigate the strength of the associations of the big five personality factors with recurrence in later life. Secondly, we studied whether there are gender and age differences in the strength of these associations.
Valuation of Early Stage High-tech Start-up Companies

Valuating start-ups, especially at early stages, is a challenge given the lack of historical data and many uncertain factors about the future. This article presents a methodology for the valuation of early stage start-ups that we have proven in practice. The risk linked to a start-up is expressed through an individual beta coefficient as important component of the discounting factor within a discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation based on the data in a business plan. Core of this methodology is the development of an evaluation framework for the individual adjustment of the beta coefficient that is applicable to early stage start-ups. This was shown by applying the methodology to 16 early stage start-ups in the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, medical technology and clean technology, which provided an easy-to-handle and comprehensible comparison of different investment options for early stage investors.
Types of Learning Activities and Life Satisfaction among Older Adults in Urban Community-Based Lifelong Learning Programs

ABSTRACT Education, lifelong learning activities, and well-being are positively associated. However, significantly less is known about types of learning activities such as participation in organized adult education programs and self-learning among older adults in the same context. Data from 420 older adults from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) were analyzed. Results showed that additional participation in organized education programs was positively associated with life satisfaction among OLLI members. Given the beneficial effects of additional participation in organized adult education programs on life satisfaction, older learners are encouraged to be engaged in more learning activities.
Pipe viscometry of foams

This paper describes a method for extracting useful information from small‐scale pipe viscometer measurements of foam rheology. The rheology of a foamed polymer solution at a given temperature, pressure, and quality was determined in pipes of five diameters. The flow curves showed a marked dependence on the diameter of the pipe. The concept of apparent slip could be used to explain the phenomenon. The classical slip correction of Mooney was not applicable, but the method developed by Jastrzebski (based on the previous work of Oldroyd) provided a consistent means of apparent slip correction. The geometric interpretation of the two slip correction methods revealed the possible reason for the difference of their performance. The slip corrected measurements were interpreted in the framework of the volume equalization principle.
SU(N) gauge theories in four dimensions: exploring the approach to N = infinity

We calculate the string tension, K, and some of the lightest glueball masses, M, in 3+1 dimensional SU(N) lattice gauge theories for N=2,3,4,5 . From the continuum extrapolation of the lattice values, we find that the mass ratios, M/sqrt(K), appear to show a rapid approach to the large-N limit, and, indeed, can be described all the way down to SU(2) using just a leading O(1/NxN) correction. We confirm that the smooth large-N limit we find, is obtained by keeping a constant 't Hooft coupling. We also calculate the topological charge of the gauge fields. We observe that, as expected, the density of small-size instantons vanishes rapidly as N increases, while the topological susceptibility appears to have a non-zero N=infinity limit.
Do Tax Credits Stimulate R&D Spending? The Effect of the R&D Tax Credit in Its First Decade

This paper examines the impact of the U.S. federal R&D tax credit between 1981–1991 using confidential IRS data from corporate tax returns. The empirical analysis makes two key advances on previous work. First, it implements a new instrumental variables (IV) strategy based on tax changes that directly addresses the simultaneity of R&D spending and marginal credit rates. Second, the analysis makes use of new restricted-access IRS corporate return data describing R&D expenditures. Estimates imply that a10% reduction in the user cost of R&D leads the average firm to increase its research intensity—the ratio of R&D spending to sales—by 19.8% in the short-run. Long-run estimates imply that the average firm faces adjustment costs and increases spending over time, though small and young firms show evidence of reversing initial increases. Analysis of the components of qualified research shows that wages and supplies account for the bulk of the increase in research spending. Elasticities of qualified and total research intensities from a smaller sample suggest firms respond to user cost changes largely by increasing their qualified spending, meaning that the type of R&D the federal credit deems qualified research is an important margin on which the credit affects firm behavior.
Does it Make a Difference? Comparing Growth Effects of European and North American FDI in Latin America

FDI from the European Union (EU) ranks before FDI from North America (NA) in some of the Latin American countries. We investigate the impact of EU- versus NA-FDI on the growth rate including about 50 controls. Country specific effects and parameter heterogeneity are incorporated in our estimation. We use Bayesian Model Averaging to address model uncertainty and to select the best models and most robust parameters. Our results indicate that positive effects of FDI are dependent on the functioning of legal frameworks and the quality of infrastructure. EU-FDI is an important, robust growth determinant whereas NA-FDI is not.
Eye-Position Signals in the Dorsal Visual System Are Accurate and Precise on Short Timescales

Eye-position signals (EPS) are found throughout the primate visual system and are thought to provide a mechanism for representing spatial locations in a manner that is robust to changes in eye position. It remains unknown, however, whether cortical EPS (also known as “gain fields”) have the necessary spatial and temporal characteristics to fulfill their purported computational roles. To quantify these EPS, we combined single-unit recordings in four dorsal visual areas of behaving rhesus macaques (lateral intraparietal area, ventral intraparietal area, middle temporal area, and the medial superior temporal area) with likelihood-based population-decoding techniques. The decoders used knowledge of spiking statistics to estimate eye position during fixation from a set of observed spike counts across neurons. Importantly, these samples were short in duration (100 ms) and from individual trials to mimic the real-time estimation problem faced by the brain. The results suggest that cortical EPS provide an accurate and precise representation of eye position, albeit with unequal signal fidelity across brain areas and a modest underestimation of eye eccentricity. The underestimation of eye eccentricity predicted a pattern of mislocalization that matches the errors made by human observers. In addition, we found that eccentric eye positions were associated with enhanced precision relative to the primary eye position. This predicts that positions in visual space should be represented more reliably during eccentric gaze than while looking straight ahead. Together, these results suggest that cortical eye-position signals provide a useable head-centered representation of visual space on timescales that are compatible with the duration of a typical ocular fixation.
S-Presence Without Complete World

Advances in information technology, and its use in research, are increasing both the need for anonymized data and the risks of poor anonymization. [1] presented a new privacy metric, δ-presence, that clearly links the quality of anonymization to the risk posed by inadequate anonymization. It was shown that existing anonymization techniques are inappropriate for situations where δ-presence is a good metric (specifically, where knowing an individual is in the database poses a privacy risk). This article addresses a practical problem with [1], extending to situations where the data anonymizer is not assumed to have complete world knowledge. The algorithms are evaluated in the context of a real-world scenario, demonstrating practical applicability of the approach.
Positive , Negative , or Mixed ? Mining Blogs for Opinions

The rich non-factual information on the blogosphere presents interesting research questions. In this paper, we present a study on analysis of blog posts for their sentiment by using a generic sentiment lexicon. In particular, we applied Support Vector Machine to classify blog posts into three categories of opinions: positive, negative and mixed. We investigated the performance difference between global topic-independent and local topic-dependent opinion classification on a collection of blogs. Our experiment shows that topic-dependent classification performs significantly better than topic-independent classification, and this result indicates high interaction between sentiment words and topic.
Sustained inhibition of the native language in bilingual language production: A virtual reality approach

Bilinguals often switch languages as a function of the language background of their addressee. The control mechanisms supporting bilinguals' ability to select the contextually appropriate language are heavily debated. Here we present four experiments in which unbalanced bilinguals named pictures in their first language Dutch and their second language English in mixed and blocked contexts. Immersive virtual reality technology was used to increase the ecological validity of the cued language-switching paradigm. Behaviorally, we consistently observed symmetrical switch costs, reversed language dominance, and asymmetrical mixing costs. These findings indicate that unbalanced bilinguals apply sustained inhibition to their dominant L1 in mixed language settings. Consequent enhanced processing costs for the L1 in a mixed versus a blocked context were reflected by a sustained positive component in event-related potentials. Methodologically, the use of virtual reality opens up a wide range of possibilities to study language and communication in bilingual and other communicative settings.
Persistence, chaos and synchrony in ecology and epidemiology

The decline of species in natural habitats concerns ecologists, who view extinction as a danger and conservation of biological diversity as a goal. In contrast, the proliferation of ‘undesirable’ species is the principal concern of epidemiologists, who view persistence as a problem and eradication as an achievement. While ecologists and epidemiologists have essentially opposite goals, the mathematical structure of the population dynamics that they study is very similar. We briefly review the similarities and differences between these two fields, emphasizing recent work in both areas on the effects of spatial synchrony and dynamical chaos. We hope to stimulate further cross–fertilization of ideas between the disciplines.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Concordance and Incongruence in Preclinical Anxiety Models: Systematic Review and Meta-analyses

Rodent defense behavior assays have been widely used as preclinical models of anxiety to study possibly therapeutic anxiety-reducing interventions. However, some proposed anxiety-modulating factors – genes, drugs and stressors – have had discordant effects across different studies. To reconcile the effect sizes of purported anxiety factors, we conducted systematic review and meta-analyses of the literature on ten anxiety-linked interventions, as examined in the elevated plus maze, open field and light-dark box assays. Diazepam, 5-HT1A receptor gene knockout and overexpression, SERT gene knockout and over-expression, pain, restraint, social isolation, corticotropin-releasing hormone and Crhr1 were selected for review. Eight interventions had statistically significant effects on rodent anxiety, while Htr1a overexpres-sion and Crh knockout did not. Evidence for publication bias was found in the diazepam, Htt knockout, and social isolation literatures. The Htr1a and Crhr1 results indicate a disconnect between preclinical science and clinical research. Furthermore, the meta-analytic data confirmed that genetic SERT anxiety effects were paradoxical in the context of the clinical use of SERT inhibitors to reduce anxiety.
Performance Comparison of LEACH and LEACH-C Protocols by NS2

In this work, performance evaluation of LEACH and LEACH-C protocols based on NS2 is depicted, which helps to reveal the regularity how performances of these two routing protocols change with the sink locations. For a more accurate description of this regularity, two novel concepts are proposed, i.e., Sensor Node Distribution Gravity and Distance Metric between sink and Gravity. Simulation results show that a distance threshold area, which is a key factor for choosing between LEACH and LEACH-C protocols, can be achieved.
The assessment of the body fat percentage by skinfold thickness measurements in childhood and young adolescence

The relationship of skinfold thicknesses to body density and of skinfold thicknesses to densitometrically determined body fat was evaluated in a group of 378 boys and girls, aged 7–20 years. According to their maturation level, they were divided into a prepubertal, a pubertal and a post-pubertal group. In each maturation group boys were older, had higher body-weights and body heights, higher body densities, lower percentage body fat, higher waist:hips ratios and higher trunk:total skinfolds ratios than girls. Body density in each maturation level could be quite precisely predicted by skinfold thicknesses. In prepubertal and pubertal boys and girls but not in post-pubertal boys and girls, age was also an important predicting variable for body density. The assessment of percentage body fat from skinfold thicknesses had a prediction error of 3–5 %, which was highest in the prepubertal children. The prediction error is comparable to the prediction error of percentage body fat from skinfold thicknesses in adults, as reported in the literature. Only in post-pubertal boys and girls was the waist:hip ratio correlated with measures of body fatness. Moreover, only in the post-pubertal boys and in the pubertal and post-pubertal girls was the waist:hips ratio correlated with another measure of body fat distribution, the trunk:total skinfold ratio. The relative amount of internal body fat was found to be higher in the younger maturation groups. It is concluded that at younger ages the waist:hips ratio is a poor indicator of body fat distribution.
Publication Bias: The “File-Drawer” Problem in Scientific Inference

Publication bias arises whenever the probability that a study is published depends on the statistical significance of its results. This bias, often called the file-drawer effect because the unpublished results are imagined to be tucked away in researchers’ file cabinets, is a potentially severe impediment to combining the statistical results of studies collected from the literature. With almost any reasonable quantitative model for publication bias, only a small number of studies lost in the file drawer will produce a significant bias. This result contradicts the well-known fail-safe file-drawer (FSFD) method for setting limits on the potential harm of publication bias, widely used in social, medical, and psychic research. This method incorrectly treats the file drawer as unbiased and almost always misestimates the seriousness of publication bias. A large body of not only psychic research, but medical and social science studies as well, has mistakenly relied on this method to validate claimed discoveries. Statistical combination can be trusted only if it is known with certainty that all studies that have been carried out are included. Such certainty is virtually impossible to achieve in literature surveys.
A cosmic relation between extinction and star formation

We study the relation between the star formation intensity of galaxies and the extinction by dust of their emitted light. We employ a detailed statistical analysis of Hubble Deep Field North data to show a clear positive correlation between the extinction and star formation intensity at all epochs from redshift 0.4 to 6.5. The extinction evidently increases with time for a given star formation intensity, consistent with the expected increase in the metallicity with time. Our observational results are well fitted at all epochs by a double-power-law model with a fixed shape that simply shifts with redshift. The correlation between the extinction and the star formation intensity can be interpreted by combining two other trends: the correlation between the star formation rate and the gas content of galaxies, and the evolution of the dust-to-gas ratio in galaxies. If we assume that Kennicutt’s observed relation for the former is valid at each redshift, then our findings imply an interesting variation in the dust-to-gas ratio in galaxies within each epoch and with time, and suggest new ways to investigate the cosmic evolution of this quantity.