Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Aging on ERP Components of Cognitive Control

As people age, their performance on tasks requiring cognitive control often declines. Such a decline is frequently explained as either a general or specific decline in cognitive functioning with age. In the context of hypotheses suggesting a general decline, it is often proposed that processing speed generally declines with age. A further hypothesis is that an age-related compensation mechanism is associated with a specific cognitive decline. One prominent theory is the compensation hypothesis, which proposes that deteriorated functions are compensated for by higher performing functions. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) in the context of a GO/NOGO task to examine the age-related changes observed during cognitive control in a large group of healthy subjects aged between 18 and 84 years. The main question we attempted to answer was whether we could find neurophysiological support for either a general decline in processing speed or a compensation strategy. The subjects performed a relatively demanding cued GO/NOGO task with similar omissions and reaction times across the five age groups. The ERP waves of cognitive control, such as N2, P3cue and CNV, were decomposed into latent components by means of a blind source separation method. Based on this decomposition, it was possible to more precisely delineate the different neurophysiological and psychological processes involved in cognitive control. These data support the processing speed hypothesis because the latencies of all cognitive control ERP components increased with age, by 8 ms per decade for the early components (<200 ms) and by 20 ms per decade for the late components. At the same time, the compensatory hypothesis of aging was also supported, as the amplitudes of the components localized in posterior brain areas decreased with age, while those localized in the prefrontal cortical areas increased with age in order to maintain performance on this simple task at a relatively stable level.
Arc-Fault Recognition Based on BP Neural Network

The back-propagation algorithm has been used widely as a learning algorithm in a feed-forward multilayer neural network. In this study, fault detection was carried out using the information of the arc current. After collecting the actual data, wavelet transformation were adopted in order to obtain the sideband or detail value characteristics under healthy and various faulty operating conditions. The feature vectors consisted of the values obtained by wavelet transformation and turned into the input of network. They were trained with BP neural network system, and the fault detection algorithm was verified using the test data. The experiment shows that the method has better performance for arc-fault recognition.
Wagner-Jauregg and fever therapy.

Among the recipients of the Nobel prize for medicine and physiology are two psychiatrists. The first to be awarded the prize, in 1927, was the Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner von Jauregg for his malaria therapy for general paralysis of the insane (GPI). The second, in 1949, was the Portuguese neuro-surgeon Egas Moniz, who developed the operation of leucotomy for the treatment of severe, intractable, and progressive psychiatric disorders. The operation was often dangerous and brought with it undesirable side effects. Despite modification in the procedure, it has now been made largely obsolescent by the introduction of psychotropic drugs. Similarly, malaria therapy is no longer used for the treatment of paralytics, as this late stage of syphilis is now rarely seen because the disease is treated at an earlier stage with antibiotics. This paper examines the work that led to the award of the first psychiatric Nobel Prize to Wagner-Jauregg.
Acoustic Emission Signals in Thin Plates Produced by Impact Damage

Acoustic emission (AE) signals created by impact sources in thin aluminum and graphite/epoxy composite plates were analyzed. Two different impact velocity regimes were studied. Low-velocity (less than 0.21 km/s) impacts were created with an airgun firing spherical steel projectiles (4.5 mm diameter). High-velocity (1.8 to 7 km/s) impacts were generated with a two-stage light-gas gun firing small cylindrical nylon projectiles (1.5 mm diameter). Both the impact velocity and impact angle were varied. The impacts did not penetrate the aluminum plates at either low or high velocities. For high-velocity impacts in composites, there were both impacts that fully penetrated the plate as well as impacts that did not. All impacts generated very large amplitude AE signals (1-5 V at the sensor), which propagated as plate (extensional and/or flexural) modes. In the low-velocity impact studies, the signal was dominated by a large flexural mode with only a small extensional mode component detected. As the impact velocity was increased within the low velocity regime, the overall amplitudes of both the extensional and flexural modes increased. In addition, a relative increase in the amplitude of high-frequency components of the flexural mode was also observed. Signals caused by high-velocity impacts that did not penetrate the plate contained both a large extensional and flexural mode component of comparable amplitudes. The signals also contained components of much higher frequency and were easily differentiated from those caused by low-velocity impacts. An interesting phenomenon was observed in that the large flexural mode component, seen in every other case, was absent from the signal when the impact particle fully penetrated through the composite plates.
Journal of Information Technology Management Retaining Talent: Assessing Job Satisfaction Facets Most Significantly Related to Software Developer Turnover Intentions

Retaining information technology employees has been a problem in many organizations for decades. When key software developers quit, they depart with critical knowledge of business processes and systems that are essential for maintaining a competitive advantage. The primary aim of this study was to assess facets of job satisfaction that are most significantly correlated with software developer turnover intentions. Surveys were collected from a sample of software developers across the United States. Correlations were assessed through multiple linear regression and parametric measures of association. The results indicated a significant predicting relationship between the software developers' turnover intentions and nine facets of job satisfaction. Also found was a significant negative relationship between satisfaction with the nature of work and turnover intentions when controlling for the effects of the other independent variables. Implications of these findings are discussed along with recommendations for IT professionals and researchers.
MTHFR Gene C677T Mutation and ACE Gene I/D Polymorphism in Turkish Patients with Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disorder resulting in destruction of articular cartilage, osteophyte formation, and subchondral bone sclerosis. In recent years, numerous genetic factors have been identified and implicated in osteoarthritis. The aim of the current study was to examine the influence of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene C677T mutation and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) variations on the risk of osteoarthritis. Genomic DNA is obtained from 421 persons (221 patients with osteoarthritis and 200 healthy controls). ACE gene I/D polymorphism genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction using I and D allele-specific primers. The MTHFR C677T mutation was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods. We found significant difference between the groups with respect to both ACE and MTHFR genotype distributions (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 respectively). Our study suggests that ACE gene DD genotype and MTHFR gene CC genotype could be used as genetic markers in osteoarthritis in Turkish study populations.
Are tag clouds useful for navigation? A network-theoretic analysis

It is a widely held belief among designers of social tagging systems that tag clouds represent a useful tool for navigation. This is evident in the increasing number of tagging systems offering tag clouds, which hints towards an implicit assumption that tag clouds support efficient navigation. In this paper, we test this assumption from a network-theoretic perspective, and show that in many cases, it does not hold. We first model navigation in tagging systems and then simulate the navigation process in such a graph. We analyse the navigability of three tagging datasets with regard to different user interface restrictions imposed by tag clouds. Our results confirm that tag clouds have efficient navigation properties in theory, but they also show that popular user interface decisions, such as ‘pagination’ significantly impair their navigability. Finally, we identify a number of avenues for further research and the design of novel tag cloud construction algorithms.
Non-Sterilized Fermentative Production of Polymer-Grade L-Lactic Acid by a Newly Isolated Thermophilic Strain Bacillus sp. 2–6

Background The demand for lactic acid has been increasing considerably because of its use as a monomer for the synthesis of polylactic acid (PLA), which is a promising and environment-friendly alternative to plastics derived from petrochemicals. Optically pure l-lactic acid is essential for polymerization of PLA. The high fermentation cost of l-lactic acid is another limitation for PLA polymers to compete with conventional plastics. Methodology/Principal Findings A Bacillus sp. strain 2–6 for production of l-lactic acid was isolated at 55°C from soil samples. Its thermophilic characteristic made it a good lactic acid producer because optically pure l-lactic acid could be produced by this strain under open condition without sterilization. In 5-liter batch fermentation of Bacillus sp. 2–6, 118.0 g/liter of l-lactic acid with an optical purity of 99.4% was obtained from 121.3 g/liter of glucose. The yield was 97.3% and the average productivity was 4.37 g/liter/h. The maximum l-lactic acid concentration of 182.0 g/liter was obtained from 30-liter fed-batch fermentation with an average productivity of 3.03 g/liter/h and product optical purity of 99.4%. Conclusions/Significance With the newly isolated Bacillus sp. strain 2–6, high concentration of optically pure l-lactic acid could be produced efficiently in open fermentation without sterilization, which would lead to a new cost-effective method for polymer-grade l-lactic acid production from renewable resources.
DC (10 Hz) to RF (40 GHz) output conduction extraction by S-parameters measurements for in-depth characterization of AlInN/GaN HEMTS, focusing on low frequency dispersion effects

A test bench allowing S-parameters measurements from 10 Hz to 40 GHz has been set-up, this set-up has been used to investigate the DC to RF behavior of AlInN/GaN HEMTS. The measurement performed have demonstrated the dispersion effects observed on GaN HEMTS due to trapping effects and proved very useful for in-depth characterization of RF devices.
Early fetal gender determination using real-time PCR analysis of cell-free fetal DNA during 6th-10th weeks of gestation.

Nowadays, new advances in the use of cell free fetal DNA (cffDNA) in maternal plasma of pregnant women has provided the possibility of applying cffDNA in prenatal diagnosis as a non-invasive method. In contrary to the risks of invasive methods that affect both mother and fetus, applying cffDNA is proven to be highly effective with lower risk. One of the applications of prenatal diagnosis is fetal gender determination, which is important in fetuses at risk of sex-linked genetic diseases. In such cases by obtaining the basic information of the gender, necessary time management can be taken in therapeutic to significantly reduce the necessity of applying the invasive methods. Therefore in this study, the probability of detecting sequences on the human Y-chromosome in pregnant women has been evaluated to identify the gender of fetuses. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 80 pregnant women with gestational age between 6th to 10th weeks and the fetal DNA was extracted from the plasma. Identification of SRY, DYS14 & DAZ sequences, which are not presentin the maternal genome, was performed using Real-Time PCR. All the obtained results were compared with the actual gender of the newborns to calculate the test accuracy. Considerable 97.3% sensitivity and 97.3% specificity were obtained in fetal gender determination which is significant in the first trimester of pregnancy. Only in one case, false positive result was obtained. Using non-invasive method of cffDNAs in the shortest time possible, as well as avoiding invasive tests for early determination of fetal gender, provides the opportunity of deciding and employing early treatment for fetuses at risk of genetic diseases.
New Loci Regulating Rat Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein-Induced Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis1

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory disease in rats that closely mimics many clinical and histopathological aspects of multiple sclerosis. Non-MHC quantitative trait loci regulating myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-induced EAE have previously been identified in the EAE-permissive strain, DA, on rat chromosomes 4, 10, 15, and 18. To find any additional gene loci in another well-known EAE-permissive strain and thereby to assess any genetic heterogeneity in the regulation of the disease, we have performed a genome-wide linkage analysis in a reciprocal (LEW.1AV1 × PVG.1AV1) male/female F2 population (n = 185). We examined reciprocal crosses, but no parent-of-origin effect was detected. The parental rat strains share the RT1av1 MHC haplotype; thus, non-MHC genes control differences in EAE susceptibility. We identified Eae16 on chromosome 8 and Eae17 on chromosome 13, significantly linked to EAE phenotypes. Two loci, on chromosomes 1 and 17, respectively showed suggestive linkage to clinical and histopathological EAE phenotypes. Eae16 and Eae17 differ from those found in previously studied strain combinations, thus demonstrating genetic heterogeneity of EAE. Furthermore, we detected a locus-specific parent-of-origin effect with suggestive linkage in Eae17. Further genetic and functional dissection of these loci may disclose critical disease-regulating molecular mechanisms.
sDoc: exploring social wisdom for document enhancement in web mining

Web document could be seen to be composed of textual content as well as social metadata of various forms (e.g., anchor text, search query and social annotation), both of which are valuable to indicate the semantic content of the document. However, due to the free nature of the web, the two streams of web data suffer from the serious problems of noise and sparseness, which have actually become the major challenges to the success of many web mining applications. Previous work has shown that it could enhance the content of web document by integrating anchor text and search query. In this paper, we study the problem of exploring emergent social annotation for document enhancement and propose a novel reinforcement framework to generate "social representation" of document. Distinguishing from prior work, textual content and social annotation are enhanced simultaneously in our framework, which is achieved by exploiting a kind of mutual reinforcement relationship behind them. Two convergent models, social content model and social annotation model, are symmetrically derived from the framework to represent enhanced textual content and enhanced social annotation respectively. The enhanced document is referred to as Social Document or sDoc in that it could embed complementary viewpoints from many web authors and many web visitors. In this sense, the document semantics is enhanced exactly by exploring social wisdom. We build the framework on a large Del.icio. us data and evaluate it through three typical web mining applications: annotation, classification and retrieval. Experimental results demonstrate that social representation of web document could boost the performance of these applications significantly.
Lens opacities in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Study.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of lens opacities in an older population in rural southern India. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 5150 persons aged 40 years and more who were selected as part of a representative sample from three southern districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. All lenses were graded and classified for opacities and other disorders by slit lamp after pupillary dilation, using the Lens Opacification Classification System (LOCS) III and standard photographs. Definite cataract was defined as either LOCS III nuclear opalescence of grade 3.0 or more and/or cortical cataract of grade 3.0 or more and/or posterior subcapsular cataract (PSC) of grade 2.0 or more. RESULTS Definite cataract was present in one or both eyes in 2499 (47.5%) of 5150 subjects. The age-adjusted prevalence (adjusted to U.S. population estimates for 2000) of definite cataract in this population was 61.9% (95% CI, 60.6-6.3). The prevalence was significantly lower in men (P=0.0002). In those eyes with cataracts, nuclear cataract (59.7%) was most common, and cortical cataract was present in 20.0% and PSC in 24.3%. Cataract surgery had been performed in 9.4% persons, including 3.0% who had bilateral surgery for cataracts. Best corrected visual acuity was less than 6/60 in 3.7% of aphakic eyes and in 0.8% of pseudophakic eyes. CONCLUSIONS The higher age-adjusted prevalence and relatively early onset of age-related cataract in this population suggest that the cataract-centered approach to minimizing preventable blindness, adopted by the National Program for Prevention of Blindness in India, is appropriate.
Touch reduces romantic jealousy in the anxiously attached

Feelings of jealousy are usually detrimental to relationships, often resulting in negative outcomes ranging from conflict to violence and relationship dissolution. Anxiously attached individuals are especially prone to jealousy in their relationships and are therefore especially likely to experience negative outcomes of jealousy. In this research, we examined the effectiveness of both touch and a traditional security prime as a potential means of reducing feelings of jealousy for individuals who are high in anxious attachment. Individuals in romantic relationships were induced to feel jealous, during which time they were randomly assigned to receive affectionate touch from their partners, a traditional nontouch security prime, or no intervention (control). Results revealed that anxious attachment was associated with high levels of jealousy, and touch was an effective buffer against jealous feelings for individuals high in anxious attachment. The traditional security prime did not buffer jealous feelings. Implications of results for potential relationship interventions are discussed.
GALAHAD, a library of thread-safe Fortran 90 packages for large-scale nonlinear optimization

We describe the design of version 1.0 of GALAHAD, a library of Fortran 90 packages for large-scale nonlinear optimization. The library particularly addresses quadratic programming problems, containing both interior point and active set algorithms, as well as tools for preprocessing problems prior to solution. It also contains an updated version of the venerable nonlinear programming package, LANCELOT.
A Visual Query Interface for a Very Large Newspaper Article Repository

The archives of large national and international news agencies typically contain millions of articles featuring significant textual content and annotated metadata. Boolean queries and relevance ranked result lists have been traditional means of inquiry in such a context. This article presents an interface for query formulation and visual query analysis for the news article repository of the Austrian Press Agency, combining traditional means of inquiry with several visualisation components. All parts of the interface are fully synchronised, allowing users to employ the power of visual metaphors for analysis and refinement while retaining the simplicity of conventional query formulation
Monotonicity and global stability in download dynamics of content-sharing networks

This paper analyzes previously-proposed dynamic models of content-sharing networks from the point of view of global stability. Our focus is on models that track populations of participating peers as a function of the download progress achieved, described in previous research by a Partial Differential Equation where this progress is a fluid variable. We use such a model to identify conditions on the rate allocation function that make the dynamics preserve a suitable ordering of the state. This enables the application of tools of monotone dynamical systems. This is formally done with finite-dimensional, ordinary differential equation model in which the content fraction index is discrete. Our results apply both to the case of homogeneous upload bandwidths in the participating population, as well as the heterogeneous case with multiple populations of each bandwidth class.
Determination of Nonlinear Stiffness Coefficients for Finite Element Models with Application to the Random Vibration Problem

In this paper, a method for obtaining nonlinear stiffness coefficients in modal coordinates for geometrically nonlinear finite-element models is developed. The method requires application of a finite-element program with a geometrically non- linear static capability. The MSC/NASTRAN code is employed for this purpose. The equations of motion of a MDOF system are formulated in modal coordinates. A set of linear eigenvectors is used to approximate the solution of the nonlinear problem. The random vibration problem of the MDOF nonlinear system is then considered. The solutions obtained by application of two different versions of a stochastic linearization technique are compared with linear and exact (analytical) solutions in terms of root-mean-square (RMS) displacements and strains for a beam structure.
Robust localization method based on free-space observation model using 3D-map

This paper proposes robust localization method using a free-space observation model with a 3D map for a particle filter. The free-space observation model judges whether the free space of a laser beam of a sensor is appropriate. The observation model realizes highly robust localization in outdoor environments with many unknown obstacles. This paper describes the free-space observation model and the increase in the calculation speed of the observation model. The proposed localization method achieves 1-km localization in outdoor environments with many unknown objects.
Detection of Water Ice on Nereid

We report the detection of the 1.5 and 2.0 μm absorption bands of water ice in the near-infrared reflection spectrum of Neptune's distant irregular satellite Nereid. The spectrum and albedo of Nereid appear intermediate between those of the Uranian satellites Umbriel and Oberon, suggesting a surface composed of a combination of water ice frost and a dark and spectrally neutral material. In contrast, the surface of Nereid appears dissimilar to those of the outer solar system minor planets Chiron, Pholus, and 1997 CU26. The spectrum thus provides support for the hypothesis that Nereid is a regular satellite formed in a circumplanetary environment rather than a captured object.