Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Velocity-metallicity correlation for high-z DLA galaxies: evidence of a mass-metallicity relation?

We used our database of VLT-UVES quasar spectra to build up a sample of 70 Damped Lyman- α (DLA) or strong sub-DLA systems with total neutral hydrogen column densities of $\log N($H i$)\ga 20$ and redshifts in the range $1.7 -1 . The slope of the DLA velocity-metallicity relation is the same within uncertainties between the higher ($z_{\rm abs}>2.43$) and the lower ($z_{\rm abs}\le 2.43$) redshift halves of our sample. However, the two populations of systems are statistically different. There is a strong redshift evolution in the sense that the median metallicity and median velocity width increase with decreasing redshift. We argue that the existence of a DLA velocity-metallicity correlation, over more than a factor of 100 spread in metallicity, is probably the consequence of an underlying mass-metallicity relation for the galaxies responsible for DLA absorption lines. Assuming a simple linear scaling of the galaxy luminosity with the mass of the dark-matter halo, we find that the slope of the DLA velocity-metallicity relation is consistent with that of the luminosity-metallicity relation derived for local galaxies. If the galaxy dynamical mass is indeed the dominant factor setting up the observed DLA velocity-metallicity correlation, then the DLA systems exhibiting the lowest metallicities among the DLA population should, on average, be associated with galaxies of lower masses (e.g., gas-rich dwarf galaxies). In turn, these galaxies should have the lowest luminosities among the DLA galaxy population. This could explain the difficulties of detecting high-redshift DLA galaxies in emission.
Fundamental Limits of Caching: Improved Bounds For Small Buffer Users

In this work, the peak rate of the caching problem is investigated, under the scenario that the users are with small buffer sizes and the number of users is no less than the amount of files in the server. A novel coded caching strategy is proposed for such a scenario, leading to a lower peak rate compared to recent results in the literature. Furthermore, it is verified that our peak rates coincides with the cut-set bound analytically in an information-theoretic view.
WEB MERCHANTS' PRIVACY AND SECURITY STATEMENTS: HOW REASSURING ARE THEY FOR CONSUMERS? A TWO-SIDED APPROACH

Online environment is now part of everyday life. However, trust is still an important issue for online merchants. This explains why there is an increasing interest in "trust busters" by the general consumer. Trust busters entail, among other, a thorough online privacy policy (OPP) that encompasses detailed privacy and security statements. The paper looks at both the views of the consumer and the views of the web merchants in attempting to unravel the problems of privacy on the Net. A sample of 89 French web merchants and a sample of 154 consumers were examined using bivariate analysis. The results show that, even in a government-regulated country such as France, there is still room for improvement in web merchants' privacy policies. Concerning consumers, an important result is that the perception of reassuring privacy and security statements varies according to browsing intention.
Roles of Variables From the Perspective of Computer Science Educators

Roles can be assigned to occurrences of variables in programs according to a small number of patterns of use that are both language- and algorithm-independent. The concept of roles of variables is almost certainly part of the tacit knowledge of expert programmers, and we believe that explicitly teaching roles of variables to novice students can be an excellent pedagogical tool for clarifying the structure and meaning of programs. This paper describes an experiment in which computer science educators were briey taught the concept of roles and then asked to assign roles to variables. The results showed that the subjects accepted the concept of roles as intuitive and nd it easy to assign roles consistently.
Science teacher orientations and PCK across science topics in grade 9 earth science

ABSTRACT While the literature is replete with studies examining teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), few studies have investigated how science teacher orientations (STOs) shape classroom instruction. Therefore, this research explores the interplay between a STOs and the topic specificity of PCK across two science topics within a grade 9 earth science course. Through interviews and observations of one teacher’s classroom across two sequentially taught, this research contests the notion that teachers hold a single way of conceptualising science teaching and learning. In this, we consider if multiple ontologies can provide potential explanatory power for characterising instructional enactments. In earlier work with the teacher in this study, using generic interview prompts and general discussions about science teaching and learning, we accepted the existence of a unitary STO and its promise of consistent reformed instruction in the classroom. However, upon close examination of instruction focused on different science topics, evidence was found to demonstrate the explanatory power of multiple ontologies for shaping characteristically different epistemological constructions across science topics. This research points to the need for care in generalising about teacher practice, as it reveals that a teacher’s practice, and orientation, can vary, dependent on the context and science topics taught.
Improving safety on Finnish railways by prevention of trespassing

This study investigated trespassing accidents, trespassing and related countermeasures to provide information for prevention of trespassing accidents on Finnish railways. The study includes five complementary substudies, of which two included accident analyses and three collected information on railway trespassing by means of surveys, interviews and field observations. The main results showed, for example, that (1) trespassing is frequent in Finland and, contrary to the overall improvement of railway safety in Finland, the number of trespasser fatalities has not fallen over the past decade; (2) there are specific sites of frequent trespassing on Finnish railways; (3) both the victims in trespassing accidents and the observed trespassers were typically adults and males and the victims were frequently intoxicated; (4) the risk related to railway trespassing was associated with trespassing behaviour, and (5) at selected sites fencing and landscaping can stop trespassing almost entirely, but the effects of a prohibitive sign are much more limited. Overall, a systems approach is recommended for prevention work along with a shared responsibility between stakeholders such as government, railway organisations, various authorities and communities, because the problem is broad and multifaceted and the elements of the rail safety system are interrelated. The recommended countermeasures for preventing railway trespassing vary from underand overpasses, physical barriers and prohibitive signs to enforcement and education. Selection of the most effective or suitable countermeasure depends on the effectiveness of different measures, location and the characteristics of trespassing.
No clinically relevant effect on cognitive outcomes after low-dose radiation to the infant brain: A population-based cohort study in Sweden

Abstract While the detrimental effects of cranial radiotherapy on the developing brain are well known, the effects on cognitive performance of low doses of ionizing radiation is less studied. We performed a population-based cohort study to determine whether low doses of ionizing radiation to the brain in infancy affects cognitive function later in life. Further we hypothesized that the dose to the hippocampus predicts cognitive late side effects better than the anterior or the posterior brain doses. Material and methods. During 1950–1960 3860 boys were treated with radiation in Sweden for cutaneous hemangiomas before the age of 18 months. Of these, 3030 were analyzed for military test scores at the age of 18 years and 2559 for the highest obtained educational level. Results. Logical, spatial and technical test scores were not affected by increasing irradiation doses. The verbal test scores displayed a significant trend for decreasing scores with increasing doses to the hippocampus (p = 0.005). However, the absolute mean difference between the zero dose and the highest dose category (median 680 mGy) was very small, only 0.64 stanine points, and the significance was dependent on the highest dose category, containing few subjects. The educational level was not affected by brain irradiation. Overall, the hippocampal dose was a better predictor of late cognitive side effects than the doses to the anterior or the posterior brain. In conclusion, there was no decrease in logical, spatial and technical verbal or global test scores after ionizing radiation doses up to 250 mGy, but a subtle decrease in verbal test scores if the highest dose category was included (median 680 mGy). However, the clinical relevance of this decline in the highest dose group is questionable, since we could not find any effect on the highest obtained educational level.
Elevated expression and cell cycle deregulation of a mitosis-associated target polypeptide of a carcinogen in hyperplastic and malignant rat hepatocytes.

A cytoplasmic polypeptide with a molecular weight of 14,000 (p14) was previously found to be the principal covalent target protein of the carcinogen, N-2-fluorenylacetamide (2-acetylaminofluorene), early during carcinogenesis in rat liver. The level of immunodetected p14 was markedly increased specifically during all stages of mitosis of hepatocytes in normal and regenerating partially hepatectomized livers. In addition, the polypeptide appeared to be immunologically and behaviorally related to a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 17,500 that is tightly bound to nucleosomes of chromatin in hepatocytes. This report describes the actions of the two polypeptides during hepatocarcinogenesis induced by ingestion of 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene or N-2-fluorenylacetamide. Both carcinogens acted similarly in bringing about characteristic responses of the two polypeptides, detected immunohistochemically with specific rabbit antiserum and peroxidase-antiperoxidase complex. Four types of discrete hepatocytic lesions were observed. The earliest and least aberrant were hyperplastic foci of proliferating hepatocytes, which generally displayed markedly higher levels of immunostained p14 in cytoplasm, compared to levels in normal diploid hepatocytes. Furthermore, the very high concentrations of p14 were continuously present during cell interphase, in contrast to those in normal and regenerating hepatocytes, in which the elevation is restricted to the period of mitosis. Later-arising lesions were acidophilic adenomas of hepatocytes, which were characterized by quiescent morphology, fairly uniform and bulky eosinophilic cytoplasm, high levels of glycogen, and small delicate nuclei. These cells usually displayed little cytoplasmic p14. Coexistent hepatocytic lesions, i.e., mixed basophilic adenomas, exhibited considerable morphological heterogeneity, often slightly basophilic cytoplasm, and variable immunostain of cytoplasmic p14 during interphase. The fourth lesions were hepatocellular carcinomas, which continuously demonstrated much higher than normal levels of cytoplasmic p14 during cell interphase. During mitosis in the four types of hepatocytic lesions, the levels of immunostained p14 were usually further elevated above those in interphase, regardless of whether they were already very high during interphase in hyperplasia and malignancy, or low in acidophilic adenomas. All four kinds of carcinogen-altered lesions usually displayed little of the detectable Mr 17,500 polypeptide in nuclei. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Determination of Lactate Thresholds in Maximal Running Test by Heart Rate Variability Data Set

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) data set has been used to identify HRV thresholds during exercise. However, the relationship between HRV thresholds and the first (LT1) and second lactate threshold (LT2), has been poorly investigated during maximal running test. In this regard, HRV may act as a useful, less expensive and time consuming method to estimate physiological thresholds. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to verify the validity and reproducibility of the heart rate variability (HRV) method to determine first and second lactate thresholds during a maximal running test. Methods: Nineteen male runners (30.4 ± 4.1 years; body mass of 74.3 ± 8.5 kg; height of 176 ± 6.4 cm and body fat of 13.8 ± 4.6 %) performed two progressive maximal tests on a treadmill, with initial speed at 5 km.h-1 and 1 km.h-1 increments every 3 minutes, until exhaustion. Measures of HRV and blood lactate concentrations were obtained during the tests and physiological thresholds were identified as lactate thresholds by using fixed concentrations (2.0 and 3.5 mmol.L-1) and Dmax method, as well as HRV thresholds. Results: There were no differences between the first physiological thresholds identified as lactate (2.0 mmol.L-1 = 11.9 ± 2.9 km.h-1 and Dmax = 12.3 ± 1.5 km.h-1) or HRV threshold (11.6 ± 1.6 km.h-1). Accordingly, there were no differences between the second physiological thresholds identified as lactate threshold (3.5 mmol.L-1 = 14.2 ± 2.6 km.h-1) or HRV threshold (14.2 ± 2.0 km.h-1). Furthermore, HRV thresholds showed good agreement between test and retest. Conclusions: Physiological thresholds identified by using HVR data set provided reliable and practical estimation of LT1 and LT2 during a maximal running test.
The Effectiveness of Two Universal Preventive Interventions in Reducing Children's Externalizing Behavior: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

This article reports the effectiveness of two universal prevention programs in reducing externalizing behavior in elementary school children. A sample of 1,675 first graders in 56 Swiss elementary schools was randomly assigned to a school-based social competence intervention, a parental training intervention, both, or control. Externalizing psychopathology and social competence ratings were provided by the children, primary caregivers, and teachers at the beginning and end of the 2-year program, with a follow-up 2 years later. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that long-term effects on teacher- and parent-rated externalizing behavior were greater for the social competence intervention than for the control. However, for most outcomes, no statistically significant positive effects were observed.
MicroRNA Expression Profiling Altered by Variant Dosage of Radiation Exposure

Various biological effects are associated with radiation exposure. Irradiated cells may elevate the risk for genetic instability, mutation, and cancer under low levels of radiation exposure, in addition to being able to extend the postradiation side effects in normal tissues. Radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) is the focus of rigorous research as it may promote the development of cancer even at low radiation doses. Alterations in the DNA sequence could not explain these biological effects of radiation and it is thought that epigenetics factors may be involved. Indeed, some microRNAs (or miRNAs) have been found to correlate radiation-induced damages and may be potential biomarkers for the various biological effects caused by different levels of radiation exposure. However, the regulatory role that miRNA plays in this aspect remains elusive. In this study, we profiled the expression changes in miRNA under fractionated radiation exposure in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. By utilizing publicly available microRNA knowledge bases and performing cross validations with our previous gene expression profiling under the same radiation condition, we identified various miRNA-gene interactions specific to different doses of radiation treatment, providing new insights for the molecular underpinnings of radiation injury.
Online Acquisition of Japanese Unknown Morphemes using Morphological Constraints

We propose a novel lexicon acquirer that works in concert with the morphological analyzer and has the ability to run in online mode. Every time a sentence is analyzed, it detects unknown morphemes, enumerates candidates and selects the best candidates by comparing multiple examples kept in the storage. When a morpheme is unambiguously selected, the lexicon acquirer updates the dictionary of the analyzer, and it will be used in subsequent analysis. We use the constraints of Japanese morphology and effectively reduce the number of examples required to acquire a morpheme. Experiments show that unknown morphemes were acquired with high accuracy and improved the quality of morphological analysis.
Examining the Role of Ethnic Identity and Meaning in Life on Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

In emerging adulthood, establishing a sense of self and life meaning is a key developmental task for career development. This study examined the role of ethnic identity and meaning in life in career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) among African American, Asian American, and White incoming, first-year, college students (n = 2,470). Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, we found that ethnic identity and meaning in life predicted between 14% and 26% of the variance in CDSE for African American, Asian American, and White students. Mediation analyses for each ethnic group revealed that the presence of life meaning mediated the relations between ethnic identity and CDSE. Ethnic identity appears to be associated with positive career development, in part, through the cultivation of life meaning for ethnically diverse college students. Implications for research and career counseling with ethnically diverse college students are discussed.
Unobtrusive Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Through Home Monitoring

The early detection of dementias such as Alzheimer's disease can in some cases reverse, stop, or slow cognitive decline and in general greatly reduce the burden of care. This is of increasing significance as demographic studies are warning of an aging population in North America and worldwide. Various smart homes and systems have been developed to detect cognitive decline through continuous monitoring of high risk individuals. However, the majority of these smart homes and systems use a number of predefined heuristics to detect changes in cognition, which has been demonstrated to focus on the idiosyncratic nuances of the individual subjects, and thus, does not generalize. In this paper, we address this problem by building generalized linear models of home activity of older adults monitored using unobtrusive sensing technologies. We use inhomogenous Poisson processes to model the presence of the recruited older adults within different rooms throughout the day. We employ an information theoretic approach to compare the generalized linear models learned, and we observe significant statistical differences between the cognitively intact and impaired older adults. Using a simple thresholding approach, we were able to detect mild cognitive impairment in older adults with an average area under the ROC curve of 0.716 and an average area under the precision-recall curve of 0.706 using activity models estimated over a time window of 12 weeks.
Center for Development Economics,

Using several independent data sets, we investigate the relationship between gender and corruption. We show using micro data that women are less involved in bribery, and are less likely to condone bribe taking. Cross-country data show that corruption is less severe where women hold a larger share of parliamentary seats and senior positions in the government bureaucracy, and comprise a larger share of the labor force.
From microseconds to seconds and minutes—time computation in insect hearing

The computation of time in the auditory system of insects is of relevance at rather different time scales, covering a large range from microseconds to several minutes. At the one end of this range, only a few microseconds of interaural time differences are available for directional hearing, due to the small distance between the ears, usually considered too small to be processed reliably by simple nervous systems. Synapses of interneurons in the afferent auditory pathway are, however, very sensitive to a time difference of only 1–2 ms provided by the latency shift of afferent activity with changing sound direction. At a much larger time scale of several tens of milliseconds to seconds, time processing is important in the context species recognition, but also for those insects where males produce acoustic signals within choruses, and the temporal relationship between song elements strongly deviates from a random distribution. In these situations, some species exhibit a more or less strict phase relationship of song elements, based on phase response properties of their song oscillator. Here we review evidence on how this may influence mate choice decisions. In the same dimension of some tens of milliseconds we find species of katydids with a duetting communication scheme, where one sex only performs phonotaxis to the other sex if the acoustic response falls within a very short time window after its own call. Such time windows show some features unique to insects, and although its neuronal implementation is unknown so far, the similarity with time processing for target range detection in bat echolocation will be discussed. Finally, the time scale being processed must be extended into the range of many minutes, since some acoustic insects produce singing bouts lasting quite long, and female preferences may be based on total signaling time.
Medial prefrontal cortex activity when thinking about others depends on their age

This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity as young and older participants rated an unknown young and older person, and themselves, on personality characteristics. For both young and older participants, there was greater activation in ventral mPFC (anterior cingulate) when they made judgments about own-age than other-age individuals. Additionally, across target age and participant age, there was greater activity in a more anterior region of ventral mPFC (largely medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate) when participants rated others than when they rated themselves. We discuss potential interpretations of these findings in the context of previous results suggesting functional specificity of subregions of ventral mPFC.
Suppressor of Fused Is Required to Maintain the Multipotency of Neural Progenitor Cells in the Retina

The morphogen sonic hedgehog (Shh) plays a crucial role in development of the CNS, including the neural retina. Suppressor of fused (Sufu) has been recently identified as a critical regulator of Hh signaling in mammals. However, the precise roles that Sufu plays in the regulation of proliferation and cell-fate decisions in neural progenitors is unknown. Here, we have addressed these questions by conditionally deleting Sufu in mouse multipotent retinal progenitor cells (RPCs). Sufu deletion in RPCs results in transient increases in Hh activity and proliferation followed by developmentally premature cell-cycle exit. Importantly, we demonstrate a novel role for Sufu in the maintenance of multipotency in RPCs. Sufu-null RPCs downregulate transcription factors required to specify or maintain RPC identity (Rax, Vsx2) and multipotency (Pax6) but continue to express the neural progenitor marker Sox2. These cells fail to express retinal lineage-specific transcription factors, such as Math5, and adopt an amacrine or horizontal cell fate at the expense of all other classes of retinal neurons. Genetic elimination of Gli2 in Sufu-null RPCs attenuates Hh pathway activity and restores multipotency in neural progenitors. These data provide novel evidence that Sufu-mediated antagonism of Hh/Gli2 signaling is required to maintain RPC multipotency and identity.