Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem.

This article examines the measurement of short-lived (i.e., state) changes in self-esteem. A new scale is introduced that is sensitive to manipulations designed to temporarily alter self-esteem, and 5 studies are presented that support the scale's validity. The State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) consists of 20 items modified from the widely used Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Psychometric analyses revealed that the SSES has 3 correlated factors: performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. Effects of naturally occurring and laboratory failure and of clinical treatment on SSES scores were examined; it was concluded that the SSES is sensitive to these sorts of manipulations. The scale has many potential uses, which include serving as a valid manipulation check index, measuring clinical change in self-esteem, and untangling the confounded relation between mood and self-esteem.
Functional Characterization of Intrinsic Cholinergic Interneurons in the Cortex

Acetylcholine is a major neurotransmitter that modulates cortical functions. In addition to basal forebrain neurons that give rise to the principal cholinergic input into the cortex, a second source constituted by intrinsic cholinergic interneurons has been identified. Although these cells have been characterized anatomically, little is known about their functional role in cortical microcircuits. The paucity of this cell population has been a major hindrance for detailed electrophysiological investigations. To facilitate functional studies, we generated transgenic mice that express enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive neurons. Aided by the transgene expression, the characterization of distinct cholinergic interneurons was possible. These cells were located in layer 2–3, had a bipolar morphology, were calretinin- and vasoactive intestinal peptide positive, but had a non-GABAergic phenotype. Paired recordings showed that EGFP/ChAT-positive neurons receive excitatory and inhibitory input from adjacent principal cells and various types of interneurons. However, EGFP/ChAT-positive neurons do not exert direct postsynaptic responses in neighboring neurons. Interestingly, prolonged activation of EGFP-labeled cholinergic neurons induces an increase in spontaneous EPSCs in adjacent pyramidal neurons. This indirect effect is mediated by nicotinic receptors that are presumably presynaptically localized. Thus, intrinsic bipolar cholinergic neurons can modulate cortical function locally.
A HEURISTIC PREDICTION OF THE COSMIC EVOLUTION OF THE CO-LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS

We predict the emission line luminosity functions (LFs) of the first 10 rotational transitions of 12C16O in galaxies at redshift z = 0 to z = 10. This prediction relies on a recently presented simulation of the molecular cold gas content in ∼3 × 107 evolving galaxies based on the Millennium Simulation. We combine this simulation with a model for the conversion between molecular mass and CO-line intensities, which incorporates the following mechanisms: (1) molecular gas is heated by the cosmic microwave background (CMB), starbursts (SBs), and active galactic nuclei (AGNs); (2) molecular clouds in dense or inclined galaxies can overlap; (3) compact gas can attain a smooth distribution in the densest part of disks; (4) CO luminosities scale with metallicity changes between galaxies; and (5) CO luminosities are always detected against the CMB. We analyze the relative importance of these effects and predict the cosmic evolution of the CO-LFs. The most notable conclusion is that the detection of regular galaxies (i.e., no AGN, no massive SB) at high z ≳ 7 in CO emission will be dramatically hindered by the weak contrast against the CMB, in contradiction to earlier claims that CMB heating will ease the detection of high-redshift CO. The full simulation of extragalactic CO lines and the predicted CO-LFs at any redshift can be accessed online (http://s-cubed.physics.ox.ac.uk/, go to “S3-SAX”) and they should be useful for the modeling of CO-line surveys with future telescopes, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array or the Square Kilometre Array.
mtDNA nt13708A Variant Increases the Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

Background Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism is a possible factor contributing to the maternal parent-of-origin effect in multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility. Methods and Findings In order to investigate the role of mtDNA variations in MS, we investigated six European MS case-control cohorts comprising >5,000 individuals. Three well matched cohorts were genotyped with seven common, potentially functional mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP, nt13708 G/A, was significantly associated with MS susceptibility in all three cohorts. The nt13708A allele was associated with an increased risk of MS (OR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.28–2.26, P = 0.0002). Subsequent sequencing of the mtDNA of 50 individuals revealed that the nt13708 itself, rather than SNPs linked to it, was responsible for the association. However, the association of nt13708 G/A with MS was not significant in MS cohorts which were not well case-control matched, indicating that the significance of association was affected by the population structure of controls. Conclusions Taken together, our finding identified the nt13708A variant as a susceptibility allele to MS, which could contribute to defining the role of the mitochondrial genome in MS pathogenesis.
Identification of Novel Mutations in ACT1 and SLA2 That Suppress the Actin-Cable-Overproducing Phenotype Caused by Overexpression of a Dominant Active Form of Bni1p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A formin Bni1p nucleates actin to assemble actin cables, which guide the polarized transport of secretory vesicles in budding yeast. We identified mutations that suppressed both the lethality and the excessive actin cable formation caused by overexpression of a truncated Bni1p (BNI1ΔN). Two recessive mutations, act1-301 in the actin gene and sla2-82 in a gene involved in cortical actin patch assembly, were identified. The isolation of sla2-82 was unexpected, because cortical actin patches are required for the internalization step of endocytosis. Both act1-301 and sla2-82 exhibited synthetic growth defects with bni1Δ. act1-301, which resulted in an E117K substitution, interacted genetically with mutations in profilin (PFY1) and BUD6, suggesting that Act1-301p was not fully functional in formin-mediated polymerization. sla2-82 also interacted genetically with genes involved in actin cable assembly. Some experiments, however, suggested that the effects of sla2-82 were caused by depletion of actin monomers, because the temperature-sensitive growth phenotype of the bni1Δ sla2-82 mutant was suppressed by increased expression of ACT1. The isolation of suppressors of the BNI1ΔN phenotype may provide a useful system for identification of actin amino-acid residues that are important for formin-mediated actin polymerization and mutations that affect the availability of actin monomers.
Phe362Tyr in AChE: A Major Factor Responsible for Azamethiphos Resistance in Lepeophtheirus salmonis in Norway

Organophosphates (OP) are one of the major treatments used against the salmon louse (Lepeophtherius salmonis) in Norwegian salmonid aquaculture. The use of OP since the late 1970s has resulted in widespread resistant parasites. Recently, we reported a single mutation (Phe362Tyr) in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as the major mechanism behind resistance in salmon louse towards OP. The present study was carried out to validate this mechanism at the field level. A total of 6658 salmon louse samples were enrolled from 56 different fish farms across the Norwegian coast, from Vest Agder in the south to Finnmark in the north. All the samples were genotyped using a TaqMan probe assay for the Phe362Tyr mutation. A strong association was observed between areas with frequent use of the OP (azamethiphos) and the Phe362Tyr mutation. This was confirmed at 15 sites where results from independently conducted bioassays and genotyping of parasites correlated well. Furthermore, genotyping of surviving and moribund parasites from six bioassay experiments demonstrated a highly significant negative correlation between the frequency of resistance alleles and the probability of dying when exposed to azamethiphos in a bioassay. Based on these observations, we could strongly conclude that the Phe362Tyr mutation is a major factor responsible for OP resistance in salmon louse on Norwegian fish farms.
Quantitative analysis of grain boundary properties in a generalized phase field model for grain growth in anisotropic systems

A good choice of model formulation and model parameters is one of the most important and difficult aspects in mesoscale modeling and requires a systematic and quantitative analysis. In this paper, it is studied how the model parameters of a generalized phase field model affect the landscape of the free-energy density functional, the phase field profiles at the grain boundaries, and the corresponding trajectory along the free-energy landscape. The analysis results in quantitative relations between the model parameters, on one hand, and grain boundary energy and mobility, on the other hand. Based on these findings, a procedure is derived that generates a suitable set of model parameters that reproduces accurately a material's grain boundary energy and mobility for arbitrary misorientation and inclination dependence. The misorientation and inclination dependence are formulated so that the diffuse interface width is constant, resulting in uniform stability and accuracy conditions for the numerical solution. The proposed model formulation and parameter choice allow us to perform quantitative simulations with excellent controllability of the numerical accuracy and therefore of the material behavior.
A TURBULENCE-RESOLVING NUMERICAL MODEL FOR FINE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN THE BOTTOM BOUNDARY LAYER - FINESED3D (VERSION 1.0)

A turbulence-resolving numerical model for fine sediment transport in the bottom boundary layer is developed. A simplified Eulerian two-phase flow formulation for the fine sediment transport is adopted. By applying the equilibrium Eulerian approximation, the particle phase velocity is expressed as a vectorial sum of fluid velocity, sediment settling velocity and Stokes number dependent inertia terms. The Boussinesq approximation is applied to simplify the governing equation for the fluid phase. This model utilizes a high accuracy hybrid compact finite difference scheme in the wall-normal direction, and uses the pseudo-spectral scheme in the streamwise and spanwise directions. The model allows a prescribed sediment availability as well as an erosional/depositional bottom boundary condition for sediment concentration. As an example, several numerical simulations are presented to study how the bottom resuspension/deposition mechanisms, specifically the critical shear stress of erosion and the settling velocity, can determine the sediment availability and the resulting transport modes. Meanwhile, the model also has the capability to include the particle inertia effect and hindered settling effect for the particle velocity. This report is written as the documentation of this open-source numerical model FineSed3D and it includes the mathematical formulations, numerical methodology, brief model results, installation procedures and model input/output.
Sectoral Productivity, Structural Change and Convergence

The concept of convergence, defined either narrowly, through productivity or income per capita, or broadly, across a range of economic variables, has become fundamental to the way we assess, analyse and project economic growth in developing economies. To the extent that economic growth projections are designed to reflect empirical behaviour, there is a need to identify relationships between and within key projection variables. To date the empirical analysis of convergence has been controversial. There is a strong argument that economic growth should be projection at a detailed sectoral level (see McKibbin et al (2009)). In practice, data limitations mean that industry level relationships are difficult to uncover and macroeconomic aggregate behaviours are often imposed on disaggregated data. The analysis in this paper attempts to uncover the key cross country trends in sectoral level productivity data. Whilst productivity convergence is evident in some sectors, generally service sectors, it is not evident in others. In part, aggregate convergence trends across developed economies appear to be driven by structural change. We generalise this result and argue that a combination of convergence and structural development assumptions could improve the empirical relevance of economic growth projection models.
Increased Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. To investigate the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to the general population. Methods. A population-based inception cohort of Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents with incident RA in 1980–2007 and a cohort of non-RA subjects from the same population base were assembled and followed until 12/31/2008. The occurrence of AF was ascertained by medical record review. Results. The study included 813 patients with RA and 813 non-RA subjects (mean age 55.9 (SD:15.7) years, 68% women in both cohorts). The prevalence of AF was similar in the RA and non-RA cohorts at RA incidence/index date (4% versus 3%; P = 0.51). The cumulative incidence of AF during follow-up was higher among patients with RA compared to non-RA subjects (18.3% versus 16.3% at 20 years; P = 0.048). This difference persisted after adjustment for age, sex, calendar year, smoking, and hypertension (hazard ratio: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.00). There was no evidence of a differential impact of AF on mortality in patients with RA compared to non-RA subjects (hazard ratio 2.5 versus 2.8; interaction P = 0.31). Conclusion. The incidence of AF is increased in patients with RA, even after adjustment for AF risk factors. AF related mortality risk did not differ between patients with and without RA.
A Face Recognition System Using Support Vector Machines and Elastic Graph Matching

An efficient face recognition system by the combination of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and elastic graph matching was presented. The implementations of this system are as follows: Firstly, the two eyes of a face image are detected by using SVMs approach, and the detected eye coordinates are used as reference points for alignment and normalization of the face image. Secondly, elastic graph matching is performed to locate the facial feature points. The preprocessed face images have the same size and the eyes lie at the uniform positions, elastic graph matching is limited to local distortions only, so the matching time can be reduced considerably. Lastly, local facial features are extracted for face register or recognition, recognition is performed by comparing the similarity of the local facial features of a test image to all trained images. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this face recognition system.
Perspectives on What May Contribute to Six-Year College Completion Rates of African American and Hispanic Students at George Mason University

PERSPECTIVES ON WHAT MAY CONTRIBUTE TO SIX-YEAR COLLEGE COMPLETION RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND HISPANIC STUDENTS AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY Alisha K. Scruggs, Ph.D. George Mason University, 2012 Dissertation Director: Dr. Penelope Earley This study explored what graduating seniors and university staff perceived contributed to high college completion rates of African American and Hispanic students at George Mason University (Mason). To understand what Mason may have been doing to support African American and Hispanic students toward college completion, in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed. Through application of constant comparative analysis (CCA), two cultural models resulted as an overlay following data analysis. The themes evident in the graduating seniors‘ cultural model included: (a) how graduating seniors elected to describe Mason‘s campus environment, (b) how graduating seniors described Mason‘s campus personnel, (c) how graduating seniors chose to describe campus resources, and (d) how graduating seniors chose to be involved on Mason‘s campus. The themes evident in the university staff members‘ cultural model were: (a) how university staff members described Mason‘s campus environment, (b) how university staff members depicted campus offices, (c) how university staff members depicted campus personnel, (d) how university staff members described campus resources, (e) how university staff members described retention strategies, and (f) how university staff members described student involvement. These themes represented what participants in this study perceived to contribute to the high college completion rates among African American and Hispanic students at George Mason University.
Tight covariation of BOLD signal changes and slow ERPs in the parietal cortex in a parametric spatial imagery task with haptic acquisition

The present study investigated the relation of brain activity patterns measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and slow event‐related potentials (ERPs) associated with a complex cognitive task. A second goal was to examine the neural correlates of spatial imagery of haptically – instead of visually – acquired representations. Using a mental image scanning task, spatial imagery requirements were systematically manipulated by parametrically varying the distance between haptically acquired landmarks. Results showed a close relation between slow ERPs and the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal in human parietal lobe. Reaction times of mental scanning correlated with the distances between landmarks on the learned display. In parallel, duration and amplitude of slow ERPs and duration of the haemodynamic response systematically varied as a function of mental scanning distance. Source analysis confirmed that the ERP imagery effect likely originated from the same cortical substrate as the corresponding BOLD effect. This covariation of the BOLD signal with slow ERPs is in line with recent findings in animals demonstrating a tight link between local field potentials and the BOLD signal. The parietal location of the imagery effect is consistent with the idea that externally triggered (perceptual) and mentally driven (imagery) spatial processes are both mediated by the same supramodal brain areas.
Multiview video error concealment with improved pixel estimation and illumination compensation

In the proposed work, an improved whole frame error concealment method for multiview video with depth is developed. The error pixels are first concealed by the pixels from another view. The light differences between views are taken care by the information of motion vector of the projected coordination, and a reverse DIBR (Depth image based rendering) procedure. These procedures are based on assumptions that are better than the assumptions made in a state-of-the-art whole frame loss method for multiview video with depth. The experiment results show that the proposed method always performs better than the state-of-the-art method by up to 1.32 dB.
Shortfall Risk Minimization in Discrete Time Financial Market Models

In this paper, we study theoretical and computational aspects of risk minimization in financial market models operating in discrete time. To define the risk, we consider a class of convex risk measures defined on $L^{p}(\mathbb{P})$ in terms of shortfall risk. Under mild assumptions, namely, the absence of arbitrage opportunity and the nondegeneracy of the price process, we prove the existence of an optimal strategy by performing a dynamic programming argument in a non-Markovian framework. In a Markovian framework, the shortfall risk and optimal dynamic strategies are estimated using three main tools: Newton--Raphson Monte Carlo--based procedure, stochastic approximation algorithm, and Markovian quantization scheme. Finally, we illustrate our approach by considering several shortfall risk measures and portfolios inspired by energy and financial markets.
Sample Selection with Binary Endogenous Variable: A Bayesian Analysis of Participation to Timber Auctions

We propose a Bayesian Metropolis-Gibbs Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) algorithm to estimate parameters of a sample selection model in which the selected equation include a binary endogenous explanatory variable, using a three simultaneous equation model. We apply our methodology to participation in timber auctions for which some lots receive no bid (these lots are censored), one bid (no competition) and two or more bids. We find that the MCMC algorithm provides stable results across different model specifications, whereas the Heckman sample selection procedure results in unreliable inference on the coefficient associated with the binary endogenous variable as well as the correlation coefficient.
Diagnostic potential of structural neuroimaging for depression from a multi-ethnic community sample

Background At present, we do not have any biological tests which can contribute towards a diagnosis of depression. Neuroimaging measures have shown some potential as biomarkers for diagnosis. However, participants have generally been from the same ethnic background while the applicability of a biomarker would require replication in individuals of diverse ethnicities. Aims We sought to examine the diagnostic potential of the structural neuroanatomy of depression in a sample of a wide ethnic diversity. Method Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained from 23 patients with major depressive disorder in an acute depressive episode (mean age: 39.8 years) and 20 matched healthy volunteers (mean age: 38.8 years). Participants were of Asian, African and Caucasian ethnicity recruited from the general community. Results Structural neuroanatomy combining white and grey matter distinguished patients from controls at the highest accuracy of 81% with the most stable pattern being at around 70%. A widespread network encompassing frontal, parietal, occipital and cerebellar regions contributed towards diagnostic classification. Conclusions These findings provide an important step in the development of potential neuroimaging-based tools for diagnosis as they demonstrate that the identification of depression is feasible within a multi-ethnic group from the community.
Banks, moral hazard, and public debts

In financial crises, private debts typically turn into public debt. In the case of private bank debt, a risk is that sovereign debt may balloon out of control because of actions taken to prevent the collapse of banking systems. This paper discusses some issues related to this interaction between bank debt and sovereign debt. Specifically, it recalls well-identifi ed stylised facts about the loop between banks and sovereigns. It suggests that, beyond positive reasons, some normative considerations explain the nature and intensity of this loop. From a policy perspective, it assesses the implications of some recent developments in regulation and public policies, points out what could be done to reduce the chances of a negative bank-sovereign feedback loop, and evaluates whether the options to better allocate the costs of crises are mutually consistent. Clearly, the crisis requires a fundamental rethink of previously commonly accepted views. One was that risky private debt could easily be morphed into high quality and liquid assets. Another was there are intrinsically riskless financial assets. Efforts by policy-makers are underway to create a new normal, where all risks are properly measured and understood, are fully priced in and their quantity better controlled. Moving to a new normal also requires that fi scal rules and discipline are better entrenched through robust and time consistent policy frameworks.