Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Midbrain Mutiny: The Picoeconomics and Neuroeconomics of Disordered Gambling

Disordered gambling has been on the radar of researchers and clinicians for decades. It gained acceptance as a diagnostic entity approximately 30 years ago with the publication of DSM–III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). However, from this reviewer’s perspective, the condition of disordered gambling has long been underappreciated with respect to the prevalence of the disorder or the level of devastation with which it is associated. Several factors most likely underlie the increased interest in the condition. First, with the advent of online gambling and easier access to land-based gambling venues in many countries, more people are affected by the disorder. Second, a growing appreciation for the existence of behavioral addictions has emerged amongst researchers, clinicians, and laypeople. Third, the advent of technologies that enable researchers and clinicians to characterize brain structure (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI) and function (e.g., fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, or FDG–PET) have spurred an interest in the study of addiction. Finally, as the field of neuroeconomics has gained traction in the scientific community as a legitimate area of study, there has been increased interest in the related phenomenon of disordered gambling.
Spectral synthesis of the nuclear regions of Seyfert 2 and radio galaxies

We present the results of an optical spectral synthesis analysis for the nuclei of 20 Seyfert 2 and four radio galaxies, using a base of stellar population templates of different ages and metallicities and a power-law continuum. Compared with the stellar population of elliptical galaxies, we find that Seyfert 2s usually have a smaller contribution from old metal-rich stars (age 10 Gyr, Z ≥ Z⊙), and a larger contribution from stars with ages of 100 Myr. We also find that the contributions from stars with ages ≤ 10 Myr and from a power-law continuum are small, rarely exceeding 5 per cent. These results show that the general assumption of elliptical galaxies as stellar population templates for these objects is incorrect, also implying that the excess blue continuum frequently found in their nuclear spectra is probably due to this template mismatch. We find a considerable contribution from 100-Myr-old stars (≈ 5 per cent), which can be interpreted from the point of view of models where the fuelling of the AGN is carried out by interactions/mergers.
Events localisation and estimation in wireless sensor networks using compressed sensing

Events localisation and estimation are two major applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, owing to the noise of wireless sensing and transmission, it is difficult to guarantee the detection accuracy, especially in multiple events scenarios. This paper proposed a multiple events detection method based on compressive sensing (CS) to efficiently achieve the positions and the values of events simultaneously. Moreover, the high redundancy between the sparse signals of adjacent time slots is taken into account by distributed compressive sensing (DCS) to improve the detection accuracy. We also proposed an adaptive CS reconstruction algorithm to deal with the variable sparsity level in practical WSN scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed method not only outperforms the traditional decentralised detection methods using Bayesian, but also perfectly handles the unknown sparsity level situations.
Joint Source Coding, Unity Rate Precoding and FFH-MFSK Modulation Using Iteratively Decoded Irregular Variable Length Coding

Serially concatenated and iteratively decoded irregular variable length coding (IrVLC) combined with preceded fast frequency hopping (FFH) M-ary frequency shift keying (MFSK) is considered. The proposed joint source and channel coding scheme is capable of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) operation in Rayleigh fading channels contaminated by partial band noise jamming (PBNJ). The IrVLC scheme is comprised of a number of component variable length coding (VLC) codebooks employing different coding rates for encoding particular fractions of the input source symbol stream. These fractions may be chosen with the aid of extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts in order to shape the inverted EXIT curve of the IrVLC codec so that it can be matched with the EXIT curve of the inner decoder. We demonstrate that using the proposed scheme near-zero bit error ratio may be achieved at low SNR values and the IrVLC based scheme yields a further gain of up to 0.3 dB over the identical-rate single-class VLC based benchmarker scheme
Sibling Confirmation as a Moderator of Rivalries and Relational Outcomes in Sibling Relationships

This study tested the degree to which confirmation moderated the association between sibling rivalry and relational outcomes in the sibling relationship (i.e., closeness and satisfaction). Participants included 329 young adults who completed online questionnaires concerning their parents’ treatment of them and their siblings, sibling confirmation, and closeness and satisfaction with the sibling relationship. Although parents’ differential treatment (i.e., an indicator of rivalry) was inversely associated with relational closeness and satisfaction in the sibling relationship, sibling confirmation was positively associated with both outcomes. Multivariate tests provided partial support for the hypothesis that sibling confirmation would mitigate the negative effects of parents’ differential treatment on sibling closeness and satisfaction. Notably, confirmation moderated the negative effect of differential treatment on the sibling relationship, but only when young adults reported that their sibling perceives that they are the recipient of their parents’ differential treatment.
Disease patterns and outcomes of neonatal admissions at a secondary care hospital in pakistan.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the disease patterns and outcome of patients admitted to the neonatal unit of a secondary care hospital in Pakistan from January to December 2009. METHODS Retrospective data from the medical records of all neonates admitted during the study period were reviewed and analysed for age, weight, sex, reason for admission, duration of hospital stay, diagnosis and final outcome. Trends were examined to identify the indicators of inpatient neonatal deaths. RESULTS The total number of neonates admitted during the study period was 1,554; 979 were male (63%), and 575 were female (37%). A total of 891 patients (57.3%) were born in the hospital while 663 (42.7%) were born elsewhere. The majority were admitted during the first 24 hours of life (51.3%). A total of 13 patients (0.8%) weighed <1 Kg; 85 (5.4%) weighed 1-1.49 Kg, and 587 (37.7%) between 1.5-2.5 Kg. Prematurity and infection were the main reasons for admission (27.9% and 20.33%, respectively), followed by birth asphyxia (13%) and neonatal jaundice (11.3%). A total of 1,287 patients (82.8%) were discharged, 41 left against medical advice (2.6%), 59 were referred to tertiary care hospitals (3.79%) and 106 (6.8%) died. CONCLUSION Prematurity, low birth weight, birth asphyxia and neonatal jaundice were the major causes of neonatal admissions. This could be reduced by appropriate antenatal care, timely intervention, and in-time referral to tertiary care centres for the deliveries of all high-risk pregnancies. The major cause of neonatal mortality was prematurity.
Cosmic Thermobiology: Thermal Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe

We review the thermal history of the Universe. We obtain a new estimate for the thermal history of the Earth over the past four billion years using a biological thermometer based on (1) a rough estimate of the absolute time calibration of the genetic distances in the 16S rRNA-based tree of terrestrial life and (2) the maximum growth temperatures of the extant organisms used to construct the tree. The only other thermometer on comparable time scales is based on a controversial interpretation of the oxygen 18 abundances in chert. These two thermometers are consistent with each other and with the idea of a roughly linear decrease in the surface temperature of the Earth from ~ 90 C four billion years ago to ~ 10 C today. Based on the hyperthermophilic domination of the roots of the tree of terrestrial life, and the probably universal nature of the thermal constraints on terrestrial biogenesis, we speculate that hyperthermophilic organisms dominate the roots of life emerging on any terrestrial planet.
Non-adherence to community directed treatment with ivermectin for onchocerciasis control in Rungwe district, southwest Tanzania.

BACKGROUND Community directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) for onchocerciasis control was developed as a strategy for achieving sustained high coverage in endemic communities. This strategy for over a short period of time has radically altered the consequences of infection with Onchocerca volvulus. The present challenge is maintaining the high therapeutic coverage especially in some of the impoverished endemic countries. One of these challenges is non-adherence to ivermectin treatment and this provides compelling reason for data collection at community level. OBJECTIVE To describe the factors associated with non-adherence to CDTI. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTING Communities participating in CDTI activities in Ndubi village, Rungwe district, southwest Tanzania. RESULTS A high proportion (66%) of respondents were aware of onchocerciasis, and this was more significant in males than females (X2 = 9.17; p< 0.002). Knowledge on causes of the disease was low, only 29.3% associated it with the bite of Simulium fly, 17% associated it with mosquitoes, 17.1% to houseflies, and 30% had completely no idea. Knowledge on signs and symptoms of onchocerciasis was also observed to be equally low (20.4%) among the respondents. Similarly, only 35.4% of the respondents knew itching, swelling of the body, diarrhoea and vomiting as associated side effects of ivermectin. There was, however, no sex difference in knowledge levels (X2 = 0.01; p>0.939). Low knowledge levels on causes of the disease, signs and symptoms and side effects of ivermectin were attributed to inadequate health education in the communities. However, some other factors associated with non-adherence were local beliefs and the lifestyle of alcoholism. CONCLUSIONS Factors identified to affect programme implementation and associated with non-adherence were inadequate knowledge on causes of the disease and sign/symptoms, side effects of ivermectin, local beliefs and lifestyle of alcoholism in the communities.
Does religiosity impact Moroccan Muslim women’s clothing choice?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether religiosity impacts the clothing style Moroccan Muslim women choose to wear in the public setting. Design/methodology/approach – The framework chosen for this study was the theory of planned behaviour. Data were gathered by a questionnaire administered to 950 Muslim women located throughout in Morocco. Findings – Results indicate that a woman’s religiosity cannot be determined simply by what she wears, with age, marital status and education found to have far greater impact on a woman’s choice of clothing than religiosity. Practical implications – In countries where women have freedom to choose what they wear, Muslims should not be treated homogeneously, but rather as a heterogeneous segment with different social classes, different sects and different ways of expressing and experiencing their faith in daily life. Originality/value – Currently there is limited literature that explores the relationship between religiosity and a woman’s choice of dress.
Questions of security: A framework for research

Scholars have noted that we are increasingly being governed in the name of security, in literature that usually treats security as an entity in need of a theory. This article begins by noting that ‘security’ does not need theories, but rather questions that can generate concrete analyses. Three sets of questions are elaborated here. The first concerns the logics of security projects. The second set raises questions of scale and jurisdiction. Finally, governance projects are distinguished by the techniques used. This set of questions about security—which, this article argues, always need to be posed in relation to specific security projects—is a theoretically significant revision of the governmentality literature’s distinction between rationalities and technologies of governance.
Ridge Alterations Post-extraction in the Esthetic Zone

Dimensional alterations of the facial bone wall following tooth extractions in the esthetic zone have a profound effect on treatment outcomes. This prospective study in 39 patients is the first to investigate three-dimensional (3D) alterations of facial bone in the esthetic zone during the initial 8 wks following flapless tooth extraction. A novel 3D analysis was carried out, based on 2 consecutive cone beam computed tomographies (CBCTs). A risk zone for significant bone resorption was identified in central areas, whereas proximal areas yielded only minor changes. Correlation analysis identified a facial bone wall thickness of ≤ 1 mm as a critical factor associated with the extent of bone resorption. Thin-wall phenotypes displayed pronounced vertical bone resorption, with a median bone loss of 7.5 mm, as compared with thick-wall phenotypes, which decreased by only 1.1 mm. For the first time, 3D analysis has allowed for documentation of dimensional alterations of the facial bone wall in the esthetic zone of humans following extraction. It also characterized a risk zone prone to pronounced bone resorption in thin-wall phenotypes. Vertical bone loss was 3.5 times more severe than findings reported in the existing literature.
Glucose-dependent insulinotropic hormone potentiates the hypoglycemic effect of glibenclamide in healthy volunteers: evidence for an effect on insulin extraction.

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic hormone (GIP) is an intestinal hormone considered to be an important mediator of the incretin effect, i.e. the augmented insulin release observed in response to orally, compared with iv, administered glucose, despite isoglycemic glucose profiles. Stimulation of beta-cell secretion of insulin by GIP is seen both in vitro and in vivo at permissive extracellular glucose concentrations (> 6 mmol/L). It has also been claimed that part of the incretin effect is due to decreased insulin extraction. We now show that an infusion of GIP in healthy volunteers in whom blood glucose levels were maintained at 5 mmol/L, increased glibenclamide-stimulated levels of plasma insulin without significantly changing the C peptide profile. The increased plasma insulin levels necessitated extra glucose infusion to maintain euglycemia, demonstrating the biological significance of the elevated insulin levels. Infusion of GIP alone caused neither glucose changes nor elevation of C peptide or insulin levels. Hence, our results show that at a blood glucose concentration of 5 mmol/L, GIP augments the increase in plasma insulin levels stimulated by glibenclamide, possibly acting through a mechanism involving decreased insulin extraction in the liver or peripheral tissues, thus increasing insulin availability.
‘The best thing ever’: how children's popular culture matters

This paper reflects upon a popular cultural event which was, briefly, for a particular grouping of children in the UK, ‘the best thing ever’: namely the release of the CD-single Reach, by the British pop group S Club 7. I suggest that this event was illustrative of manifold cultural forms and practices which—being ostensibly banal, fun, faddish, lowbrow and ‘childish’—continue to go largely unheralded by many social/cultural geographers. Against this grain, this paper presents three apprehensions of S Club 7’s significance. First, I restate a particular case made via Anglo-American cultural studies that ‘children's popular culture’, ought to be taken more seriously in contexts salient to social/cultural geographers. Second, I detail how the S Club 7 phenomenon existed, practically and materially, and mattered, in some children's everyday lives. Third, refracting cultural geographers' recent apprehensions of affective, evental aspects of cultural practices, I suggest that the pop cultural phenomenon described herein mattered (to those children, there and then) in ways which elude and exceed canonical scholarly habits of writing/knowing popular cultural phenomena.
Adherence of Porphyromonas gingivalis to matrix proteins via a fimbrial cryptic receptor exposed by its own arginine‐specific protease

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a Gram‐negative anaerobe, is known to be involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. P. gingivalis fimbriae, which are proteinaceous appendages extending from the cell surface, may contribute to the adherence of the organism to the host cell surface. We previously suggested that arginine‐specific protease produced by P. gingivalis enhanced the adherence of purified fimbriae to fibroblasts or matrix proteins. In this study, we have revealed the mechanism of the enhanced binding of fimbriae by the protease in more detail. Arg‐specific protease and fimbriae were obtained from P. gingivalis 381 cells and purified. We then analysed the interaction of fimbriae and immobilized fibronectins (intact or partially degraded fibronectin by the purified protease) by using the real‐time biomolecular interaction analysis (BIAcore) system with an optical biosensor based on the principles of surface plasmon resonance. BIAcore profiles demonstrated an enhanced interaction between fimbriae and protease‐degraded fibronectin. We also showed specific binding of fimbriae to the degraded fibronectin by means of BIAcore analysis. The binding of biotinylated fimbriae to immobilized fibronectin was examined by enzyme‐linked biotin–avidin assay. The purified protease enhanced the fimbrial binding to the immobilized fibronectin. The enhancement was inhibited by the addition of l‐Arg, or oligopeptides containing the Arg residue at the C‐terminus in the fimbrial binding reaction, suggesting that the P. gingivalis fimbriae may potentially have an ability to bind tightly to the Arg residue at C‐terminus. Taken together, these studies indicate that P. gingivalis arginine‐specific protease can expose a cryptitope in the matrix protein molecules, i.e. the C‐terminal Arg residue of the host matrix proteins, so that the organism can adhere to the surface layer in the oral cavity through fimbriae–Arg interaction (a novel host–parasite relationship).
Risk factors for aggression in pre-adolescence: Risk domains, cumulative risk and gender differences - Results from a prospective longitudinal study in a multi-ethnic urban sample

This article reviews a range of risk factors for aggression at age 11 derived from a prospective longitudinal study on the social development of children in a large multi-ethnic sample in Switzerland. The study uses a multi-informant approach that permits reliance on combined measures of social behaviour and covers factors derived from a wide range of risk domains. Besides analysing the effects of individual risk factors, the study also investigates the effect size of cumulative risk within and across risk domains. It further analyses gender differences in risk vulnerability. Results suggest that proximal behavioural and psychological risk factors most strongly predict later aggression, whereas more distal external factors related to the family, to school and to peer relationships are less predictive. The most distal factors (perinatal risks and sociodemographic factors) are only marginally associated with later aggression. Analysis of cumulative risk suggests a strong relationship between the number of risk factors and later aggression. Finally, results support the notion of a higher risk vulnerability of boys compared with girls. Results are discussed in the context of extant research.
Simultaneous code/error-trellis reduction for convolutional codes using shifted code/error-subsequences

In this paper, we show that the code-trellis and the error-trellis for a convolutional code can be reduced simultaneously, if reduction is possible. Assume that the error-trellis can be reduced by shifting particular error-subsequences. In this case, if the identical shifts occur in the corresponding subsequences of each code path, then the code-trellis can also be reduced. First, we obtain pairs of transformations which generate the identical shifts both in the subsequences of the code-path and in those of the error-path. Next, by applying these transformations to the generator matrix and the parity-check matrix, we show that reduction of these matrices is accomplished simultaneously, if it is possible. Moreover, it is shown that the two associated trellises are also reduced simultaneously.
The role of phonology in incidental vocabulary acquisition during silent reading

In two experiments, we investigated the role of phonology in learning new words incidentally during silent reading. Participants read sentence pairs containing novel or known words that varied in homophony (whether another word exists with an alternate spelling for the same pronunciation). In Experiment 1, we monitored readers' eye movements to investigate online processes involved in establishing meanings for novel words. In Experiment 2, participants completed cued recall and vocabulary recognition tasks after the reading session to assess the influence of phonological form on word learning. Eye movement results indicate that readers spent the most time reading novel homophones (e.g., skwosh) and surrounding context, indicating that phonological information is activated early during a reader's initial encounter with a new letter string. Retention measures suggest that readers were able to infer a meaning for each novel word type, despite the increased difficulty associated with reading novel words with familiar phonological forms, and that phonology aided the acquisition of orthography.
The genetic data environment an expandable GUI for multiple sequence analysis

An X-Windows-based graphic user interface is presented which allows the seamless integration of numerous existing biomolecular programs into a single analysis environment. This environment is based on a core multiple sequence editor that is linked to external programs by a user-expandable menu system and is supported on Sun and DEC workstations. There is no limitation to the number of external functions that can be linked to the interface. The length and number of sequences that can be handled are limited only by the size of virtual memory present on the workstation. The sequence data itself is used as the reference point from which analysis is done, and scalable graphic views are supported. It is suggested that future software development utilizing this expandable, user-defined menu system and the I/O linkage of external programs will allow biologists to easily integrate expertise from disparate fields into a single environment.