Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Measure of State Persecutory Ideation for Experimental Studies

Experimental research is increasingly important in developing the understanding of paranoid thinking. An assessment measure of persecutory ideation is necessary for such work. We report the reliability and validity of the first state measure of paranoia: The State Social Paranoia Scale. The items in the measure conform to a recent definition in which persecutory thinking has the 2 elements of feared harm and perpetrator intent. The measure was tested with 164 nonclinical participants and 21 individuals at high risk of psychosis with attenuated positive symptoms. The participants experienced a social situation presented in virtual reality and completed the new measure. The State Social Paranoia Scale was found to have excellent internal reliability, adequate test-retest reliability, clear convergent validity as assessed by both independent interviewer ratings and self-report measures, and showed divergent validity with measures of positive and neutral thinking. The measure of paranoia in a recent social situation has good psychometric properties.
Channel Models for Multi-Level Cell Flash Memories Based on Empirical Error Analysis

We propose binary discrete parametric channel models for multi-level cell (MLC) flash memories that provide accurate error-correcting code (ECC) performance estimation by modeling the empirically observed error characteristics under program/erase cycling stress. Through a detailed empirical error characterization of 1X-nm and 2Y-nm MLC flash memory chips from two different vendors, we observe and characterize the overdispersion phenomenon in the number of bit errors per ECC frame. A well-studied channel model, such as the binary asymmetric channel model, is unable to provide accurate ECC performance estimation. Hence, we propose a channel model based on the beta-binomial probability distribution [2-beta-binomial (2-BBM) channel model], which is a good fit for the overdispersed empirical error characteristics, and show through statistical tests and simulation results for BCH, low density parity check, and polar codes, that the 2-BBM channel model provides accurate ECC performance estimation in MLC flash memories.
Role of Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling-1 In Murine Atherosclerosis

Background While the impact of inflammation as the substantial driving force of atherosclerosis has been investigated in detail throughout the years, the influence of negative regulators of pro-atherogenic pathways on plaque development has remained largely unknown. Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-1 potently restricts transduction of various inflammatory signals and, thereby modulates T-cell development, macrophage activation and dendritic cell maturation. Its role in atherogenesis, however has not been elucidated so far. Methods and Results Loss of SOCS-1 in the low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient murine model of atherosclerosis resulted in a complex, systemic and ultimately lethal inflammation with increased generation of Ly-6Chi monocytes and activated macrophages. Even short-term exposure of these mice to high-cholesterol dieting caused enhanced atherosclerotic plaque development with accumulation of M1 macrophages, Ly-6C positive cells and neutrophils. Conclusion Our data not only imply that SOCS-1 is athero-protective but also emphasize the fundamental, regulatory importance of SOCS-1 in inflammation-prone organisms.
Do fattening process and biological parameters affect the accumulation of metals in Atlantic bluefin tuna?

The objective of this study was to determine the current levels of heavy metals and trace elements in Atlantic bluefin tuna muscle tissues and how they are influenced by the fattening process and various life history parameters to ascertain whether the concentrations in muscle tissue exceed the maximum levels defined by the European Commission Decision and to evaluate the health risk posed by fish consumption. A total of 20 bluefin tuna reared in sea cages, ranging from 160 to 295 cm in length and from 80 to 540 kg in weight, were sampled from a bluefin tuna farm in the Ionian Sea. The condition factor K of each specimen was calculated and their age was estimated. Heavy metal and trace element (Hg, Zn, Fe and Cu) contents were determined in muscle tissue using cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry and flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The total Hg concentrations ranged from 0.28 to 1.28 mg kg–1 w/w, Zn from 5.81 to 76.37 mg kg–1 w/w, Fe from 12.14 to 39.58 mg kg–1 w/w, and Cu from 0.36 to 0.94 mg kg–1 w/w. Only 5% of the muscle samples of tuna contained Hg above the maximum level laid down by the European Commission Decision. Moreover, 15% of the muscle samples contained Zn above the maximum level, while Fe and Cu concentrations were within the acceptable tolerable guideline values. The reared bluefin tuna had lower concentrations of Hg than the wild ones from the Mediterranean Sea. Hg and Fe concentrations showed a positive relationship with size and age of bluefin tuna, whereas negative relationships were found for the concentrations of Zn and Cu. The estimated dietary intake values of the analysed metals were mostly below the derived guidelines.
Improved Pointwise Iteration-Complexity of A Regularized ADMM and of a Regularized Non-Euclidean HPE Framework

This paper describes a regularized variant of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for solving linearly constrained convex programs. It is shown that the pointwise iteration-complexity of the new method is better than the corresponding one for the standard ADMM method and that, up to a logarithmic term, is identical to the ergodic iteration-complexity of the latter method. Our analysis is based on first presenting and establishing the pointwise iteration-complexity of a regularized non-Euclidean hybrid proximal extragradient framework whose error condition at each iteration includes both a relative error and a summable error. It is then shown that the new method is a special instance of the latter framework where the sequence of summable errors is identically zero when the ADMM stepsize is less than one or a nontrivial sequence when the stepsize is in the interval [1, (1 +\sqrt{5})/2).
The FloTrac™ System—Measurement of Stroke Volume and the Assessment of Dynamic Fluid Loading

The FloTrac system was introduced in the United States by Edwards Lifesciences of Irvine, CA in April of 2005. As with other potentially competing systems which are discussed elsewhere within this publication, namely PiCCO and LiDCO, this system has been marketed as a device that can provide accurate and reliable measurements of cardiac output (CO) in a continuous fashion as well as calculations of systemic vascular resistance (SVR) and the dynamic parameter of stroke volume variation (SVV) (FloTrac System Brochure, Edwards Lifesciences, 2007). SVV, important for its ability to predict fluid responsiveness, is also discussed in detail elsewhere within this publication. The heart and soul of the FloTrac system is a proprietary software algorithm that analyzes characteristics of the arterial pressure waveform and uses this analysis along with patient-specific demographic information to determine blood flow. Obviously, not all elements of this algorithm have been revealed by Edwards Lifesciences so as to protect their product from competitors. However, the foundation of this algorithm has been made available by them and can be summarized as follows. (Case Study—‘‘Getting ml/beat from mmHg’’ Arterial
The Experimental Behavior of Steel Fiber Reinforced Polymer Retrofit Measures

Four 10" (254 mm) deep, 6" (152 mm) wide and 186" (4730 mm) long concrete beams having three #4 longitudinal steel reinforcing bars as primary flexural reinforcement, were retrofitted with steel fiber-reinforced polymer (SFRP). A commercially available 4.75 in. (121 mm) wide, 0.048 in. (1.2 mm) thick unidirectional steel fiber reinforced strip system was used along with a commercially available adhesive system. One beam was tested monotonically under simply supported conditions to failure. Three identical beams were tested under midpoint cyclic loading until fatigue-induced failure or 2,000,000 cycles. Any beam that survived 2,000,000 cycles was tested monotonically to failure. Results of the tests were compared to beams that were retrofitted with an equivalent amount of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) as determined by the axial stiffness of the material.The monotonic test revealed that the SFRP specimen showed comparable behavior when compared to the CFRP companion specimens in terms of ultimate load and deflection, general yield load, and deflection ductility. The SFRP specimen was shown to compare poorly in terms of debonding strain. One fatigue specimen achieved 2,000,000 cycles and was subsequently tested monotonically to failure. The behavior of the SFRP system degraded only slightly in terms of each parameter considered; thus it was apparent that SFRP systems may perform well under fatigue conditions. Debonding strains for the SFRP were still shown to be very low, indicating that the guidance for the mitigation of CFRP specimens may not be appropriate to apply directly to SFRP specimens.Two of the retrofit fatigue specimens failed due to fatigue-induced rupture of the internal reinforcement prior to achieving 2,000,000 cycles. Observations include stress range drift and degradation of secant stiffness with cycling. Reinforcing bar stresses at the final cycle were noted to increase significantly from the initial cycle. The SFRP was noted to increase the secant stiffness of the retrofit specimens and slow the rate of decay of stiffness when compared to the control fatigue specimen. When results were compared to the CFRP companion specimens, it was apparent that SFRP is an acceptable retrofit and is in some ways superior in terms of fatigue.
Fall Velocities of Hydrometeors in the Atmosphere: Refinements to a Continuous Analytical Power Law.

This paper extends the previous research of the authors on the unified representation of fall velocities for both liquid and crystalline particles as a power law over the entire size range of hydrometeors observed in the atmosphere. The power-law coefficients are determined as continuous analytical functions of the Best or Reynolds number or of the particle size. Here, analytical expressions are formulated for the turbulent corrections to the Reynolds number and to the power-law coefficients that describe the continuous transition from the laminar to the turbulent flow around a falling particle. A simple analytical expression is found for the correction of fall velocities for temperature and pressure. These expressions and the resulting fall velocities are compared with observations and other calculations for a range of ice crystal habits and sizes. This approach provides a continuous analytical power-law description of the terminal velocities of liquid and crystalline hydrometeors with sufficiently high accuracy and can be directly used in bin-resolving models or incorporated into parameterizations for cloud- and large-scale models and remote sensing techniques.
Frequency-Dependent Representation of Reinforcement-Related Information in the Human Medial and Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a commonly observed potential in scalp electroencephalography (EEG) studies related to the valence of feedback about a subject's performance. This potential classically manifests as a negative deflection in medial frontocentral EEG contacts following negative feedback. Recent work has shown prominence of theta power in the spectral composition of the FRN, placing it within the larger class of “frontal midline theta” cognitive control signals. Although the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is thought to be the cortical generator of the FRN, conclusive data regarding its origin and propagation are lacking. Here we examine intracranial electrophysiology from the human medial and lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) to better understand the anatomical localization and communication patterns of the FRN. We show that the FRN is evident in both low- and high-frequency local field potentials (LFPs) recorded on electrocorticography. The FRN is larger in medial compared with lateral PFC, and coupling between theta band phase and high-frequency LFP power is also greater in medial PFC. Using Granger causality and conditional mutual information analyses, we provide evidence that feedback-related information propagates from medial to lateral PFC, and that this information transfer oscillates with theta-range periodicity. These results provide evidence for the dACC as the cortical source of the FRN, provide insight into the local computation of frontal midline theta, and have implications for reinforcement learning models of cognitive control. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using intracranial electrophysiology in humans, this work addresses questions about a frequently studied feedback-related electroencephalographic signal, illuminating anatomical and functional properties of the representation of feedback-related reinforcement during decision-making across the medial to lateral extent of the human prefrontal cortex.
Goal Commitment in Enterprise System Learning: an Exploratory Examination of its Antecedents and Consequence

The success of enterprise system (ES), to a great extent, depends on users’ learning outcomes, which in turn, are determined by motivation and cognitive ability. Given the central role played by motivation, this paper applies the goal-setting theory and the expectancy theory to investigate the antecedents and consequence of users’ commitment to the goal of learning how to effectively apply ES. In particular, we focus on the effects of workplace environmental factors (i.e., work overload, leader member exchange and IT support) on goal commitment, which leads to user competence. In addition to the direct, main effects, we also explore how IT support and socialization tactics moderate the relationships between antecedents and goal commitment and between goal commitment and user competence, respectively. The research model is largely supported by data collected in a two-wave survey. Theoretical contribution and implications of this study are discussed.
Lower prevalence of epsilon 4 allele of apolipoprotein E gene in healthy, longer-lived individuals of Hellenic origin.

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and especially its epsilon4 isoform, is considered a risk factor predisposing to coronary heart disease. We hypothesized that the absence of epsilon4 allele offers a better chance for longer life. So we compared the prevalence of ApoE genotypes in 80 healthy aged individuals (HAI) (>80 years) and 391 Greek adults (median age 43 years) with ApoE genotype distribution consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (chi(2) = 5.93, p >. 05). ApoE genotypes were comparable in both groups with the exception of E3/3 and E3/4, which were significantly higher (87.50% vs 75.99%, p =.025) and lower (5.00% vs 13.19%, p =.036), respectively, in HAI. The epsilon2 and epsilon3 allele frequencies were not different between the groups. The epsilon4 allele was significantly less frequent in HAI compared to controls (3.1% vs 8.58%, p =.020). Our results indicate an unfavorable effect of epsilon4 allele on longevity that may be attenuated by environmental and/or other genetic factors.
Improving Data Driven Wordclass Tagging by System Combination

In this paper we examine how the differences in modelling between different data driven systems performing the same NLP task can be exploited to yield a higher accuracy than the best individual system. We do this by means of an experiment involving the task of morpho-syntactic wordclass tagging. Four well-known tagger generator (Hidden Markov Model, Memory-Based, Transformation Rules and Maximum Entropy) are trained on the same corpus data. After comparison, their outputs are combined using several voting strategies and second stage classifiers. All combination taggers outperform their best component, with the best combination showing a 19.1% lower error rate than the best indvidual tagger.
Compatible Embedding for 2D Shape Animation

We present new algorithms for the compatible embedding of 2D shapes. Such embeddings offer a convenient way to interpolate shapes having complex, detailed features. Compared to existing techniques, our approach requires less user input, and is faster, more robust, and simpler to implement, making it ideal for interactive use in practical applications. Our new approach consists of three parts. First, our boundary matching algorithm locates salient features using the perceptually motivated principles of scale-space and uses these as automatic correspondences to guide an elastic curve matching algorithm. Second, we simplify boundaries while maintaining their parametric correspondence and the embedding of the original shapes. Finally, we extend the mapping to shapes' interiors via a new compatible triangulation algorithm. The combination of our algorithms allows us to demonstrate 2D shape interpolation with instant feedback. The proposed algorithms exhibit a combination of simplicity, speed, and accuracy that has not been achieved in previous work.
A Stock-Flow Matching Approach to Evaluation of Public Training Program in a High Unemployment Environment

Monthly panel (1998-2003) data from regional labour offices in Latvia are used to analyse the matching process in a high unemployment-low labour demand environment and to evaluate the impact of active labour market policy programmes on outflows from unemployment. Results suggest that the hiring process is driven by a stock-flow rather than by a traditional matching function: the stock of unemployed at the beginning of the month and flow of vacancies arriving during the month are the key determinants of outflows from unemployment to employment, whereas stock of vacancies and inflow of unemployed do not play any significant role. We find positive and significant effect of training programmes on outflows from unemployment to employment, thus providing strong evidence against cuts in training expenditures. Copyright 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation 2007 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
The Musical Influence on People's Micromotion when Standing Still in Groups

The paper presents results from an experiment in which 91 subjects stood still on the floor for 6 minutes, with the first 3 minutes in silence, followed by 3 minutes with music. The head motion of the subjects was captured using an infra-red optical system. The results show that the average quantity of motion of standstill is 6.5 mm/s, and that the subjects moved more when listening to music (6.6 mm/s) than when standing still in silence (6.3 mm/s). This result confirms the belief that music induces motion, even when people try to stand still.
Following Cancer Prevention Guidelines Reduces Risk of Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, and All-Cause Mortality

Background: Few studies have evaluated the combined impact of following recommended lifestyle behaviors on cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality, and most included tobacco avoidance. Because 80% of Americans are never or former smokers, it is important to consider the impact of other recommended behaviors. Methods: In 1992 and 1993, 111,966 nonsmoking men and women in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort completed diet and lifestyle questionnaires. A score ranging from 0 to 8 points was computed to reflect adherence to the American Cancer Society cancer prevention guidelines on body mass index, physical activity, diet, and alcohol consumption, with 8 points representing optimal adherence. Multivariable-adjusted relative risks (RR) of death and 95% CI were computed by Cox proportional hazard regression. Results: During 14 years of follow-up, 10,369 men and 6,613 women died. The RR of all-cause mortality was lower for participants with high (7, 8) versus low (0–2) scores (men, RR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.53–0.62; women, RR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.52–0.64). Inverse associations were found with CVD mortality (men, RR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.45–0.59; women, RR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.35–0.51) and cancer mortality (men, RR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.61–0.80; women, RR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.65–0.89). Similar associations, albeit not all statistically significant, were observed for never and former smokers. Conclusion: Adherence to cancer prevention guidelines for obesity, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption is associated with lower risk of death from cancer, CVD, and all causes in nonsmokers. Impact: Beyond tobacco avoidance, following other cancer prevention guidelines may substantially lower risk of premature mortality in older adults. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(6); 1089–97. ©2011 AACR.
Ultrastructure of Dendritic Spines: Correlation Between Synaptic and Spine Morphologies

Dendritic spines are critical elements of cortical circuits, since they establish most excitatory synapses. Recent studies have reported correlations between morphological and functional parameters of spines. Specifically, the spine head volume is correlated with the area of the postsynaptic density (PSD), the number of postsynaptic receptors and the ready-releasable pool of transmitter, whereas the length of the spine neck is proportional to the degree of biochemical and electrical isolation of the spine from its parent dendrite. Therefore, the morphology of a spine could determine its synaptic strength and learning rules. To better understand the natural variability of neocortical spine morphologies, we used a combination of gold-toned Golgi impregnations and serial thin-section electron microscopy and performed three-dimensional reconstructions of spines from layer 2/3 pyramidal cells from mouse visual cortex. We characterized the structure and synaptic features of 144 completed reconstructed spines, and analyzed their morphologies according to their positions. For all morphological parameters analyzed, spines exhibited a continuum of variability, without clearly distinguishable subtypes of spines or clear dependence of their morphologies on their distance to the soma. On average, the spine head volume was correlated strongly with PSD area and weakly with neck diameter, but not with neck length. The large morphological diversity suggests an equally large variability of synaptic strength and learning rules.