Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Voluntary self-touch increases body ownership

Experimental manipulations of body ownership have indicated that multisensory integration is central to forming bodily self-representation. Voluntary self-touch is a unique multisensory situation involving corresponding motor, tactile and proprioceptive signals. Yet, even though self-touch is frequent in everyday life, its contribution to the formation of body ownership is not well understood. Here we investigated the role of voluntary self-touch in body ownership using a novel adaptation of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), in which a robotic system and virtual reality allowed participants self-touch of real and virtual hands. In the first experiment, active and passive self-touch were applied in the absence of visual feedback. In the second experiment, we tested the role of visual feedback in this bodily illusion. Finally, in the third experiment, we compared active and passive self-touch to the classical RHI in which the touch is administered by the experimenter. We hypothesized that active self-touch would increase ownership over the virtual hand through the addition of motor signals strengthening the bodily illusion. The results indicated that active self-touch elicited stronger illusory ownership compared to passive self-touch and sensory only stimulation, and show an important role for active self-touch in the formation of bodily self.
Bus Stop–Environment Connection: Do Characteristics of the Built Environment Correlate with Bus Stop Crime?

Can we understand why some bus stops are safe and others are crimeridden? Can we predict which features of the bus stop environment are likely to encourage or discourage crime? Can we design safer bus stops? These questions are addressed by exploring the relationship between environmental variables and bus stop crime. An earlier study used crime data, along with environmental indicators, for a sample of 60 bus stops in downtown Los Angeles. Crime rates were higher for bus stops near alleys, multifamily housing, liquor stores and check-cashing establishments, vacant buildings, and graffiti and litter. In contrast, good visibility of the bus stop from its surroundings and the existence of bus shelters contributed to lower crime rates. This earlier study was indicative but not predictive of the elements that contribute to bus stop crime. With the geographic and temporal expansion of the data (covering a larger city part over a longer time span), a series of regression models was generated that identify environmental predictors of bus stop crime. These models show that the most important predictor of crime is location. If the environment is controlled, undesirable facilities and litter result in higher crime rates, whereas visibility and many pedestrians lead to lower crime rates. The presence or absence of certain characteristics in the bus stop microenvironment can affect crime. Also, the appropriate design and layout of the physical environment can reduce opportunities for criminal actions.
Protein Kinase C-δ Mediates Shedding of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 from Proximal Tubular Cells

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) degrades angiotensin (Ang) II to Ang-(1–7), and protects against diabetic renal injury. Soluble ACE2 fragments are shed from the proximal tubule, and appear at high levels in the urine with diabetes. High glucose-induced shedding of ACE2 from proximal tubular cells is mediated by the enzyme “a disintegrin and metalloproteinase-17″ (ADAM17). Here, we investigated the mechanism for constitutive shedding of ACE2. Mouse proximal tubular cells were cultured and ACE2 shedding into the media was assessed by enzyme activity assay and immunoblot analysis. Cells were incubated with pharmacologic inhibitors, or transfected with silencing (si) RNA. Incubation of proximal tubular cells with increasing concentrations of D-glucose stimulated ACE2 shedding, which peaked at 16 mM, while L-glucose (osmotic control) had no effect on shedding. In cells maintained in 7.8 mM D-glucose, ACE2 shedding was significantly inhibited by the pan-protein kinase C (PKC) competitive inhibitor sotrastaurin, but not by an inhibitor of ADAM17. Incubation of cells with the PKC-α and -β1-specific inhibitor Go6976, the PKC β1 and β2-specific inhibitor ruboxistaurin, inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases-2,-8, and -9, or an inhibitor of ADAM10 (GI250423X) had no effect on basal ACE2 shedding. By contrast, the PKC-δ inhibitor rottlerin significantly inhibited both constitutive and high glucose-induced ACE2 shedding. Transfection of cells with siRNA directed against PKC-δ reduced ACE2 shedding by 20%, while knockdown of PKC-ε was without effect. These results indicate that constitutive shedding of ACE2 from proximal tubular cells is mediated by PKC-δ, which is also linked to high glucose-induced shedding. Targeting PKC-δ may preserve membrane-bound ACE2 in proximal tubule in disease states and diminish Ang II-stimulated adverse signaling.
EFFECTIVE FAULT FRICTION AND SEISMIC NUCLEATION PHASE : SCALE-DEPENDENT OR NON-LINEAR FRICTION ?

We show how fault friction properties can be retrieved from the shape of the gradual onset of some seismograms. Based on a mechanical model, we derive a method to estimate the slip weakening rate W from an exponential fit to the seismic nucleation phase. Clues on fault zone structure and state of stress can be additionnaly obtained in the same process. The basic ingredients of the model are: (1) linear slip weakening friction on a planar fault, (2) a non uniform, locally peaked, prestress and (3) a slow tectonic load at constant rate. As characterized by numerical and analytical tools, the nucleation process is composed of two phases: (I) quasi-static nucleation and (II) dynamic nucleation. Phase I starts as soon as the stress overcomes fault strength in the region of initial stress concentration. It is characterized by stable slip on a slowly growing patch, driven by the slow tectonic load, and ends when the size of the slipping patch reaches the critical size L c ≈ µ/2W. Phase II is dynamically unstable and is the focus of this paper, because of its potential for wave radiation, hence observability in seismograms. This phase is itself composed of two stages: (IIa) an early transition phase, controlled by the lateral growth of the slipping patch and (IIb) a late stage dominated by the exponential acceleration of slip inside the patch. During this last stage, seismic moment behaves as M 0 (t) ∝ exp(s m t) where the growth rate s m = 2W/ρV S is the ratio between weakening rate and fault impedance. This behavior is the basis of our proposed method to estimate properties of fault friction and fault zone by measuring s m directly on the seismic nucleation phase of seismograms from the ratio velocity/displacement. Testing the method with the Kobe earthquake we get insights on the influence of fault zone structure on nucleation, and we obtain an estimate of critical slip D c ≈ 10 cm. This value is smaller than previous seismological estimates
The Impact of Social Structures on Deviant Behaviors: The Study of 402 High Risk Street Drug Users in Iran

This study is a sociological analysis of the three dimensions of social structure including institutional, relational, and embodied structures that have an impact on the individuals' deviant behaviors in the society. The authors used a mix method to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data of 402 high risk abandoned substance users in 2008 in Tehran, capital city of Iran. The leading reasons of substance use were categorized into four fundamental themes as follows: stress, deviant social networks, and low social capital and weak social support sources. In addition, the epidemiology model of regression analysis provides a brief explanation to assess the association between the demographical and etiological variables, and the drug users' deviant behaviors. In sum, substance use is discussed as a deviant behavior pattern which stems from a comorbidity of weak social structures.
Rockport and Queen exercise tests validity for estimation of VO2max in east Azerbaijan male Karatekas

Since, estimation of VO2max is an important index for high level performances in training and competition periods, this study was done in order to identifying validity of Rockport and Queen exercise tests for estimation of VO2max in east Azerbaijan male Karatekas. Fifteen male elite karate competitors in east Azerbaijan [aged 19.4±2.02 years, BMI 21.45±2.84 Kg/m2] were voluntarily participated in this study. VO2max of the subjects were separately measured by standard (Balke treadmill) and field (Rockport & Queen) exercise tests. Data were statistically analyzed by correlation and one-way ANOVA methods. Relationship between estimated VO2max in laboratory and field exercise tests was statistically significant (rBR 1 = 0.525, rBQ 2 = 0.626, p≤0.05). In addition, Relationship between estimated VO2max in laboratory and recovery heart rate in field exercise tests was statistically significant (rBR= - 0.747, p≤0.001; rBQ= -0.626, p≤0.012). However, estimated VO2max in Queen Step test was slightly underestimated (%13.60) from two other tests (F=15.37, p≤0.00001). Our results show that Rockport and Queen Exercise tests were valid for estimation of VO2max in male elite karate competitors. Although, estimated VO2max in Queen Step test was slightly underestimated from two other tests. However, estimation of VO2max could predict using provided linear regression equations.
The Resiliency Scale for Young Adults Revisited

Resiliency has been examined in past research using a scale for children and adolescents, called the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA; Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007). This scale is based on a three-factor model for resiliency that includes Sense of Mastery, Sense of Relatedness, and Emotional Reactivity (Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007). The RSCA has recently been revised for young adults, by developing the Resiliency Scale for Young Adults (RSYA). The RSYA is a 50-item self-report measure, with each item rated on a scale from 0 = Never ; to 4 = Almost always . The current study is a replication of a study by Prince-Embury et al. (2016) that presented psychometric support for the RSYA. A sample of first year undergraduate students at Western University (similar to the sample collected in the 2016 study), were administered the online RSYA at two time points during the Fall 2016 semester. The current study examines the internal consistency and the test-retest reliability of this measure, as well as replicating various analyses completed in the 2016 study. The results supported the internal consistency and also the test-retest reliability of the RSYA, which also showed negative relationships with stress, anxiety, depression and a positive relationship with life satisfaction. This scale holds promise for further studies of resiliency in young adults.
Physical Activity and Survival after Diagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer

Previous studies suggest that increased physical activity may lower the risk of breast cancer incidence, but less is known about whether levels of physical activity after breast cancer diagnosis can influence survival. We prospectively examined the relation between postdiagnosis recreational physical activity and risk of breast cancer death in women who had a previous invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 1988 and 2001 (at ages 20-79 years). All women completed a questionnaire on recent postdiagnosis physical activity and other lifestyle factors. Among 4,482 women without history of recurrence at the time of completing the questionnaire, 109 died from breast cancer within 6 years of enrollment. Physical activity was expressed as metabolic equivalent task-hours per week (MET-h/wk); hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. After adjusting for age at diagnosis, stage of disease, state of residence, interval between diagnosis and physical activity assessment, body mass index, menopausal status, hormone therapy use, energy intake, education, family history of breast cancer, and treatment modality compared with women expending <2.8 MET-h/wk in physical activity, women who engaged in greater levels of activity had a significantly lower risk of dying from breast cancer (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.39-1.08 for 2.8-7.9 MET-h/wk; HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.35-1.01 for 8.0-20.9 MET-h/wk; and HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.89 for ≥21.0 MET-h/wk; P for trend = 0.05). Results were similar for overall survival (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.32-0.60 for ≥21.0 versus <2.8 MET-h/wk; P for trend <0.001) and were similar regardless of a woman’s age, stage of disease, and body mass index. This study provides support for reduced overall mortality and mortality from breast cancer among women who engage in physical activity after breast cancer diagnosis. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(2):379–86)
Comprehensible Credit Scoring Models Using Rule Extraction from Support Vector Machines

In recent years, support vector machines (SVMs) were successfully applied to a wide range of applications. However, since the classifier is described as a complex mathematical function, it is rather incomprehensible for humans. This opacity property prevents them from being used in many real-life applications where both accuracy and comprehensibility are required, such as medical diagnosis and credit risk evaluation. To overcome this limitation, rules can be extracted from the trained SVM that are interpretable by humans and keep as much of the accuracy of the SVM as possible. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the recently proposed rule extraction techniques for SVMs and introduce two others taken from the artificial neural networks domain, being Trepan and G-REX. The described techniques are compared using publicly available datasets, such as Ripley’s synthetic dataset and the multi-class iris dataset. We will also look at medical diagnosis and credit scoring where comprehensibility is a key requirement and even a regulatory recommendation. Our experiments show that the SVM rule extraction techniques lose only a small percentage in performance compared to SVMs and therefore rank at the top of comprehensible classification techniques.
Managing the 'Evaluator Effect' in User Testing

If multiple evaluators analyse the outcomes of a single user test, the agreement between their lists of identified usability problems tends to be limited. This is called the ‘evaluator effect’. In the present paper, three user tests, taken from various domains, are reported and evaluator effects were measured. In all three studies, the evaluator effect proved to be less than in Jacobsen et al.'s (1998) study, but still present. Through detailed analysis of the data, it was possible to identify various causes for the evaluator effect, ranging from inaccuracies in logging and mishearing verbal utterances to differences in interpreting user intentions. Suggested strategies for managing the evaluator effect are: doing a systematic and detailed data analysis with automated logging, discussing specific usability problems with other evaluators, and having the entire data analysis done by multiple evaluators.
Multiple-Antenna Signaling Over Fading Channels With Estimated Channel State Information: Performance Analysis

Multiple-antenna concepts for wireless communication systems promise high spectral efficiency and low error rates by proper exploitation of the randomness in multipath propagation. In this paper, we investigate the impact of channel uncertainty caused by channel estimation errors on the error rate performance. We consider a training-based multiple-antenna system that reserves a portion of time to sound the channel. Training symbols are used to estimate the channel by means of an arbitrary linear filter at the receiver. No channel state information (CSI) is assumed at the transmitter. We present a new framework to analyze training-based multiple-antenna systems by introducing an equivalent system model that specifies the channel by the estimated (and hence, known) channel coefficients and an uncorrelated, data-dependent, multiplicative noise. We derive the maximum-likelihood (ML) detector and highlight its behavior in the limiting cases of perfect CSI and no CSI, and its relation to several mismatched detectors. We deduce new exact expressions and Chernoff bounds of the pairwise error probability (PEP) used to assess word-error and bit-error rate bounds for ML and mismatched detection. Finally, we review the code design guidelines in terms of the deleterious effect of channel uncertainty for coherent and noncoherent signaling schemes, and present numerical results.
Chapter 2. Effects of task complexity and pre-task planning on Japanese EFL learners’ oral production

This study sought to test Skehan’s (1996, 1998) limited capacity hypothesis and Robinson’s (1995, 2003) cognition hypothesis by investigating the effects of task complexity and pre-task planning on EFL learners’ oral production (see also Genc, this volume). Twenty three Japanese-L1 high school students were given two sets of picture-based narrative tasks: a simple task with fewer characters and a complex task with more characters appearing in cartoon-based stories. Ten of these participants were given pre-task planning time, whereas thirteen were not. The results indicate that (a) the increased task complexity positively affects the specific measure of syntactic complexity, but negatively affects global accuracy and fluency; and (b) planning time positively affects global syntactic complexity, but negatively affects fluency. These findings partially support and partially disconfirm both Robinson’s and Skehan’s hypotheses, posing questions about making blanket predictions on the linguistic consequences of task manipulation. The findings also show the importance of employing task-discourse sensitive measures in investigating the effect of task complexity on learners’ language use. The main value of the findings of the study comes from its focus on Japanese EFL high school students who have limited oral L2 proficiency, a population underrepresented in previous studies, despite their obvious importance for both research and teaching.
A Case for the Demedicalization of Queer Bodies

The medicalization of queer bodies in the clinic and the lab is inexorably linked to the history of LBGTQ politics. Increasingly, activists and scholars are recognizing that while the natural origins of queer sexualities carry a certain political weight, invoking the naturalness of being “born this way” fails to articulate a more substantive challenge to the effects of unexamined cis- and heteronormativity on our social institutions. With this in mind, it is crucial to understand the way these biases operate in scientific research and healthcare so their impact on what we know and how we care can be addressed. It what follows, it will be shown that the medicalization of queer bodies not only fails to diminish these deep-seated biases from sexuality research and clinical practice, but that it also impedes care providers from addressing the healthcare disparities facing queer patients today.
INSULARITY, REMOTENESS, MOUNTAINS AND ARCHIPELAGOS: A COMBINATION OF CHALLENGES FACING SMALL STATES? Paper for Europe at the Margins: EU Regional Policy, Peripherality and Rurality Regional Studies Association Conference

2 The European Union (EU) has in recent years developed special policies designed to assist in the economic development of a number of 'Outermost Regions' (ORs) or 'Ultraperipheral Regions', namely the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Réunion, the Azores and Madeira. With the advent of the enlargement of the EU to incorporate a further ten central and eastern European countries in May 2004, it is likely that significant reductions in Structural Funds budgets for disadvantaged regions of western Europe will occur once the current budget periods ends in 2006. Since the ORs have been major beneficiaries from EU Structural Funds, their financial assistance from the EU is under imminent threat. It is likely that from 2007 onwards only those disadvantaged regions within western Europe which can make a convincing special case will be likely to retain the coveted Objective 1 status from the Structural Funds. The European Commission has recently undertaken research on the economic challenges facing island regions (together with their adjacent littoral mainland seaboard regions) and it is possible that some of these may become one of the special status categories for the post-2007 Structural Funds. The ORs are all, with the exception of French Guyana, island regions. To date, however, the justification for their special policy status within the EU has been justified in terms of remoteness rather than insularity, as the names 'outermost regions' and 'ultraperipheral' suggest. As part of the ongoing debate within the EU, it has been suggested that the ORs are actually confronted with a set of no fewer than four interlocking challenges – insularity, remoteness, being archipelagos (in many cases) and being highly mountainous entities. Interestingly, this same argument can be applied to many of the world's very small states as well as to the EU's outermost regions. This paper examines the nature of the challenges posed by these four key characteristics and seeks to produce some empirical evidence of how difficult to overcome these challenges have been. The focus of the paper is on 126 very small states, dependent territories and highly autonomous regions drawn from all parts of the global economy. The position of the EU's seven OR's within the results for the wider set of small states is considered.
POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN TASK-BASED LEARNING

This study aimed at describing how the implementation of Task- Based Learning (TBL) would shape or change students' use of oral communication strategies. Students' problems and strategies to solve the problems during the implementation of TBL were also explored. The study was a mixed method, employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis through multi-methods of questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussion, learning journals, and classroom observation. Participants were 26 second year students of the State Polytechnic of Malang. Data collection was conducted for one semester. Findings show linguistic and non-linguistic problems encountered by students during one-semester implementation of TBL. Students also performed increased use of positive strategies but reduced use of negative strategies after the implementation of TBL.
The effect of work pace on workload, motor variability and fatigue during simulated light assembly work

This study investigated the effect of work pace on workload, motor variability and fatigue during light assembly work. Upper extremity kinematics and electromyography (EMG) were obtained on a cycle-to-cycle basis for eight participants during two conditions, corresponding to “normal” and “high” work pace according to a predetermined time system for engineering. Indicators of fatigue, pain sensitivity and performance were recorded before, during and after the task. The level and variability of muscle activity did not differ according to work pace, and manifestations of muscle fatigue or changed pain sensitivity were not observed. In the high work pace, however, participants moved more efficiently, they showed more variability in wrist speed and acceleration, but they also made more errors. These results suggest that an increased work pace, within the range addressed here, will not have any substantial adverse effects on acute motor performance and fatigue in light, cyclic assembly work. Statement of Relevance:In the manufacturing industry, work pace is a key issue in production system design and hence of interest to ergonomists as well as engineers. In this laboratory study, increasing the work pace did not show adverse effects in terms of biomechanical exposures and muscle fatigue, but it did lead to more errors. For the industrial engineer, this observation suggests that an increase in work pace might diminish production quality, even without any noticeable fatigue being experienced by the operators.