Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Valved Conduit with Glutaraldehyde-Fixed Bovine Pericardium Treated by Anticalcification Protocol

Background A preclinical study was conducted for evaluating a valved conduit manufactured with a glutaraldehyde (GA)-fixed bovine pericardium treated using an anticalcification protocol. Methods Bovine pericardia were decellularized, fixed with GA in an organic solvent, and detoxified. We prepared a valved conduit using these bovine pericardia and a specially designed mold. The valved conduit was placed under in vitro circulation by using a mock circulation model, and the durability under mechanical stress was evaluated for 2 months. The valved conduit was implanted into the right ventricular outflow tract of a goat, and the hemodynamic, radiologic, histopathologic, and biochemical results were obtained for 6 months after the implantation. Results The in vitro mock circulation demonstrated that valve motion was good and that the valved conduit had good gross and microscopic findings. The evaluation of echocardiography and cardiac catheterization demonstrated the good hemodynamic status and function of the pulmonary xenograft valve 6 months after the implantation. According to specimen radiography and a histopathologic examination, the durability of the xenografts was well preserved without calcification at 6 months after the implantation. The calcium and inorganic phosphorus concentrations of the explanted xenografts were low at 6 months after the implantation. Conclusion This study demonstrated that our synergistic employment of multiple anticalcification therapies has promising safety and efficacy in the future clinical study.
Phonological generalizations in dyslexia: The phonological grammar may not be impaired

Dyslexia is commonly attributed to a phonological deficit, but whether it effectively compromises the phonological grammar or lower level systems is rarely explored. To address this question, we gauge the sensitivity of dyslexics to grammatical phonological restrictions on spoken onset clusters (e.g., bl in block). Across languages, certain onsets are preferred to others (e.g., blif ≻ bnif ≻ bdif, where ≻ indicates a preference). Here, we show that dyslexic participants (adult native speakers of Hebrew) are fully sensitive to these phonological restrictions, and they extend them irrespective of whether the onsets are attested in their language (e.g., bnif vs. bdif) or unattested (e.g., mlif vs. mdif). Dyslexics, however, showed reduced sensitivity to phonetic contrasts (e.g., blif vs. belif; ba vs. pa). Together, these results suggest that the known difficulties of dyslexics in speech processing could emanate not from the phonological grammar, but rather from lower level impairments to acoustic/phonetic encoding, lexical storage, and retrieval.
Experimental investigation of the energy absorption capability of continuous joined crash boxes

In the design of vehicle structures for crashworthiness, there is a need for rigid subsystems that guarantee an undeformable survival cell for the passengers and deformable subsystems able to efficiently dissipate the kinetic energy. The front rail is the main deformable component dissipating energy in a frontal crash, which is the most dangerous crash situation, and for which the structural behaviour is mostly affecting. The design of the front rail, usually consisting of a thin walled prismatic column, requires definition of the geometry, that is, of the shape and dimension of the cross section, of the thickness of the material, and of the material itself. In this work the analysis of the effect of different cross sections of the front rail, and of the joining system is carried out. Furthermore, the collapse during crash is influenced by the loading rate since the loading speed has substantial influence on the mode of collapse and on the material behaviour. In fact, the structural materials used in this application are known to be strain-rate sensitive. Within the work, different types of sections are compared. Different non-common continuous joining technologies are examined: three different types of adhesive an acrylic, one component epoxy and two components epoxy and laser welding. Adhesives and laser welding can be used as an alternative to the widely used spot-welding to improve the structure performance due to the continuous joint. The effects of the loading speed are taken into account by comparing quasi-static crush tests to dynamic impact tests. Dynamic tests have been performed under a drop tower testing apparatus built within the campus of the II Faculty of Engineering of Politecnico di Torino.
Vanguard: Increasing Server Efficiency via Workload Isolation in the Storage I/O Path

Server consolidation via virtualization is an essential technique for improving infrastructure cost in modern datacenters. From the viewpoint of datacenter operators, consolidation offers compelling advantages by reducing the number of physical servers, and reducing operational costs such as energy consumption. However, performance interference between co-located workloads can be crippling. Conservatively, and at significant cost, datacenter operators are forced to keep physical servers at low utilization levels (typically below 20%), to minimize adverse performance interactions. In this paper, we focus on addressing the issue of performance interference on a virtualized server operating at high utilization levels. In our work, we find that eliminating interference in the I/O path is critical for achieving good performance on consolidated servers. We present Vanguard, a device driver stack that implements a full I/O path in the Linux kernel that provisions competing workloads with dedicated resources. We focus on two key resources: in-memory buffers for the filesystem, and space on SSD devices that serve as a transparent cache for block devices. Our approach effectively mitigates performance interference, for several mixes of transactional, streaming, and analytical processing workloads. We find that with our approach a server can run more workloads close to their nominal performance level as compared to the unmodified Linux I/O path, by careful allocation of I/O path resources to each workload. At excessive load levels, i.e. when the aggregate load exceeds the capabilities of the server, our approach can still provide isolated slices of the I/O path for a subset of the co-located workloads yielding at least 50% of their nominal performance. In addition, Vanguard is shown to be 2.5x more efficient in terms of service resource usage for a 4-workload mix, taking into account utilization and power consumption. With an I/O-heavy mix 6-workload mix, Vanguard is 8x more efficient than the unmodified baseline Linux system.
Parallel Patterns of Evolution in the Genomes and Transcriptomes of Humans and Chimpanzees

The determination of the chimpanzee genome sequence provides a means to study both structural and functional aspects of the evolution of the human genome. Here we compare humans and chimpanzees with respect to differences in expression levels and protein-coding sequences for genes active in brain, heart, liver, kidney, and testis. We find that the patterns of differences in gene expression and gene sequences are markedly similar. In particular, there is a gradation of selective constraints among the tissues so that the brain shows the least differences between the species whereas liver shows the most. Furthermore, expression levels as well as amino acid sequences of genes active in more tissues have diverged less between the species than have genes active in fewer tissues. In general, these patterns are consistent with a model of neutral evolution with negative selection. However, for X-chromosomal genes expressed in testis, patterns suggestive of positive selection on sequence changes as well as expression changes are seen. Furthermore, although genes expressed in the brain have changed less than have genes expressed in other tissues, in agreement with previous work we find that genes active in brain have accumulated more changes on the human than on the chimpanzee lineage.
Multiphasic Temporal Dynamics in Responses of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons to Appetitive and Aversive Stimuli

The transient response of dopamine neurons has been described as reward prediction error (RPE), with activation or suppression by events that are better or worse than expected, respectively. However, at least a minority of neurons are activated by aversive or high-intensity stimuli, casting doubt on the generality of RPE in describing the dopamine signal. To overcome limitations of previous studies, we studied neuronal responses to a wider variety of high-intensity and aversive stimuli, and we quantified and controlled aversiveness through a choice task in which macaques sacrificed juice to avoid aversive stimuli. Whereas most previous work has portrayed the RPE as a single impulse or “phase,” here we demonstrate its multiphasic temporal dynamics. Aversive or high-intensity stimuli evoked a triphasic sequence of activation-suppression-activation extending over a period of 40–700 ms. The initial activation at short latencies (40–120 ms) reflected sensory intensity. The influence of motivational value became dominant between 150 and 250 ms, with activation in the case of appetitive stimuli, and suppression in the case of aversive and neutral stimuli. The previously unreported late activation appeared to be a modest “rebound” after strong suppression. Similarly, strong activation by reward was often followed by suppression. We suggest that these “rebounds” may result from overcompensation by homeostatic mechanisms in some cells. Our results are consistent with a realistic RPE, which evolves over time through a dynamic balance of excitation and inhibition.
Death Anxiety among Nurses and Health Care Professionals: A Review Article

Death anxiety, a negative affective state that is incited by mortality salience, may be experienced by nurses and other health care workers who are exposed to sickness, trauma, and violence. This paper examines death anxiety and management strategies among health providers in different health settings across cultures. A literature review of the research published since 2000 in the English language was conducted using PubMed, Science direct, CINAHL, and PsychInfo databases. Death anxiety is commonly experienced and is associated with more negative attitudes about caring for dying patients and their families. Performing educational and psychological interventions to help nurses build strong coping strategies for managing death anxiety are recommended to offset negative consequences such as leaving positions, poor communication, and decrements in personal health and quality of life.
CHARACTER SHIFTS IN THE DEFENSIVE ARMOR OF SYMPATRIC STICKLEBACKS

Abstract Natural enemies may contribute to the morphological divergence of sympatric species, yet their role has received little attention to date. We tested for character shifts in defensive armor of sympatric threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) previously shown to exhibit ecological character displacement in traits related to resource use. We scored five defensive armor traits in sympatric benthic and limnetic stickleback species from southwestern British Columbia and compared them with the same traits in nearby allopatric populations in the presence of the same predatory fish (Oncorhynchus sp.). This approach is analogous to tests of ecological character displacement that compare trophic traits of sympatric and allopatric species in the presence of the same community of resource types. Three patterns consistent with character displacement in defensive armor were found. First, limnetics in different lakes had consistently more armor than sympatric benthics. Second, the average amount of armor, averaged over both species, was reduced in sympatry compared to allopatric populations. This reduction was almost entirely the result of shifts by benthic species, whereas armor in limnetics was more similar to that in allopatric populations. Third, differences between sympatric benthics and limnetics in total armor were greater than expected from comparisons with allopatric populations. We interpret these patterns as the result of differences in habitat-specific predation regimes accompanying ecological character displacement and indirect interactions between sympatric stickleback species mediated by their top predators. These results suggest that predation may facilitate, rather than hinder, the process of divergence in sympatry.
Acceptance Of Genetically Modified Food With Consumer Benefits

Widespread consumer resistance towards genetically modified (GM) food, particularly as reported in news media, has led to slow adoption of this technology outside of North America. Much of the consumer resistance appears to stem from public perceptions that GM crops benefit large multinational corporations, food producers, and typically have no apparent consumer benefits. In order to test whether clearly defined consumer benefits would change consumer preferences, a purchasing experiment has been conducted in New Zealand where the GM issue has been highly politicized. Cherries labelled as spray free-GM, organic or conventional were offered for sale in a roadside stall, with price levels manipulated to test price sensitivity of the different options. Approximately 27% of consumers proved willing to purchase GM labelled cherries at the prevailing market price and this percentage increased as the price dropped, approaching 60 % market share at a 15% discount. A paper-based version of the same experiment gave entirely different results with only 30% market share for GM labelled cherries at a 15% discount. This observed discrepancy between revealed and stated preferences for a low-involvement purchase has important academic implications.
Pupal Mass and Wing Length as Indicators of Fecundity in Aedes albopictus and Aedes geniculatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract Many studies investigating the ecology and evolution of mosquitoes rely on morphometric measurements related to body size to estimate fecundity. Determining the most reliable estimators of fecundity is therefore an important methodological consideration. We compared the relative accuracy of pupal mass and wing length in predicting the fecundity (number of mature stage IV follicles of the first gonotrophic cycle) for (1) Aedes albopictus (Skuse) reared in the laboratory, (2) Aedes geniculatus (Oliver) reared in the laboratory, and (3) A. geniculatus that completed their larval development in water-filled tree holes (their natural habitat) in the field. In all cases, pupal weight and wing length provided highly significant and equally accurate indicators of fecundity. Furthermore, the measurement error (1 − repeatability) for both traits was ≤1%. Our results indicate that either pupal mass or wing length can be used with confidence to predict fecundity in these two aedine mosquitoes.
Which ingroup, when? Effects of gender, partisanship, veteran status, and evaluator identities on candidate evaluations

Military service is acknowledged as one of many elements voters use to evaluate candidates, but it has primarily been studied as a univariate element of a candidate’s biography. This project experimentally manipulates veteran status, gender, and partisanship as potentially interactive heuristics for evaluation of a hypothetical candidate specifically regarding military issues. We found an almost universal benefit enjoyed by veterans over civilians regardless of whether the candidate was a member of the participant’s partisan ingroup or outgroup. We also found little evidence of a gender penalty, and even a benefit for women candidates who were veterans, though this benefit was restricted to evaluations from Republican women. We also found that Democratic respondents assigned a penalty to outgroup veteran men candidates. We explain these nuanced findings in the context of moderation by gender mis/alignment between participant and candidate. Implications of the study are offered.
Change in Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders From Ages 21 to 30 in a Community Sample

The authors examined change and demonstrated variation in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders from ages 21 to 30 in a prospective community study (n = 352) using generalized estimating equations and investigated effects of past and recent psychiatric disorder on emerging adult functioning (at age 30). Results revealed significant declines in 12-month prevalence of phobia and substance use disorders from ages 21 to 30 but not in depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. Males were at significantly higher risk for lifetime substance use disorders; females were at higher risk for lifetime depression, phobia, and PTSD. Twelve-month and lifetime disorder were associated with impaired global functioning at age 30. Internalizing disorders were associated with impaired interpersonal functioning, whereas externalizing disorders were associated with impaired socioeconomic functioning. Results of this study have implications for mental health service planning in emerging adulthood.
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Anthony D. Cortese is a sustainability consultant and president and cofounder of Second Nature, a national nonprofit organization in Boston, Massachusetts, that works to make sustainability a foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. He was formerly the dean of environmental programs at Tufts University and the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Need for a New Human Perspective
Vasopressin Differentially Modulates Non-NMDA Receptors in Vasopressin and Oxytocin Neurons in the Supraoptic Nucleus

Magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic nucleus release the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin from their dendrites to regulate their synaptic inputs. This study aims to determine the cellular mechanism by which vasopressin modulates excitatory synaptic transmission. Presumably by electroporation through perforated patch, we were able to successfully introduce biocytin into cells in which we performed an electrophysiological study. This method enabled us to determine that roughly half of the recorded neurons were immunoreactive to oxytocin-associated neurophysin and showed two characteristic features: an inward rectification and a sustained outward rectification. The remaining half showed a linear voltage-current relationship and was immunoreactive to vasopressin-associated neurophysin. Using these electrophysiological characteristics and post hoc immunohistochemistry to identify vasopressin or oxytocin neurons, we found that vasopressin decreased evoked EPSCs in vasopressin neurons while increasing EPSCs in oxytocin neurons. In both types of neurons, EPSC decay constants were not affected, indicating that desensitization of non-NMDA receptors did not underlie the EPSC amplitude change. In vasopressin neurons, both vasopressin and a V1a receptor agonist, F-180, decreased AMPA-induced currents, an effect blocked by a V1a receptor antagonist SR49059. In oxytocin neurons, AMPA-induced currents were facilitated by vasopressin, whereas F-180 had no effect. An oxytocin receptor antagonist blocked the facilitatory effect of vasopressin. Thus, we conclude that vasopressin inhibits EPSCs in vasopressin neurons via postsynaptic V1a receptors, whereas it facilitates EPSCs in oxytocin neurons through oxytocin receptors.
Psychological Contract and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Exploring the Interelatedness through Cross Validation

The purpose of the article is to analyze the linkage of psychological contracts and with organizational citizenship behavior. To test hypothesis, data collected from 221 employees in Uttarakhand. Confirmatory factors analysis using SPSS software was carried out to identify factors related to psychological contract and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) of employees. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted for analyzing the interrelatedness of psychological contract dimensions with Organizational citizenship behavior. Study indicates that psychological contract is related to organizational citizenship behavior of the employee. Our finding statistically confirms that different components of psychological contract are having influence on organizational citizenship behavior. The result is also uniform with the several other researches on psychological contract and its relationship with OCB. The research provides valuable insights for managers to understand the employee’s psychology towards various dimension of psychological contract and how much these factors affect in strengthening the organizational citizenship behaviour of employees.
An Examination of Effective Strategies for Reducing Learner Language Anxiety through Quasi-experimental Design

The negative impact of anxiety on learning a second or foreign language has been demonstrated in a number of studies over the past few decades. It is important to investigate ways of reducing learner language anxiety as empirical studies have shown that language anxiety negatively affects language performances of learners. In this study, classroom intervention strategies for reducing language anxiety were implemented, and the effectiveness of the anxiety-reducing strategies was examined. The study was designed to ascertain: 1) which areas of language anxiety decrease due to intervention, 2) which strategies learners felt were the most effective in reducing language anxiety, and 3) how the learners perceived the anxiety-reducing strategies. Participants were two groups of students from different universities, consisting of experimental group ( N = 50) and control group ( N = 32). Questionnaire surveys were conducted before and after the intervention, with both the experimental and control groups. As a result, anxiety-reducing strategies were effective in reducing learner communication apprehension. Effective strategies for reducing language anxiety were found to be: making presentations in small groups instead of making presentations individually and doing pair work and group work in class. From the responses to the open-ended questionnaire, learner perceptions of the strategies were found to be generally positive.
-p.q.-Baer rings

In this paper we extend some well known results of quasi-Baer and p.q. -Baer to α -quasi-Baer and α -p.q. -Baer using α -weakly rigid ring. Further, we investigate some results for quasi α -Armendariz ring and also we give some Examples to illustrate our theory.
The Impact of Inequality on Cooperation: An Experimental Study

This paper analyzes the impact of inequality in the distribution of endowments on contributions. We conduct a lab experiment using the well-known Public Good Game to test the relation between inequality and contribution to a public fund. We introduce the possibility to choose among three different redistribution rules: equidistribution, proportional to contribution and progressive to endowment. This novelty, combined with a payoff function that depends also on previous period behavior, allows us to verify the hypothesis that players show inequity averse preferences. Results show that inequality has a negative impact on individual contribution. Since inequality is decreasing during repetitions, we deduce that players show inequity averse preferences.