Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Density Profiles of the Dark Matter Halo Are Not Universal

We perform a series of high-resolution N-body simulations designed to examine the density profiles of dark matter halos. From 12 simulated halos ranging in mass from 2 × 1012 to 5 × 1014 h-1 M⊙ (represented by ∼1 million particles within the virial radius), we find a clear systematic correlation between the halo mass and the slope of the density profile at 1% of the virial radius, in addition to the variations of the slope among halos of similar mass. More specifically, the slope is ∼-1.5, -1.3, and -1.1 for galaxy-, group-, and cluster-mass halos, respectively. While we confirm the earlier simulation results that the inner slope is steeper than the universal profile originally proposed by Navarro, Frenk, & White, this mass dependence is inconsistent with several analytical arguments attempting to link the inner slope with the primordial index of the fluctuation spectrum. Thus, we conclude that the dark matter density profiles, especially in the inner region, are not universal.
The influence of the pleiotropic action of erythropoietin and its derivatives on nephroprotection

Erythropoietin (EPO) is traditionally described as a hematopoietic cytokine or growth hormone regulating proliferation, differentiation, and survival of erythroid progenitors. The use of EPO in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was a milestone achievement in the treatment of anemia. However, EPO involves some degree of risk, which increases with increasing hemoglobin levels. A growing number of studies have assessed the renoprotective effects of EPO in acute kidney injury (AKI) or CKD. Analysis of the biological effects of erythropoietin and pathophysiology of CKD in these studies suggests that treatment with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) may exert renoprotection by pleiotropic actions on several targets and directly or indirectly slow the progression of CKD. By reducing ischemia and oxidative stress or strengthening anti-apoptotic processes, EPO may prevent the development of interstitial fibrosis and the destruction of tubular cells. Furthermore, it could have a direct protective impact on the integrity of the interstitial capillary network through its effects on endothelial cells and promotion of vascular repair, or modulate inflammation response. Thus, it is biologically plausible to suggest that correcting anemia with ESAs could slow the progression of CKD. The aim of this article is to discuss these possible renoprotection mechanisms and provide a comprehensive overview of erythropoietin and its derivatives.
Genetic variations in EGF and EGFR and glioblastoma outcome

Few prognostic factors have been associated with glioblastoma survival. We analyzed a complete tagging of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) and EGF receptor (EGFR) gene polymorphisms as potential prognostic factors. Thirty tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in EGF and 89 tagging SNPs in EGFR were analyzed for association with survival in 176 glioblastoma cases. Validation analyses were performed for 4 SNPs in a set of 638 glioblastoma patients recruited at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). Three hundred and seventy-four glioblastoma patients aged 50 years or older at diagnosis were subanalyzed to enrich for de novo arising glioblastoma. We found 7 SNPs in haplotype 4 in EGF that were associated with prognosis in glioblastoma patients. In EGFR, 4 of 89 SNPs were significantly associated with prognosis but judged as false positives. Four of the significantly associated EGF polymorphisms in haplotype block 4 were validated in a set from MDACC; however, none of the associations were clearly replicated. rs379644 had a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.19 (0.94–1.51) in the whole population with 18.6 months survival in the risk genotype compared with 24.5 in the reference category. As the median age differed slightly between the 2 study sets, the MDACC cases aged 50 or older at diagnosis were analyzed separately (rs379644, HR 1.32 [0.99–1.78]), which is marginally significant and partially validates our findings. This study is, to our knowledge, the first to perform a comprehensive tagging of the EGF and EGFR genes, and the data give some support that EGF polymorphisms might be associated with poor prognosis. Further confirmation in independent data sets of prospective studies is necessary to establish EGF as prognostic risk factor.
Synaptic Dysbindin-1 Reductions in Schizophrenia Occur in an Isoform-Specific Manner Indicating Their Subsynaptic Location

Background An increasing number of studies report associations between variation in DTNBP1, a top candidate gene in schizophrenia, and both the clinical symptoms of the disorder and its cognitive deficits. DTNBP1 encodes dysbindin-1, reduced levels of which have been found in synaptic fields of schizophrenia cases. This study determined whether such synaptic reductions are isoform-specific. Methodology/Principal Findings Using Western blotting of tissue fractions, we first determined the synaptic localization of the three major dysbindin-1 isoforms (A, B, and C). All three were concentrated in synaptosomes of multiple brain areas, including auditory association cortices in the posterior half of the superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and the hippocampal formation (HF). Tests on the subsynaptic tissue fractions revealed that each isoform is predominantly, if not exclusively, associated with synaptic vesicles (dysbindin-1B) or with postsynaptic densities (dysbindin-1A and -1C). Using Western blotting on pSTG (n = 15) and HF (n = 15) synaptosomal fractions from schizophrenia cases and their matched controls, we discovered that synaptic dysbindin-1 is reduced in an isoform-specific manner in schizophrenia without changes in levels of synaptophysin or PSD-95. In pSTG, about 92% of the schizophrenia cases displayed synaptic dysbindin-1A reductions averaging 48% (p = 0.0007) without alterations in other dysbindin-1 isoforms. In the HF, by contrast, schizophrenia cases displayed normal levels of synaptic dysbindin-1A, but 67% showed synaptic reductions in dysbindin-1B averaging 33% (p = 0.0256), while 80% showed synaptic reductions in dysbindin-1C averaging 35% (p = 0.0171). Conclusions/Significance Given the distinctive subsynaptic localization of dysbindin-1A, -1B, and -1C across brain regions, the observed pSTG reductions in dysbindin-1A are postsynaptic and may promote dendritic spine loss with consequent disruption of auditory information processing, while the noted HF reductions in dysbindin-1B and -1C are both presynaptic and postsynaptic and could promote deficits in spatial working memory.
Conquering Math Anxiety

Mathematics is often perceived as a vigorous and demanding subject, and many students treat it as such, developing high affective filters which inhibit the process of learning math. This adverse reaction is the origin of math anxiety, a critical issue which plagues fifty percent of the U.S. population (Boaler, 2012). The purpose of this study is to promote math’s value and lessen negative feelings towards the subject by implementing carefully structured, real-life warmups in the elementary classroom. This program evaluation utilizes a qualitative research method to explore what teachers should consider when incorporating real-life applications in math pedagogy. Student reactions to the warmups are analyzed through observation reflections. The findings of this study have revealed several considerations for educators when teaching real-life math: ineffective elements, ruminations, elements up for discussion, and successful elements.
Undesirable effects of threatening climate change information: A cross-cultural study

Why is the fight against climate change so challenging? Research suggests that climate change information may trigger symbolic defense strategies such as derogative outgroup behaviors (e.g., ethnocentrism) instead of direct attempts to address the problem itself (e.g., proenvironmental behavior). Ingroup affirmation may help decrease symbolic responses. We conducted a 2 (Affirmation: ingroup vs. no affirmation) × 2 (Message: threat vs. control) × 2 (Nation: Austria vs. Argentina) experiment (N = 243) to assess responses to climate change information (direct and symbolic) in participants from individualist and collectivist cultures. Participants responded with higher levels of ethnocentrism and a lower intention to engage in proenvironmental behavior after reading climate change information. This effect was significant in Austria. Using ingroup affirmation as an intervention tended to foster rather than reduce ethnocentrism. Thus, across cultures people resolve climate change threat in symbolic ways rather than by trying to address the problem itself.
Alternative patterns of family life in modern societies.

This is a collection of papers by various authors examining aspects of recent developments affecting the family and alternative family models. It is a product of a seminar held in Israel in June 1986 and is the result of a cooperative venture between the Italian Institute for Population Research of the National Council of Research in Rome and the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education in the School of Education of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The 28 papers are presented under subject headings that concern construction and reconstruction of family boundaries variations in structure and relationships within the family and negotiation of mutual rights and obligations between family and society. The geographical focus is generally on developed countries.
Coordinate Based Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Data; False Discovery Control and Diagnostics

Coordinate based meta-analysis (CBMA) is widely used to find regions of consistent activation across fMRI studies that have been selected for their functional relevance to a given hypothesis. Only reported coordinates (foci), and a model of their spatial uncertainty, are used in the analysis. Results are clusters of foci where multiple studies have reported in the same spatial region, indicating functional relevance. There are several published methods that perform the analysis in a voxel-wise manner, resulting in around 105 statistical tests, and considerable emphasis placed on controlling the risk of type 1 statistical error. Here we address this issue by dramatically reducing the number of tests, and by introducing a new false discovery rate control: the false cluster discovery rate (FCDR). FCDR is particularly interpretable and relevant to the results of CBMA, controlling the type 1 error by limiting the proportion of clusters that are expected under the null hypothesis. We also introduce a data diagnostic scheme to help ensure quality of the analysis, and demonstrate its use in the example studies. We show that we control the false clusters better than the widely used ALE method by performing numerical experiments, and that our clustering scheme results in more complete reporting of structures relevant to the functional task.
Adaptive impedance matching for magnetically coupled resonators

For high quality factor magnetically coupled resonator wireless power systems, constant wireless power transfer efficiency can be achieved over a greater range and higher efficiency than an inductively coupled system. However, as the distance varies between two near-field resonators, the input and output impedances to the resonators change. Therefore, in order to achieve constant efficiency, the resonator input impedance must be adaptively matched to the source impedance of the transmit resonator and the load impedance of the output device. Previous techniques have demonstrated adaptive frequency tuning control algorithms to track the resonant peaks. However, government regulations strictly limit the radiating electric field strength of wireless applications outside specific bandwidths which will be exceeded by these frequency tuning algorithms. Adaptive impedance matching (AIM) networks automatically change the input and output impedances in order to maintain maximum wireless power transfer efficiency. In this paper, the input impedance is characterized for a four-element resonant wireless power system. Two algorithms are presented to determine the component values for any adaptive impedance matching network topology to achieve constant wireless power transfer efficiency at a single frequency. These techniques are demonstrated and verified with a π-match network.
Scheduling for energy efficiency and fault tolerance in hard real-time systems

This paper studies the dilemma between fault tolerance and energy efficiency in frame-based real-time systems. Given a set of K tasks to be executed on a system that supports L voltage levels, the proposed heuristic-based scheduling technique minimizes the energy consumption of tasks execution when faults are absent, and preserves feasibility under the worst case of fault occurrences. The proposed technique first finds out the optimal solution in a comparable system that supports continuous voltage scaling, then converts the solution to the original system. The runtime complexity is only (LK2). Experimental results show that the proposed approach produces near-optimal results in polynomial time.
Virtual reshaping and invisibility in obstacle scattering

We consider reshaping an obstacle virtually by using transformation optics in acoustic and electromagnetic scattering. Among the general virtual reshaping results, the virtual minification and virtual magnification in particular are studied. Stability estimates are derived for scattering amplitude in terms of the diameter of a small obstacle, which implies that the limiting case for minification corresponds to a perfect cloaking, i.e., the obstacle is invisible to detection.
Psychological collectivism in youth athletes on individual sport teams

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether psychological collectivism could predict enjoyment and intentions to return in athletes on individual sport teams. In addition, structural interdependence and age were used as moderator variables for the proposed relationships. A total of 142 youth (Mage = 14.44 years; SD = 1.63; 62% female) completed questionnaires at two data-collection periods (T1 – psychological collectivism, structural interdependence, and age; T2 – enjoyment and intentions to return), and the results indicated that psychological collectivism positively predicted both enjoyment and intentions to return. Also, task interdependence significantly moderated the relationship between psychological collectivism and enjoyment (b = .14, t(137) = −1.90, p = . 06) and intentions to return (b = −.17, t(137) = −2.07, p < . 05). Specifically, in situations where athletes were required to work together during competition (e.g. relays), athletes’ collectivistic orientation had a stronger relationship with both enjoyment and intentions to return. Similarly, among older athletes, collectivism had a stronger positive relationship with intentions to return (b = .05, t(138) = 2.04, p < . 05). These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.
Living with Hogs in Iowa: The Impact of Livestock Facilities on Rural Residential Property Values

We estimated a hedonic model to explain variations in residential sales price with standard house attributes, such as number of bedrooms and square feet of living space, as well as the effects of distance and density of livestock feeding operations. We find that livestock operations have an overall statistically significant effect on property values. Predicted negative effects are largest for properties that are downwind and close to livestock operations. In addition, feeding operations that are moderate in size have more impact than do large-scale operations, most likely reflecting age, type, and management practices of the moderate-sized operations. (JEL Q12, Q15, R21)
Promoting participation in physical activity using framed messages: an application of prospect theory.

OBJECTIVES Messages designed to motivate participation in physical activity usually emphasize the benefits of physical activity (gain-framed) as well as the costs of inactivity (loss-framed). The framing implications of prospect theory suggest that the effectiveness of these messages could be enhanced by providing gain-framed information only. We compared the effectiveness of gain-, loss-, and mixed-framed messages for promoting moderate to vigorous physical activity. DESIGN Randomized trial. METHOD Sedentary, healthy callers to the US National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (N=322) received gain-, loss-, or mixed-framed messages on three occasions (baseline, Week 1, and Week 5). Social cognitive variables and self-reported physical activity were assessed at baseline, Week 2, and Week 9. Separate regression analyses were conducted to examine message effects at each assessment point. RESULTS At Week 2, gain- and mixed-framed messages resulted in stronger intentions and greater self-efficacy than loss-framed messages. At Week 9, gain-framed messages resulted in greater physical activity participation than loss- or mixed-framed messages. Social cognitive variables at Week 2 did not mediate the Week 9 framing effects on physical activity participation. CONCLUSIONS Using gain-framed messages exclusively may be a means of increasing the efficacy of physical activity materials.
Patterns of Social Ties, Trust, and Participation after the Fall of the Iron Curtain: New Findings from Central and Southeast European Countries

Twenty-five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, more than forty scholars from Central and Southeast Europe (CSE) came together at the University of Graz in Austria to take stock of the social changes that have been going on since 1989/90. The conference in 2014 was the starting point of this issue of the International Journal of Sociology, which covers a wide range of topics: patterns of social networks, social and institutional trust and political participation as well as wage dynamics of East–West commuters. This introduction outlines basic data and theories on the economic and democratic transition in CSE to serve as a frame for the articles presented in this issue. They are country case studies from Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia and country-comparative studies dealing with East European-Austrian border regions. Altogether, the issue aims at raising international attention to new findings regarding social, structural, and sociocultural changes in the CSE countries.
Exponential Synchronization of Neural Networks With Discrete and Distributed Delays Under Time-Varying Sampling

This paper investigates the problem of master-slave synchronization for neural networks with discrete and distributed delays under variable sampling with a known upper bound on the sampling intervals. An improved method is proposed, which captures the characteristic of sampled-data systems. Some delay-dependent criteria are derived to ensure the exponential stability of the error systems, and thus the master systems synchronize with the slave systems. The desired sampled-data controller can be achieved by solving a set of linear matrix inequalitys, which depend upon the maximum sampling interval and the decay rate. The obtained conditions not only have less conservatism but also have less decision variables than existing results. Simulation results are given to show the effectiveness and benefits of the proposed methods.
The Social Life of “Scaffolds”

Technologies for enhancement of the human body historically have taken the form of an apparatus: a technological device inserted in, or appended to, the human body. The margins of these devices were clearly discernible and materially circumscribed, allowing the distinction between the corporeality of the human body and the “machine” to remain both ontologically and materially secure. This dualism has performed some important work for human rights theorists, regulators, and policy makers, enabling each to imagine they can establish where the human ends and the other begins. New regenerative products such as Infuse™ and Amplify™ subsist, as animal-derived scaffolds seeded with growth hormone implanted within a prosthetic device. They are much more materially complex, and their identities thus remain open to contestation. Following Lochlann Jain’s 2006 work, I thus attend closely to their social lives, particularly the stories that are told about them and how these are employed to construct understandings of what kind of a phenomenon they are: systemic drug, biologic, or combinatorial medical device. The significance of this classificatory project is revealed in the final section of this paper, which explores how these stories shape understandings of “product failure,” liability, and causation when such products overflow their material and ontological categorization and their recipients become disturbingly “more than human. ”
Modeling of microscale variations in methane fluxes

Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Technology to be presented with due permission for public examination and debate in Auditorium Abstract: The current study analyzes the different modes of variation in methane fluxes from different microsites of a boreal mire. The results emphasize the importance of microsite characteristics, water table and vegetation cover for methane fluxes. Water level affects the moisture and oxygen profiles in peat matrix which are reflected to methane production and oxidation rates and the corresponding microbial populations. Vascular plants promote methane production by providing substrates in the form of root exudates and fine root litter, enhance methane oxidation by transporting oxygen to water saturated peat layers and accelerate methane transport by liberating methane from peat to the atmosphere via the aerenchymous tissue. The model presented in this study connects the methane fluxes to the seasonal photosynthetic cycle of plants at the microsite level while the thermal and hydrological conditions in peat are used as an operational framework. Overall, the model dynamically combines the microbial processes in peat to changing environmental factors in the level of peatland ecosystem. Sensitivity analysis of the model reveals the importance of substrate supply to methane fluxes. Furthermore, the model outcome is sensitive to increased capability of the vascular plants to transport oxygen downwards. Lack of oxygen and partly methane keep methane oxidation at a very low level. Any changes in model parameters or environmental conditions that compensate for these lacks have a remarkable decreasing effect on simulated flux. Simulated methane flux decreases considerably if the duration of simulated dry period increases, threshold for a dramatic change lying between 4 and 6 weeks of drought. Increase in air temperature enhances methane flux especially if the effect of increased temperature on gross primary production is taken into account. Publications The dissertation consists of the present summary article and the following papers: [I] Kettunen, A. (2000). Short-term carbon dioxide exchange and environmental factors in a boreal fen.correlation analysis of the dynamics of methane emissions from a boreal peatland. Predicting variations in methane emissions from boreal peatlands through regression models. (1999). Methane production and oxidation potentials in relation to water table fluctuations in two boreal mires. The author is responsible for developing the theoretical framework of the study, and for the modeling and data analyses presented in all papers. She is also responsible for the interpretation of the results and has written all the …