Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lectio for living: an exploration of mindful listening to poetic texts

ABSTRACT In the ancient contemplative practice known as lectio divina, sacred texts were read slowly and carefully while listeners attended to the sounds of the performance. Rather than reading analytically for specific interpretations, participants in this mindful listening practice observed the sensory experience of sounds, allowing meanings to emerge in the mind of their own accord. Many mindfulness- and acceptance-based psychological interventions make use of similar poetry listening practices. This study examined state mindfulness among undergraduate students when listening to series of brief poetic texts. Several participant characteristics, including facets of dispositional mindfulness, psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and compassion for others, were examined as potential predictors of both state mindfulness during the practice and the perceived value of mindful listening. The “observing” facet of dispositional mindfulness significantly predicted both the “decentering” and “curiosity” dimensions of state mindfulness. Qualitative analyses revealed participants’ perspectives concerning their engagement in the experiential practice.
EM-Cube: an architecture for low-cost real-time volume rendering

EM-Cube is a VLSI architecture for low-cost, high quality volume rendering at full video frame rates. Derived from the Cube4 architecture developed at SUNY at Stony Brook, EM-Cube computes sample points and gradients on-the-fly to project 3-dimensional volume dnta onto 2-dimensional images with realistic lighting and shading. A modest rendering system based on EM-Cube consists of a PC1 card with four rendering chips (ASICs), four 64Mbit SDRAMs to hold the volume data, and four SRAMs to capture the rendered image. The performance target for this configuration is to render images from a 25G3 x 16 bit data set at 30 fmmes/sec. The EM-Cube architecture can be scaled to larger volume data-sets and/or higher frame rates by adding additional ASKS, SDRAMs, and SRAMs. This paper addresses three major challenges encountered developing EM-Cube into a pm&al product: exploiting the bandwidth inherent in the SDRAMs containing the volume data, keeping the pin-count between adjacent ASICs at a tractable level, and reducing the on-chip stomge required to hold the intermediate results of rendering.
Bladder tissue uptake of mitomycin C during intravesical therapy is linear with drug concentration in urine.

The design of an ongoing Phase III study of intravesical mitomycin C therapy to treat bladder cancer is partly based on the assumption that drug penetration into bladder tissue is linearly related to drug concentration. The present study was designed to (a) test this assumption and (b) to compare drug concentrations in tumor and adjacent normal tissues in human bladders. We previously reported the uptake kinetics of a 20-mg dose in dog and human bladders (M. G. Wientjes et al., Cancer Res., 51: 4347-4354, 1991, and Cancer Res., 53: 3314-3320, 1993). The present study used a 40 mg/20 ml dose. Serial blood and urine samples were taken from dogs during the 120-min instillation. Bladder tissues were harvested from dogs and patients at the end of instillation. A comparison of the results of the present and previous studies indicates identical tissue penetration kinetic parameters in dogs for the two doses, i.e., a approximately 30-fold concentration drop across the urothelium and a half-width of approximately 500 microns. In addition, the average tissue concentration in dog and human bladders attained with the 40-mg dose (8.77 micrograms/g in dogs and 7.55 micrograms/g in humans) was about twice that achieved with the 20-mg dose (4.33 micrograms/g in dogs and 3.91 micrograms/g in humans). In dogs, the plasma concentration of MMC reached a steady state within 10 min; the mean maximal plasma concentration was 8.5 ng/ml. This plasma concentration is indistinguishable from the concentration derived from the 20-mg dose and indicates a minimal systemic exposure even at the higher dose. The average MMC concentration in tumor-bearing tissues was about 40% higher than the concentration in adjacent normal tissues (P = 0.01). In conclusion, the linear relationship between drug uptake in bladder tissues and drug concentration in urine supports the assumption used in the design of the ongoing Phase III clinical trial.
Phocid Seal Leptin: Tertiary Structure and Hydrophobic Receptor Binding Site Preservation during Distinct Leptin Gene Evolution

The cytokine hormone leptin is a key signalling molecule in many pathways that control physiological functions. Although leptin demonstrates structural conservation in mammals, there is evidence of positive selection in primates, lagomorphs and chiropterans. We previously reported that the leptin genes of the grey and harbour seals (phocids) have significantly diverged from other mammals. Therefore we further investigated the diversification of leptin in phocids, other marine mammals and terrestrial taxa by sequencing the leptin genes of representative species. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that leptin diversification was pronounced within the phocid seals with a high dN/dS ratio of 2.8, indicating positive selection. We found significant evidence of positive selection along the branch leading to the phocids, within the phocid clade, but not over the dataset as a whole. Structural predictions indicate that the individual residues under selection are away from the leptin receptor (LEPR) binding site. Predictions of the surface electrostatic potential indicate that phocid seal leptin is notably different to other mammalian leptins, including the otariids. Cloning the grey seal leptin binding domain of LEPR confirmed that this was structurally conserved. These data, viewed in toto, support a hypothesis that phocid leptin divergence is unlikely to have arisen by random mutation. Based upon these phylogenetic and structural assessments, and considering the comparative physiology and varying life histories among species, we postulate that the unique phocid diving behaviour has produced this selection pressure. The Phocidae includes some of the deepest diving species, yet have the least modified lung structure to cope with pressure and volume changes experienced at depth. Therefore, greater surfactant production is required to facilitate rapid lung re-inflation upon surfacing, while maintaining patent airways. We suggest that this additional surfactant requirement is met by the leptin pulmonary surfactant production pathway which normally appears only to function in the mammalian foetus.
N=2 four-dimensional gauge theories from fractional branes

This is a pedagogical and extended version of the results published in Refs. [1,2] and presented by the authors in various talks during the last year. We discuss the type II D-branes (both regular and fractional) of the orbifold R^{1,5}*R^4/Z_2, we determine their corresponding supergravity solution and show how this can be used to study the properties of N=2 super Yang-Mills. Supergravity is able to reproduce the perturbative moduli space of the gauge theory, while it does not encode the non-perturbative corrections. The short distance region of space-time, which corresponds to the infrared region of the gauge theory, is excised by an enhancon mechanism, and more states should be included in the low energy effective action in order to enter inside the enhancon and recover the instanton corrections. (To be published on a Memorial Volume commemorating Michael Marinov)
Environmental Dependence of Properties of Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We investigate the dependence of physical properties of galaxies brighter than Mr = -18.0 + 5 log h in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) on environment, as measured by local density using an adaptive smoothing kernel. We find that variations of galaxy properties with environment are almost entirely due to the dependence of morphology and luminosity on environment. Because galaxy properties depend not only on luminosity but also on morphology, it is clear that galaxy properties cannot be determined solely by dark halo mass. When morphology and luminosity are fixed, other physical properties, such as color, color gradient, concentration, size, velocity dispersion, and star formation rate, are nearly independent of local density, without any break or feature. The only feature is the sharp decrease of the late-type fraction above the critical luminosity of about Mr = -21.3 in the morphology versus luminosity relation. Weak residual dependences on environment include that of the color of late types (bluer at lower density) and of the L-σ relation of early types (larger dispersion at higher density for bright galaxies). The fraction of galaxies with early morphological type is a monotonically increasing function of local density and luminosity. The morphology-density-luminosity relation, as measured in this work, should be a key constraint on galaxy formation models. We demonstrate that the dependence on environment of the morphology of galaxies originates from variations in density on effective Gaussian smoothing scales much smaller than 12 h-1 Mpc. We find that galaxy morphology varies both with density measured on an effective Gaussian smoothing scale of 4.7 h-1 Mpc and with distance to the nearest bright galaxy, particularly when the distance is about 0.2 h-1 Mpc. We propose as a mechanism that the morphology of galaxies in galaxy systems is transformed by the tidal force.
The Effects of Rope Training on Lymphocyte ABCA1 Expression, Plasma ApoA-I and HDL-c in Boy Adolescents

Background Early obesity and its transfer to the adulthood, increases likelihood incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABCA1) as a member of the ABC transporters family plays a crucial role in reverse cholesterol transport and CAD prevention. Objective The current study aimed to investigate ABCA1 expression in lymphocytes, plasma apolipoprotein A-I and HDL-C in response to eight-week interval endurance rope training in overweight and obese boy adolescents. Patients and Methods Thirty students (17.3 ± 1.1 yr, 85.73 ± 11.68 kg and 28.41 ± 2.36 kg / m²) volunteered and were randomly assigned into training (n= 15) and control (n = 15) groups. Exercise protocol was interval endurance rope training (8 wk, 4 d/wk and 40 min/d). Cell hemolysis and sensitive Elisa method was used for Lymphocyte ABAC1 protein expression.t-test was employed. Results The independent-samples T-Test results showed that after 8 weeks IERT, the levels of lymphocyte ABCA1 expression (P = 0/001) and VO2max(P = 0/001) significantly increased and plasma levels of TG (P = 0.017), TC (P = 0.001), LDL-c/HDL-c (P = 0.026),TC/HDL-c (P = 0.002) and measures of BF% (P = 0/015) and BMI (P = 0.042) as anthropometric indicators significantly decreased. Changes of other variables such as increase in ApoA-I, HDL-c and decrease in LDL-c, body weight, were not significant. Conclusions The findings of this study proved that eight-week interval endurance rope training can have positive effects on lymphocyte ABCA1 protein expression (as gatekeeper of reverse cholesterol process) and lipid profiles among overweight and obese boy adolescents.
Fear of crime as a way of thinking, feeling and acting : an integrated approach to measurement and a theoretical examination of psychological distance and risk construal

This thesis constitutes a criminological study of the fear of crime as a public reaction to crime and victimization. Its key objectives are to enhance the theorization of the fear of crime, and to develop an integrated methodological approach to its empirical exploration. To achieve the former, the construal-level theory of psychological distance (CLT) is applied to the study of the fear of crime. To achieve the latter, observational and experimental methodologies are combined to evaluate empirically the research hypotheses. The starting premise of the CLT approach to the fear of crime is that people do not often experience crime directly in their daily lives as victims; yet, they are capable of expressing reactions to the risk of crime. The current thesis explores cognitive processes that help transcend the ‘crime-free’ ‘here and now’ to enable experience and expression of fear of crime reactions to the distal event of crime. Based on the CLT, two such processes are examined. First, psychological distance from crime, which relates to how far in time, space, social distance and probability, crime is psychologically experienced to occur. Second, crime construal, which relates to the abstractness or concreteness of mental representations of crime. Overall, the findings indicate that experiencing crime as psychologically distant, and mentally representing it abstractly rather than concretely ‘cool off’ fear of crime reactions. One of the main theoretical implications of the current work is that adopting a theory-driven interdisciplinary perspective in the study of the fear of crime improves its theorization. The key methodological implication is that such a perspective renders plausible the use of integrated research. The key policy implication of this work is that its findings can be conducive to the development of public discourses of crime and justice, crime-related narratives and strategies for the public communication ofcrime that keep people informed about crime, but ‘free from fear’.
Influence of Freeze-Thaw Stress on the Structure and Function of Microbial Communities and Denitrifying Populations in Soil

ABSTRACT Microbial N2O release during the course of thawing of soil was investigated in model experiment focusing on denitrification, since freeze-thaw has been shown to cause significant physical and biological changes in soil, including a surge of N2O and CO2. The origin of these is still controversially discussed. The increase in denitrification after thawing may be attributed to the diffusion of organic substrates newly available to denitrifiers from disrupted soil aggregates, leading to an increase in microbial activity. Laboratory experiments with upper soil layer of a grassland were conducted in microcosms for real-time gas measurements during the entire phase of freeze and thaw. Shifts in microbial communities were evident on resolution of 16S and 18S rRNA genes and transcripts by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Microbial expression profiles were compared by RNA-arbitrarily primed PCR technique and subsequent resolution of amplified products on acrylamide gels. Differences in expression levels of periplasmic nitrate reductase gene (napA) and cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase (nirS) were observed by most-probable-number-reverse transcription-PCR, with higher levels of expression occurring just after thawing began, followed by a decrease. napA and nirS DGGE profiles showed no change in banding patterns with fingerprints derived from DNA, whereas those derived from cDNA showed a clear succession of denitrifying bacteria, with the most complex pattern being observed at the end of the N2O surge. This study provides insight into the structural community changes and expression dynamics of denitrifiers as a result of freeze-thaw stress. Also, the results presented here support the belief that the gas fluxes observed during thawing is a result of freezing initiated high microbial activity.
“Anyone free to chat?” Using technological features to elicit quality support online

ABSTRACT This study examines how support seekers can integrate verbal and nonverbal cues in social network sites (SNSs) to elicit quality support from others. Building from sensitive interaction systems theory and verbal person centeredness (VPC), participants (N = 579) evaluated a SNS profile that contained manipulated levels of directness in status updates used to seek support and nonverbal emotional expression in profile pictures. To capture the transaction of support, participants provided supportive messages in public and private conditions that were coded for their level of VPC. Negative emotional cues in profile pictures increased VPC in private messages, whereas directness in status updates negatively predicted VPC in private messages. Participants produced messages with higher levels of VPC after they viewed profiles that incorporated more features to disclose distress effectively. Broadly, this study addresses whether the content people post on SNS profiles shapes the quality of the supportive messages they receive.
A High-Resolution Mosaic of Molecular Gas in Stephan’s Quintet

We present high-resolution 12CO J = 1-0 observations of the molecular gas in the Hickson compact group Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92). Our observations consist of multiple pointings and mosaics covering all the regions where CO and star formation have been detected. Within the 100'' field of view centered on the easternmost tidal tail, we detect three clumps of emission that may be partially resolved at our resolution of 8''; two of these are new detections not previously seen in ISM studies of this region. Two of these clumps lie in the optical tidal tail, while the third lies to the southeast and is coincident with a large H I feature, but it does not correspond to any features at other wavelengths. We also tentatively detect CO emission from the star-forming regions in the "old tail" corresponding to recent star formation activity detected in recent UV and Hα observations. Observations of the rest of the compact group do not show detections, even though strong emission was detected with single-dish telescopes, which suggests that the CO emission originates from a diffuse molecular gas cloud or from at least three separate clumps with separations greater than around 3 kpc.
Mechanism of Action of Recombinant Acc-Royalisin from Royal Jelly of Asian Honeybee against Gram-Positive Bacteria

The antibacterial activity of royalisin, an antimicrobial peptide from the royal jelly produced by honeybees, has been addressed extensively. However, its mechanism of action remains unclear. In this study, a recombinant royalisin, RAcc-royalisin from the royal jelly of Asian honeybee Apis cerana cerana, was expressed by fusing with glutathione S-transferase (GST) in Escherichia coli BL21, isolated and purified. The agar dilution assays with inhibition zone showed that RAcc-royalisin, similar to nisin, inhibits the growth of Gram-positive bacteria. The antibacterial activity of RAcc-royalisin was associated with its concentration, and was weakened by heat treatment ranging from 55°C to 85°C for 15 min. Both RAcc-royalisin and nisin exhibited the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 62.5 µg/ml, 125 µg/ml, and 250 µg/ml against Gram-positive bacterial strains, Bacillus subtilis and Micrococcus flavus and Staphyloccocus aureus in the microplate assay, respectively. However, RAcc-royalisin did not show antimicrobial activity against tested Gram-negative bacterial and fungal strains. The antibacterial activity of RAcc-royalisin agrees well with the decrease in bacterial cell hydrophobicity, the leakage of 260-nm absorbing materials, and the observation by transmission electron microscopy, all indicating that RAcc-royalisin induced the disruption and dysfunction of cell walls and membranes. This is the first report detailing the antibacterial mechanism of royalisin against Gram-positive bacteria, and provides insight into the application of recombinant royalisin in food and pharmaceutical industries as an antimicrobial agent.
Unintentional, non-fatal drowning of children: US trends and racial/ethnic disparities

Objective The current study aimed to better understand trends and risk factors associated with non-fatal drowning of infants and children in the USA using two large, national databases. Methods A secondary data analysis was conducted using the National Inpatient Sample and the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample databases. The analytic sample (n=19 403) included children <21 years of age who had a diagnosis code for near-drowning/non-fatal drowning. Descriptive, χ2 and analysis of variance techniques were applied, and incidence rates were calculated per 100 000 population. Results Non-fatal drowning incidence has remained relatively stable from 2006 to 2011. In general, the highest rates of non-fatal drowning occurred in swimming pools and in children from racial/ethnic minorities. However, when compared with non-Hispanic Caucasian children, children from racial/ethnic minorities were more likely to drown in natural waterways than in swimming pools. Despite the overall lower rate of non-fatal drowning among non-Hispanic Caucasian children, the highest rate of all non-fatal drowning was for non-Hispanic Caucasian children aged 0–4 years in swimming pools. Children who were admitted to inpatient facilities were younger, male and came from families with lower incomes. Conclusions Data from two large US national databases show lack of progress in preventing and reducing non-fatal drowning admissions from 2006 to 2011. Discrepancies are seen in the location of drowning events and demographic characteristics. New policies and interventions are needed, and tailoring approaches by age and race/ethnicity may improve their effectiveness.
I feel your pain: Emotional closeness modulates neural responses to empathically experienced rejection

Empathy is generally thought of as the ability to share the emotional experiences of others. In scientific terms, this is usually operationalized as an ability to vicariously feel others' mental and emotional experiences. Supporting this account, research demonstrates that watching others experience physical pain activates similar brain regions to the actual experience of pain itself. First-hand experience of social rejection also activates this network. The current work extends these findings by examining whether the “pain” network is similarly implicated in witnessing rejection, and whether emotional closeness modulates this response. We provide evidence for each of these suppositions, demonstrating: (a) that the pain network is activated when watching a friend suffer social rejection, and (b) that interpersonal closeness with that friend modulates this response. Further, we found that the inferior frontal gyrus, critical for representing others' mental and emotional states, mediates the relationship between emotional closeness and neural responses to watching the rejection of a friend.
Assessment of the visual landscape quality based on the subjectivist paradigm to design the memorial garden

Gorsel peyzaj kalitesinin degerlendirilmesi, peyzaj ve kentsel projelerde yapilan calismalarin temel bir parcasidir. Peyzaj gorsel degerlendirmesi iki paradigma temelinde yurutulmustur; nesnelci ve oznelcil paradigmalar. Bu arastirma, oznelci veya psikolojik paradigmaya dayali bir peyzaj degerlendirmesi ornegidir. Arastirmanin amaci, seyirci acisindan manzara gorsel kalite algisini aciklamak ve onu anit bahce tasariminda kullanmaktir. Bu yazida, savas sirasinda (Iran ve Irak savasi) olusan uc temel butunsel kavram belirlenmis ve daha sonra peyzaj ogeleri icin bu kavramlari tanimlamalari, son sinif ogrencileri, peyzaj mimarligi bolumunden istenmistir. Daha sonra ogrencilerin algilamalarina gore sitenin uc hakim gorunumu derecelendirildi ve nihayet alanin imar edilmesi onerilmistir. Bu makale, peyzaj calismalarinda algi tabanli yaklasimlara ve sitenin mevcut manzarasinin spesifik kavramlarin kullanilmasi acisindan sahip olabilecegi firsatlara vurgulamistir. Bir sembolik veya anitsal mekanin tasarlanmasi icin, arazi kullanimlari hakkinda ve karar vermede manzara gorsel ogelerinin aktardigi algilamalar, etkileyici bir role sahiptir ve daha surdurulebilir ve dinamik bir anit alanina neden olacaktir.