Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real relationships in a virtual world: Social engagement among older adults in Second Life

Background This study examined Second Life (SL), a 3D immersive environment, as an opportunity for older adults to create new social relationships. Method A total of 39 adults aged 60 and older (86.8% female, 13.2% male) completed the study. Outside of the weekly, two-hour formal instruction time, they spent a minimum of 20 hours in SL over the course of two weeks. Semi-structured in-person interviews were conducted with each participant to explore their attitudes toward and perceptions of online relationships; their experiences interacting with others in SL and the degree to which they formed relationships; and the challenges they encountered in creating these relationships. Results & discussion We found that older adults were largely receptive to the possibility of creating online relationships, but only a minority of them were successful in establishing them. A number of challenges to creating these relationships are discussed. This study suggests that SL may offer social benefits to a subset of older adults; however, simpler platforms should be explored to reduce challenges in navigating online environments.
Disruption of small RNA signaling caused by competition for Hfq

Small RNAs (sRNAs) regulate diverse pathways, including stress responses, virulence, and metabolism in Escherichia coli. At the center of this large sRNA regulatory network is the Hfq protein. Hfq mediates the binding of sRNAs to their target mRNAs; without Hfq, most sRNAs cannot efficiently regulate target mRNA expression. Here, we show in vivo that Hfq can be a limiting factor for sRNA activity and that it can be easily depleted, causing disruption of the sRNA network. Depletion of the available Hfq can occur when sRNAs and target mRNAs are transcribed at high levels without their partners, resulting in the sequestration of Hfq into sRNA–Hfq and target mRNA–Hfq complexes. This can be avoided by coordinating the transcription of sRNAs with their target mRNAs so that they are turned on and off together to maximize duplex formation and minimize Hfq sequestration. Therefore, the limited availability of Hfq results in a highly interdependent sRNA network, wherein the activity of each sRNA depends on the activity of the other sRNAs and target mRNAs in the network.
Partners’ overwork and individuals’ wellbeing and experienced relationship quality

ABSTRACT In this paper, using high quality data from the Work, Family, and Health Network in a sample of IT workers in the US (N = 590), we examine whether partners’ long work hours are associated with individuals’ perceived stress, time adequacy with partner, and relationship quality, and whether these relationships vary by gender. In addition, following the marital stress model, we investigate whether any negative correlation between partners’ long work hours and relationship quality is mediated by time adequacy or perceived stress. We find that women partnered to men who work long hours (50 or more hours per week) have significantly higher perceived stress and significantly lower time adequacy and relationship quality compared to women partnered to men who work a standard full-time work week (35–49 hours). Further, the increased stress associated with being partnered to a man who overworks, not lower time adequacy, mediates the negative relationship between overwork and relationship quality. Conversely, we find that men partnered to women who work long hours report no differences in stress, time adequacy, or relationship quality than men who are partnered to women who work a standard full-time work week.
Making Bertha See

With the market introduction of the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class vehicle equipped with a stereo camera system, autonomous driving has become a reality, at least in low speed highway scenarios. This raises hope for a fast evolution of autonomous driving that also extends to rural and urban traffic situations. In August 2013, an S-Class vehicle with close-to-production sensors drove completely autonomously for about 100 km from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, following the well-known historic Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Next-generation stereo vision was the main sensing component and as such formed the basis for the indispensable comprehensive understanding of complex traffic situations, which are typical for narrow European villages. This successful experiment has proved both the maturity and the significance of machine vision for autonomous driving. This paper presents details of the employed vision algorithms for object recognition and tracking, free-space analysis, traffic light recognition, lane recognition, as well as self-localization.
An Enhanced Grid Current Compensator for Grid-Connected Distributed Generation Under Nonlinear Loads and Grid Voltage Distortions

This paper introduces an advanced current control strategy for grid-connected operations of distributed generation (DG), which supports the DG to transfer a sinusoidal current into the utility grid despite the distorted grid voltage and nonlinear local load conditions. The proposed current controller is designed in the synchronous reference frame and composed of a proportional-integral (PI) controller and a repetitive controller (RC). An RC serves as a bank of resonant controllers, which can compensate a large number of harmonic components with a simple delay function. Hence, the control strategy can be greatly simplified. In addition, the proposed control method does not require the local load current measurement or harmonic analysis of the grid voltage. Therefore, the proposed control method can be easily adopted into the traditional DG control system without installation of extra hardware. Despite the reduced number of sensors, the grid current quality is significantly improved compared with the traditional methods with the PI controller. The operation principle of the proposed control method is analyzed in detail, and its effectiveness is validated through simulated and experimental results.
Representation of bodies with and without disabilities in secondary school physical education textbooks

Abstract The main aim of our study was to analyse, through a content analysis of the photographs, how bodies with and without disabilities are represented in secondary Spanish physical education (PE) textbooks. Only 10% of the photographs portray bodies with disabilities. Bodies with disabilities were fully engaged in adapted sports activities, while bodies without disabilities were engaged in a variety of physical activity domains. Our results showed a step back in the general construction of an environment that respects the construction of personal identity and reflects the new human rights-based approach to education. Taking into account that the visual representation in the education context plays an important role in the construction of difference, our research updates the dominant discourse about ability in the school setting. In conclusion, a critical evaluation of curriculum materials could help to promote discussions about alternative discourses on body diversity in schools and particularly in PE.
Fostering first-year student learning through research integration into teaching: Student perceptions, beliefs about the value of research and student achievement

ABSTRACT Research should be explicated in undergraduate teaching in a way that stimulates student learning. Previous studies in higher education have shown that student perceptions of research integrated into teaching could promote student learning, but have also indicated that it can be difficult to confront first-year undergraduates with research during courses. In this study, we describe relationships between first-year medical student perceptions of research, learning outcomes and beliefs about the value of research. The Student Perception of Research Integration Questionnaire was filled out by 261 students. Answers were related to student achievement. The findings suggest that student motivation for research is strongly related to merging current research into teaching. Students rather recognised an emphasis on research methodologies than research engagement. Particularly student beliefs about research are related to achievement. It is suggested that to foster positive beliefs about research, teachers should familiarise students with current research and create enthusiasm for research.
Monitoring Peri-Therapeutic Cerebral Circulation Time: A Feasibility Study Using Color-Coded Quantitative DSA in Patients with Steno-Occlusive Arterial Disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intracranial hemodynamics are important for management of SOAD. This study aimed to monitor peri-stent placement intracranial CirT of patients with SOAD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients received stent placement for extracranial ICA stenosis, and 34 patients with normal CirT were recruited as controls. Their color-coded DSAs were used to define the Tmax of selected intravascular ROI. A total of 20 ROIs of the ICA, OphA, ACA, MCA, FV, PV, OV, SSS, SS, IJV, and MCV were selected. rTmax was defined as the Tmax at the selected region of interest minus Tmax at the cervical segment of the ICA (I1 on AP view and IA on lateral view). rTmax of the PV was defined as intracranial CirT. Intergroup and intragroup longitudinal comparisons of rTmax were performed. RESULTS: rTmax values of the normal cohorts were as follows: ICA-AP, 0.12; ICA-LAT, 0.10; A1, 0.28; A2, 0.53; A3, 0.81; M1, 0.40; M2, 0.80; M3, 0.95; OphA, 0.35; FV, 4.83; PV, 5.11; OV, 5.17; SSS, 6.16; SS, 6.51; IJV, 6.81; and MCV, 3.86 seconds. Before stent placement, the rTmax values of arterial ROIs, except A3 and M3, were prolonged compared with values from control subjects (P < .05). None of the rTmax of any venous ROIs in the stenotic group was prolonged with significance. After stent placement, the rTmax of all arterial ROIs shortened significantly, except A1and M3. Poststenting rTmax was not different from the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Without extra contrast medium and radiation dosages, color-coded quantitative DSA enables real-time monitoring of peri-therapeutic intracranial CirT in patients with SOAD .
Profiling Transactional Memory Applications

Transactional Memory (TM) has become an active research area as it promises to simplify the development of highly scalable parallel programs. Scalability is quickly becoming an essential software requirement as successive commodity processors integrate ever larger numbers of cores. Non-trivial TM applications to test TM implementations have only recently begun to emerge, but have been written in different programming languages, using different TM implementations, making analysis difficult.We ported the popular non-trivial TM applications from the STAMP suite (Genome, KMeans, and Vacation), and Lee-TM to DSTM2, a software TM implementation, and built into it a framework to profile their execution. This paper investigates which profiling information is most relevant to understanding the performance of these non-trivial TM applications using up to 8 processors. We report commonly used transactional execution metrics and introduce two new metrics that can be used to profile TM applications.
Mapping spaces in Quasi-categories

We apply the Dwyer-Kan theory of homotopy function complexes in model categories to the study of mapping spaces in quasi-categories. Using this, together with our work on rigidification from [DS1], we give a streamlined proof of the Quillen equivalence between quasi-categories and simplicial categories. Some useful material about relative mapping spaces in quasi-categories is developed along the way.
News Organizations 2.0

This study aims at understanding international news differences by studying the headlines of over 360,000 news stories posted on the Twitter pages of 12 Arabic and English news organizations. The most referenced countries as well as figures and political actors are examined in these headlines, and the results show that a number of news values elements provide insight into the nature of the news selection. While Arabic channels are mostly focused on the events taking place in the Middle East (proximity), some English-language channels show clear preference for the countries from which they are located, especially CNN and Sky News, as well as Arabic and English state-owned media outlets like France 24 and RT (agenda and ideology). The findings suggest that news content largely follows a number of news values criteria that can explain the news selection process.
1 PRICING OF THE CURRENCY RISK IN STOCK MARKETS : EVIDENCE FROM FINLAND AND SWEDEN 1970-2005

In this paper we investigate whether global, local and currency risks are priced in two Nordic stock markets using conditional international asset pricing models. We take the view of US investors. The estimation is conducted using a modified version of the multivariate GARCH framework of De Santis and Gérard (1998). For a sample period from 1970 to 2005, we find the world risk to be time-varying. While local risk is not priced for the USA, the local component is significant and time-varying for Finland and Sweden. Currency risk is also priced in the Finnish and Swedish markets, but is not time-varying using the De Santis and Gérard specification. Using alternative specification for fixed and floating regimes show slightly better results, but further work is still needed. JEL-classification: G12, G15
Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes by Gabapentin in Cultured Dorsal Root Ganglion in a Rat Neuropathic Pain Model

Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain disorder caused by nervous system lesions as a direct consequence of a lesion or by disease of the portions of the nervous system that normally signal pain. The spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model in rats that reflect some components of clinical pain have played a crucial role in the understanding of neuropathic pain. To investigate the direct effects of gabapentin on differential gene expression in cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells of SNL model rats, we performed a differential display reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis with random priming approach using annealing control primer. Genes encoding metallothionein 1a, transforming growth factor-β1 and palmitoyl-protein thioesterase-2 were up-regulated in gabapentin-treated DRG cells of SNL model rats. The functional roles of these differentially expressed genes were previously suggested as neuroprotective genes. Further study of these genes is expected to reveal potential targets of gabapentin.
Further evaluation of GaAs FETs for cryogenic readout

Low-frequency, low-noise, low-power cryogenic electronics to read out photodetectors is being investigated for the star-tracking telescope of the Gravity Probe B spacecraft. We report additional results in evaluating low-frequency '1/f' noise of commercial and non-commercial GaAs field-effect transistors (FETs) at room and liquid-helium temperatures. No correlation was found between noise at these two temperatures. For our dc biasing conditions, the lowest- noise non-commercial GaAs FETs give a typical value of Kf (equals Af x gate area) approximately equals 2 X 10-22 V2 (DOT) m2; this corresponds to a noise voltage of approximately equals 80 nV/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz for a gate area of 3 X 104 micrometers 2, only a factor of approximately equals 3 higher than the best Si JFETs of comparable gate area operated at their optimum temperature. RTSs (random telegraph signals) were observed for many GaAs MESFETs at 4 K, for gate areas up to approximately equals 5000 micrometers 2. We also examined low-frequency '1/f' noise in relation to FET materials, processing, and pinch- off voltage but the results were inconclusive.
Prevalence of Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Pregnant Women in Tehran-Iran

Background Maternal subclinical hypothyroidism during pregnancy is associated with various adverse outcomes. Recent consensus guidelines advocate universal thyroid function screening during pregnancy. There are no data from Iran about the prevalence of thyroid hypofunction in pregnancy. This study aims to find the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction. Materials and Methods In this descriptive cross sectional study, thyrotropin (TSH) was measured in 3158 pregnant women irrespective of gestational age from October 2008-March 2012. If TSH was more than 2.5 mIU/L in the first trimester or more than 3 mIU/L in the second or third trimester, free T4 was measured to diagnose subclinical/ overt hypothyroidism. If serum free T4 was in the normal range (0.7-1.8 ng/dl) the diagnosis was subclinical hypothyroidism and if below the normal range, overt hypothyroidism was diagnosed. Results A total of 3158 pregnant women were evaluated. One hundred forty seven of them were diagnosed as hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism and overt hypothyroidism were present in 131 (89.1%) and 16 (10.9%) women respectively. Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism was 4.15%. Most of the subclinical and overt hypothyroidism cases were diagnosed in the first trimester. Conclusion It appears logical to check TSH during pregnancy due to the observed prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism.
Representation stability and finite linear groups

We construct analogues of FI-modules where the role of the symmetric group is played by the general linear groups and the symplectic groups over finite rings and prove basic structural properties such as Noetherianity. Applications include a proof of the Lannes--Schwartz Artinian conjecture in the generic representation theory of finite fields, very general homological stability theorems with twisted coefficients for the general linear and symplectic groups over finite rings, and representation-theoretic versions of homological stability for congruence subgroups of the general linear group, the automorphism group of a free group, the symplectic group, and the mapping class group.
Dept. for Speech, Music and Hearing Quarterly Progress and Status Report the Lf-model Revisited. Transformations and Frequency Domain Analysis the Lf-model Revisited. Transformations and Frequency Domain Analysis*

The main theme of our presentation is the parameterization of the human voice source. The LF-model provides an eflective representation of the inverse Jiltered speech wave form, but the four parameters are not easily handled in analysis and synthesis of connected speech. A data reduction scheme has recently been proposed (Fant et al., 1994) as a supplement to complete specifications. This system is now outlined in greater detail and is applied to descriptive analysis within a phonetic fiame. Specific emphasis is given the fiequency domain properties of the complete and the transformed systems. An analysis-by-synthesis spectrum matching scheme, which ensures source parameters optimal for speech synthesis, is proposed as an alternative or a complement to traditional inverse$ltering. A crucial requirement is the coherence of source data with the VT transfer finction and the synthesis architecture including higher pole corrections, vocal tract length and the specific samplingfiequency.
Global Processing of Biological Motions

The structure of the human form is quickly and unequivocably recognized from 10 to 13 points of light moving as if attached to the major joints and head of a person walking Recent psychophysical and computational models of this process suggest that these displays are organized by low-level processing constraints that delimit the pair-wise connections of the point lights In the current research, these low-level constraints were rendered uninformative by a masking paradigm The results from four experiments converged to show that the perception of structure in a point-light walker display does not require the prior detection of individual features or local relations
Understanding the Mediator Role of Job Satisfaction on Lecturer's Organizational Commitment

Personal urge to stay in the organization is an interesting issue in nowadays business conditions. This issue becomes an important things to be studied since the existence is not limited only in the companies but also in the education institution, in this case is the university. In this study, lecturer is the main resource who determines the output quality of students in a university; therefore it is crucial to understand the commitment of the lecturer. This study aimed to determine the effect of workload and autonomy on organizational commitment of the lecturer. In addition to this, the study also aimed to determine the effect of job satisfaction as mediating variables that mediates the effect between workload on organizational commitment, also to the effect of autonomy to organizational commitment. The samples used in this study were 64 lecturers from the private University in Surabaya. The Partial Least Square (PLS) was used as Data analysis technique in this study. The research proved the existence of significant effect on the five hypotheses: the influence of autonomy on job satisfaction, job satisfaction on organizational commitment, workload on organizational commitment, autonomy to organizational commitment, and autonomy on organizational commitment through job satisfaction. Meanwhile, no significant effect was found on the influence workload on job satisfaction and workload on organizational commitment through job satisfaction.
On the Decidability of Verifying LTL Properties of Golog Programs

Golog is a high-level action programming language for controlling autonomous agents such as mobile robots. It is defined on top of a logic-based action theory expressed in the Situation Calculus. Before a program is deployed onto an actual robot and executed in the physical world, it is desirable, if not crucial, to verify that it meets certain requirements (typically expressed through temporal formulas) and thus indeed exhibits the desired behaviour. However, due to the high (first-order) expressiveness of the language, the corresponding verification problem is in general undecidable. In this paper, we extend earlier results to identify a large, non-trivial fragment of the formalism where verification is decidable. In particular, we consider properties expressed in a first-order variant of the branching-time temporal logic CTL*. Decidability is obtained by (1) resorting to the decidable first-order fragment C² as underlying base logic, (2) using a fragment of Golog with ground actions only, and (3) requiring the action theory to only admit local effects.