Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tobacco smoking among students in an urban area in Northern Italy

Summary Introduction. Tobacco smoking, which usually begins in teenage, is one of the most important lifestyle risk factors for chronic diseases and a major public health problem worldwide. The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of tobacco smoking and the mean age of initiation among adolescents in Genoa (Italy) and to identify some socio-demographic predictors that could be associated with the onset of smoking. Materials and methods. 2,301 randomly selected students (14- 19 years old) in Genoa completed an ad hoc questionnaire. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate the instantaneous risk of experimenting with smoking. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine whether current or previous smoking status was associated with socio-demographic characteristics. Results. 59.5% of respondents had tried smoking, while 35.6% defined themselves as current smokers. No difference in current smoking prevalence emerged between males and females (35.2% and 35.9%, respectively, p = 0.83). The mean age on initiation was 13.5 years for males and 13.9 years for females. The instantaneous probability of trying smoking changed with age, reaching a maximum at 14 years. Subjects who tried smoking before this age were more inclined to continue smoking. The probability of being a current smoker was significantly higher among students from unmarried-parent families and those attending vocational and technical secondary schools. Conclusions. There is a great need for the activation of new health promotion interventions and enforcement of those already existing, in order to raise awareness of the damage caused by smoking among adolescents, especially those belonging to highrisk groups.
The complexity of identity

People categorize themselves on the basis of demographics, social roles and shared consumption patterns, and these various identities are both numerous and fluid, changing over an individual? s lifetime and across situations. That fact is not fully recognized by traditional demographic and psychographic techniques, and the labels that consumers use to define who they are do not necessarily correspond to the variables that marketers typically rely on. A new approach ? identity marketing ? better captures the complex process of how people? s sense of who they are influences their purchase decisions. To be sure, the complexity of identity-based judgments presents both opportunities and obstacles for marketers, but companies often fail to appreciate this. In fact, many marketing blunders can be traced back to a fundamental misunderstanding of customer identity. Common mistakes include the following: (1) selling new products solely on their features, (2) failing to solidify first-mover advantage, (3) fighting the competition head-on, (4) sticking with what? s worked before, (5) underestimating low-involvement products, and (6) attacking negative word-of-mouth. Identity marketing helps companies avoid such mistakes by providing a deeper understanding of how customers become strongly attracted to the brands and products that are linked to their multiple ? and sometimes seemingly contradictory ? identities.
Synthesis of the optimal 4-bit reversible circuits

Optimal synthesis of reversible functions is a non-trivial problem. One of the major limiting factors in computing such circuits is the sheer number of reversible functions. Even restricting synthesis to 4-bit reversible functions results in a complexity explosion (16! ≈244 functions). The output of such a search alone, counting only the space required to list Toffoli gates for every function, would require over 100 terabytes of storage. In this paper, we present an algorithm, that synthesizes an optimal circuit for any 4-bit reversible specification. We employ several techniques to make the problem tractable. We report results from several experiments, including synthesis of random 4-bit permutations, optimal synthesis of all 4-bit linear reversible circuits, synthesis of existing benchmark functions, and distribution of optimal circuits. Our results have important implications for the design and optimization of quantum circuits, testing circuit synthesis heuristics, and performing experiments in the area of quantum information processing.
Social Functioning and Age Across Affective and Nonaffective Psychoses

Abstract Both nonaffective and affective psychoses are associated with deficits in social functioning across the course of the illness. However, it is not clear how social functioning varies among diagnostic groups as a function of age. The current study examined the relationship between social functioning and age in schizophrenia (SZ), schizoaffective disorder (SZA), and psychotic bipolar disorder (PBD). We found that individuals with PBD had the highest functioning, whereas individuals with SZ had the poorest. The functioning of individuals with SZA fell in between those of other groups. We also found that older ages were associated with poorer functioning. Although there was not a significant diagnostic group by age interaction, visual inspection of our data suggests a subtly steeper trajectory of decline in PBD. Overall, these results indicate that early interventions targeting social functioning may benefit individuals with either non-affective or affective psychoses to slow a projected decline.
High Insulin Levels in KK-Ay Diabetic Mice Cause Increased Cortical Bone Mass and Impaired Trabecular Micro-Structure

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and complications, including obesity and osteoporosis. Rodents have been widely used to model human T2DM and investigate its effect on the skeleton. We aimed to investigate skeletal alterations in Yellow Kuo Kondo (KK-Ay) diabetic mice displaying high insulin and glucose levels. Bone mineral density (BMD), micro-architecture and bone metabolism-related genes were analyzed. The total femoral areal BMD (aBMD), cortical volumetric BMD (vBMD) and thickness were significantly increased in KK-Ay mice, while the trabecular vBMD and mineralized bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness and number were decreased compared to C57BL mice. The expression of both osteoblast-related genes, such as osteocalcin (OC), bone sialoprotein, Type I Collagen, osteonectin, RUNX2 and OSX, and osteoclast-related genes, such as TRAP and TCIRG, were up-regulated in KK-Ay mice. Correlation analyses showed that serum insulin levels were positively associated with aBMD, cortical vBMD and thickness and negatively associated with trabecular vBMD and micro-architecture. In addition, serum insulin levels were positively related to osteoblast-related and osteoclast-related gene expression. Our data suggest that high insulin levels in KK-Ay diabetic mice may increase cortical bone mass and impair trabecular micro-structure by up-regulating osteoblast-and osteoclast-related gene expression.
Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension: standard operating procedure

Patients with suspected pulmonary hypertension (PH) should be evaluated using a multimodality approach to ensure that they receive a correct diagnosis. The series of investigations required includes clinical evaluation, noninvasive imaging techniques and right heart catheterisation (considered to be the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of PH). Current guidelines recommend that a detailed echocardiographic assessment is performed in all patients with suspected PH. In this review we summarise a protocol adopted by the National Pulmonary Hypertension Centres of UK and Ireland and approved by the British Society of Echocardiography for the evaluation of these patients. The views and measurements described are recommended for diagnosis, assisting in prognosis and providing a noninvasive means of following disease progression or response to therapy.
Preliminary Sunyaev–Zel'dovich observations of galaxy clusters with OCRA-p

We present 30-GHz Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) observations of a sample of four galaxy clusters with a prototype of the One Centimetre Receiver Array (OCRA-p) which is mounted on the Torun 32-m telescope. The clusters (Cl 0016+16, MS 0451.6–0305, MS 1054.4–0321 and Abell 2218) are popular SZ targets and serve as commissioning observations. All four are detected with clear significance (4 –6σ) and values for the central temperature decrement are in good agreement with measurements reported in the literature. We believe that systematic effects are successfully suppressed by our observing strategy. The relatively short integration times required to obtain these results demonstrate the power of OCRA-p and its successors for future SZ studies.
Cross Task Study on MIREX Recent Results: An Index for Evolution Measurement and Some Stagnation Hypotheses

In the last 20 years, Music Information Retrieval (MIR) has been an expanding research field, and the MIREX competition has become the main evaluation venue in MIR field. Analyzing recent results for various tasks of MIREX (MIR Evaluation eXchange), we observed that the evolution of task solutions follows two different patterns: for some tasks, the results apparently hit stagnation, whereas for others, they seem getting better over time. In this paper, (a) we compile the MIREX results of the last 6 years, (b) we propose a configurable quantitative index for evolution trend measurement of MIREX tasks, and (c) we discuss possible explanations or hypotheses for the stagnation phenomena hitting some of them. This paper hopes to incite a debate in the MIR research community about the progress in the field and how to adequately measure evolution trends.
How Self-Esteem Shapes our Interactions with Play Technologies

The experience that results from video game play is shaped by the play environment, but also by various characteristics of the person playing. We investigated how player self-esteem predicts post-game motivation (enjoyment, effort, and tension), and conducted mediated regressions to show that players' self-esteem alters post-play motivation by affecting how needs are satisfied during play. We also explored how self-esteem predicts post-play positive and negative affect and conducted mediated regressions to show how motivation partially mediates those effects. Our work suggests that players with different levels of self-esteem experience games differently; but more importantly, we provide an explanation of how these differences form by examining the mechanisms during games that ultimately contribute to player experience. Situating our results within theories of self, we discuss the importance of self-esteem for understanding player experience, describe the implications for games research, and consider how self-esteem shapes our interactions with play technologies.
X-ray spectra from magnetar candidates - III. Fitting SGR/AXP soft X-ray emission with non-relativistic Monte Carlo models

Within the magnetar scenario, the ‘twisted magnetosphere’ model appears very promising in explaining the persistent X-ray emission from soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs). In the first two papers of the series, we have presented a 3D Monte Carlo code for solving radiation transport as soft, thermal photons emitted by the star surface are resonantly upscattered by the magnetospheric particles. A spectral model archive has been generated and implemented in xspec. Here, we report on the systematic application of our spectral model to different XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations of SGRs and AXPs. We find that the synthetic spectra provide a very good fit to the data for the nearly all the source (and source states) we have analysed.
Bypassing the Will: Toward Demystifying the Nonconscious Control of Social Behavior

Paris, 1986: Doctor Lhermitte accompanies two patients of his to various locations around the city. Both of them had suffered a stroke, which had damaged portions of their prefrontal cortex. areas critical for the planning and control of action. First. In his office. the woman gives Dr. Lhcrmitte a physical exam using the available equipment and utensils. Later. after they spend a half hour in the professor's apartment. he escorts the two of them out to the balcony, casually mentions the word museum. and leads them back Inside. Their behavior becomes suddenly different: they scrutinize with great interest the paintings and posters on the wall. as well as the common objects on the tables. as If each was an actual work of art. Next. the man enters the bedroom. sees the bed, undresses. and gets Into it. Soon he Is asleep. Across these and several other situations. neither patien t is able to notice or remark on anything unusual or strange about their behavior.
Oxidized high‐density lipoprotein inhibits platelet activation and aggregation via scavenger receptor BI

Oxidatively modified LDL (OxLDL) and HDL (OxHDL) are present in the intima of atheromatous plaques and in plasma. While prothrombotic activity of OxLDL mediated by platelet CD36 is established, the role of oxHDL in thrombosis is not known. We now report that OxHDL, but not native HDL, is a potent inhibitor of platelet activation and aggregation induced by physiological agonists. OxHDL inhibited key platelet activation events including the activation of integrin alpha IIb beta 3, alpha‐granule secretion and dense‐granule release. Oxidized lipoproteins are ligands for scavenger receptors CD36 and SR‐BI, both of which are expressed on platelets. Studies using CD36−/− or SR‐BI−/− platelets and blocking antibodies demonstrated that the anti‐thrombotic activity of OxHDL is mediated exclusively by platelet SR‐BI. Isolated SR‐BI−/− platelets were more responsive to agonists than WT platelets supporting a physiological role for platelet SR‐BI. Platelets from eNOS−/−, Akt‐1−/− and Akt‐2−/− mice were as sensitive to oxHDL as WT platelets, indicating that the OxHDL effect is mediated by a pathway different from the eNOS/Akt pathway. These novel findings demonstrate that HDL, upon oxidation, acquires an anti‐thrombotic activity mediated by platelet SR‐BI and suggest that oxHDL may counterbalance pro‐thrombotic activity of oxLDL. Support was by NIH grants HL077213 (EAP), HL071625 (TVB), and HL70083 (MF).
All Ramsey Numbers for Brooms in Graphs

For $k,\ell\ge 1$, a broom $B_{k,\ell}$ is a tree on $n=k+\ell$ vertices obtained by connecting the central vertex of a star $K_{1,k}$ with an end-vertex of a path on $\ell-1$ vertices. As $B_{n-2,2}$ is a star and $B_{1,n-1}$ is a path, their Ramsey number have been determined among rarely known $R(T_n)$ of trees $T_n$ of order $n$. Erd ő s, Faudree, Rousseau and Schelp determined the value of $R(B_{k,\ell})$ for $\ell\ge 2k\geq2$. We shall determine all other $R(B_{k,\ell})$ in this paper, which says that, for fixed $n$, $R(B_{n-\ell,\ell})$ decreases first on $1\le\ell \le 2n/3$ from $2n-2$ or $2n-3$ to $\lceil\frac{4n}{3}\rceil-1$, and then it increases on $2n/3 < \ell\leq n$ from $\lceil\frac{4n}{3}\rceil-1$ to $\lfloor\frac{3n}{2}\rfloor -1$. Hence $R(B_{n-\ell,\ell})$ may attain the maximum and minimum values of $R(T_n)$ as $\ell$ varies.
'Bottoms Up!' The Influence of Elongation on Pouring and Consumption Volume

Although the effects of shapes on area perceptions have been widely investigated, we replicate, extend, and generalize one of the few studies to relate the effects of shapes to consumption volumes (Raghubir and Krishna 1999). While Raghubir and Krishna demonstrate the effect of the elongation of prepoured drinks on consumption volume, we have people pour their own drinks in a series of controlled field experiments. Two experiments in cafeterias show that both children and adults pour and consume more juice when given a short, wide glass compared to those given a tall, slender glass, but they perceive the opposite to be true. We conclude that the elongation of glasses negatively influences consumption volume in a single-serving context. A third potentially policy-relevant field experiment conducted with Philadelphia bartenders and liquor shows that the effect of elongation is moderated but not eliminated with pouring experience. Copyright 2003 by the University of Chicago.
Mithramycin forms a stable dimeric complex by chelating with Fe(II): DNA-interacting characteristics, cellular permeation and cytotoxicity

Mith (mithramycin) forms a 2:1 stoichiometry drug–metal complex through the chelation with Fe(II) ion as studied using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The binding affinity between Mith and Fe(II) is much greater than other divalent metal ions, including Mg(II), Zn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Mn(II). The [(Mith)2–Fe(II)] complex binds to DNA and induces a conformational change of DNA. Kinetic analysis of surface plasmon resonance studies revealed that the [(Mith)2–Fe(II)] complex binds to DNA duplex with higher affinity compared with the [(Mith)2–Mg(II)] complex. A molecular model of the Mith-DNA–Metal(II) complex is presented. DNA-break assay showed that the [(Mith)2–Fe(II)] complex was capable of promoting the one-strand cleavage of plasmid DNA in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Intracellular Fe(II) assays and fluorescence microscopy studies using K562 indicated that this dimer complex maintains its structural integrity and permeates into the inside of K562 cells, respectively. The [(Mith)2–Fe(II)] complex exhibited higher cytotoxicity than the drug alone in some cancer cell lines, probably related to its higher DNA-binding and cleavage activity. Evidences obtained in this study suggest that the biological effects caused by the [(Mith)2–Fe(II)] complex may be further explored in the future.
Omphile and his Soccer Ball: Colonialism, Methodology, Translanguaging Research

In this paper, I am reviewing autoethnographic method in translanguaging research. I tell a story that is based on a casual and unplanned encounter with Omphile, a seven year old boy with whom I interacted using communicative practices that confirmed the suppositions of translanguaging theory but also challenged the methods that support empirical observations of translanguaging research–in equal measure. The paper signposts the promises that autoethnographic approaches hold for researching naturalistic human communication in ways that side step the language and methods of the positivist tradition. I argue that in the same way that contemporary sociolinguistics theorisations remind us about how communication is not limited to determinate languages or codes, research does not have to be limited to controlled, systematic scientific methods. The framework of autoethnography reviewed in this article is one example of a praxis that is antimethodological and, thus in line with many of the anti-foundational premises of translanguaging theory.
Efficient Estimation and Collision-Group-Based Anticollision Algorithms for Dynamic Frame-Slotted ALOHA in RFID Networks

There are two challenges for the frame-slotted ALOHA algorithms in radio-frequency identification (RFID). The first challenge is estimating unknown tag-set size accurately; the second challenge is improving the efficiency of the arbitration process so that it uses less time slots to read all tags. This study proposes estimation algorithm based on the Poisson distribution theory and identifies the overestimation phenomenon in full collision. Our novel anticollision algorithm alternates two distinct reading cycles for dividing and solving tags in collision groups. This makes it more efficient for a reader to identify all tags within a small number of time slots.
Increasing Interference Robustness of WiFi Fingerprinting by Leveraging Spectrum Information

RF-based indoor localization is constantly gaining popularity, and WiFi-based fingerprinting algorithms belong to the most promising candidates due to their well-known advantages. While it is known that RF interference can adversely influence the accuracy of those algorithms, it is still unclear if this effect could be efficiently mitigated. To this end, we demonstrate the impact and propose a procedure for reducing the influence of RF interference on WiFi beacon packets RSSI-based fingerprinting algorithms. The proposed procedure adjusts the RSSI measurements based on estimates of their variability caused by RF interference. For estimating the variability in RSSI measurements, the procedure leverages information about the spectrum power levels in the frequency band on which the fingerprinting algorithm performs. The proposed procedure can be inserted in the usual workflow of fingerprinting algorithms. We experimentally compared the performance of two well-known WiFi-based fingerprinting algorithms without and with the proposed interference mitigation procedure. Our experimental evaluation in different interference scenarios shows that the proposed procedure for mitigating the influence of RF interference significantly improves the localization accuracy, while it does not notably increase the latency of evaluated fingerprinting algorithms.
A Note on the Societal Benefits of Illiquid Bonds (Une Note Sur Les Avantages Socitaux Des Dbentures Illiquides)

Kocherlakota (2003) provides an example of a monetary economy where efficiency is enhanced with the introduction of a nominally risk-free bond that is specifically designed to be illiquid. The societal benefit of an illiquid bond in his example, however, is transitory, and he does not characterize an optimal policy. I use an analytically tractable framework to characterize an optimal intervention and to show that the purported benefits of an illiquid bond market persist in a steady state.
Performance Analysis of a Single Server Retrial Queueing System with Bernoulli and Phase Type Vacations

This paper analyses the steady state behavior of an M/G/1 retrial queueing system with Bernoulli and phase type vacations. Customers arrive one by one at the system in a Poisson stream. At the arrival epoch, if the server is busy then the arriving customer joins the orbit. If the server is free, then the arriving customer starts its service immediately. The service time of a customer is assumed to be general. At each service completion epoch, the server may opt to take a phase 1 vacation with probability p or else with probability 1- p stay in the system for the next service. After the completion of phase 1 vacation the server may take phase 2 vacation with probability q or return back to the system with probability 1-q. The vacation times are assumed to be general. The service times and vacation times are independent of each other. Generating function technique is applied to obtain the system size and orbit size. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the sensitivity of the performance measures for changes in the parametric of the system.
RpoHII Activates Oxidative-Stress Defense Systems and Is Controlled by RpoE in the Singlet Oxygen-Dependent Response in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

ABSTRACT Photosynthetic organisms need defense systems against photooxidative stress caused by the generation of highly reactive singlet oxygen (1O2). Here we show that the alternative sigma factor RpoHII is required for the expression of important defense factors and that deletion of rpoHII leads to increased sensitivity against exposure to 1O2 and methylglyoxal in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The gene encoding RpoHII is controlled by RpoE, and thereby a sigma factor cascade is constituted. We provide the first in vivo study that identifies genes controlled by an RpoHII-type sigma factor, which is widely distributed in the Alphaproteobacteria. RpoHII-dependent genes encode oxidative-stress defense systems, including proteins for the degradation of methylglyoxal, detoxification of peroxides, 1O2 scavenging, and redox and iron homeostasis. Our experiments indicate that glutathione (GSH)-dependent mechanisms are involved in the defense against photooxidative stress in photosynthetic bacteria. Therefore, we conclude that systems pivotal for the organism's defense against photooxidative stress are strongly dependent on GSH and are specifically recognized by RpoHII in R. sphaeroides.