Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studying the electrical impedance variations in banana ripening using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)

Electrical Impedance of biological tissues changes with the change in tissue anatomy and tissue physiology. Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) has been studied to characterize the biological objects like fruits and vegetables for assessing their freshness. In this direction, the EIS studies have been conducted as a non-destructive investigation evaluation method to study the electrical impedance variations in banana ripening. The aim of the work is to correlate the impedance variation with the ripening process in banana. A small amount of alternating current is injected to the banana attached to an array of Ag/AgCl electrodes and the surface potentials are measured using Agilent 4294A impedance Analyzer. The banana impedance and phase angles are measured from 50 Hz and 1 MHz. The results demonstrate that the electrical impedance of banana varies significantly during its ripening. From the experimental studies, it is observed that the impedance, real part and imaginary part of the impedance all are increased with the progresses in the banana ripening process.
Nonholonomic behavior in redundant robots under kinematic control

We analyze the behavior of redundant robots when the joint motion is generated by inverting task velocity commands through a kinematic control scheme. Depending on the chosen inversion scheme, the robot motion is subject to differential constraints that may or may not be integrable. Accordingly, we give a classification in terms of holonomic, partially nonholonomic, and completely nonholonomic behavior, pointing out also the relationship with the so-called cyclicity property. This general classification is illustrated by means of several examples. When the kinematic control scheme is nonholonomic, the whole configuration space of the robot is accessible by a proper choice of the task input commands. Under this assumption, we address the joint reconfiguration problem, namely the design of end-effector velocity commands that drive the robot to a desired joint configuration. To solve this problem, it is possible to borrow existing methods for motion planning of nonholonomic mechanical systems, such as the sinusoidal steering technique for chained-form systems.
Probabilistic Argumentation with Epistemic Extensions and Incomplete Information

argumentation offers an appealing way of representing and eval- uating arguments and counterarguments. This approach can be enhanced by a probability assignment to each argument. There are various interpre- tations that can be ascribed to this assignment. In this paper, we regard the assignment as denoting the belief that an agent has that an argument is justifiable, i.e., that both the premises of the argument and the derivation of the claim of the argument from its premises are valid. This leads to the notion of an epistemic extension which is the subset of the arguments in the graph that are believed to some degree (which we defined as the arguments that have a probability assignment greater than 0.5). We consider various constraints on the probability assignment. Some constraints correspond to standard notions of extensions, such as grounded or stable extensions, and some constraints give us new kinds of extensions.
Racism, ethnic density and psychological well-being through adolescence: evidence from the Determinants of Adolescent Social well-being and Health longitudinal study

Objective. To investigate the effect of racism, own-group ethnic density, diversity and deprivation on adolescent trajectories in psychological well-being. Design. Multilevel models were used in longitudinal analysis of psychological well-being (total difficulties score (TDS) from Goodman's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, higher scores correspond to greater difficulties) for 4782 adolescents aged 11–16 years in 51 London (UK) schools. Individual level variables included ethnicity, racism, gender, age, migrant generation, socio-economic circumstances, family type and indicators of family interactions (shared activities, perceived parenting). Contextual variables were per cent eligible for free school-meals, neighbourhood deprivation, per cent own-group ethnic density, and ethnic diversity. Results. Ethnic minorities were more likely to report racism than Whites. Ethnic minority boys (except Indian boys) and Indian girls reported better psychological well-being throughout adolescence compared to their White peers. Notably, lowest mean TDS scores were observed for Nigerian/Ghanaian boys, among whom the reporting of racism increased with age. Adjusted for individual characteristics, psychological well-being improved with age across all ethnic groups. Racism was associated with poorer psychological well-being trajectories for all ethnic groups (p<0.001), reducing with age. For example, mean difference in TDS (95% confidence interval) between boys who experienced racism and those who did not at age 12 years=1.88 (+1.75 to+2.01); at 16 years=+1.19 (+1.07 to+1.31). Less racism was generally reported in schools and neighbourhoods with high than low own-group density. Own ethnic density and diversity were not consistently associated with TDS for any ethnic group. Living in more deprived neighbourhoods was associated with poorer psychological well-being for Whites and Black Caribbeans (p<0.05). Conclusion. Racism, but not ethnic density and deprivation in schools or neighbourhoods, was an important influence on psychological well-being. However, exposure to racism did not explain the advantage in psychological well-being of ethnic minority groups over Whites.
Development and physico-mechanical characterization of carrageenan and poloxamer-based lyophilized matrix as a potential buccal drug delivery system

Abstract Context and objectives: The buccal mucosa presents a unique surface for non-invasive drug delivery and also avoids first-pass metabolism. The objective of this study was the formulation development of polymeric mucoadhesive lyophilized wafers as a matrix for potential buccal drug delivery. Materials and methods: Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to develop an optimum freeze-cycle, incorporating an annealing step. The wafers were prepared by lyophilization of gels containing three polymers, κ-carrageenan (CAR 911), poloxamer (P407) and polyethylene glycol 600 (PEG 600). The formulations were characterized using texture analysis (for mechanical and mucoadhesion properties), hydration studies, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), DSC, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results and discussion: DSC showed the eutectic temperature (12.8 °C) of the system where the liquid solution and pure solids both existed at a fixed pressure which helped determine the freeze-annealing cycle at 55 °C for 7 h. Mechanical resistance to compression, hydration and mucoadhesion studies showed that optimized wafers were obtained from aqueous gels containing 2% w/w CAR 911, 4% w/w P407 and 4.4% w/w PEG 600. TGA showed residual water of approximately 1% and SEM showed a porous polymeric network that made ease of hydration possible. Conclusions: Lyophilized wafers by freeze-drying gels containing 2% w/w CAR 911, 4% w/w P407 and 4.4% w/w PEG 600 with optimum physico-mechanical properties has been achieved.
Two functionally different Na/K pumps in cardiac ventricular myocytes

The whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to voltage clamp acutely isolated myocytes at -60 mV and study effects of ionic environment on Na/K pump activity. In quiescent guinea pig myocytes, normal intracellular Na+ is approximately 6 mM, which gives a total pump current of 0.25 +/- 0.09 pA/pF, and an inward background sodium current of 0.75 +/- 0.26 pA/pF. The average capacitance of a cell is 189 +/- 61 pF. Our main conclusion is the total Na/K pump current comprises currents from two different types of pumps, whose functional responses to the extracellular environment are different. Pump current was reversibly blocked with two affinities by extracellular dihydro-ouabain (DHO). We determined dissociation constants of 72 microM for low affinity (type-1) pumps and 0.75 microM for high affinity (type-h) pumps. These dissociation constants did not detectably change with two intracellular Na+ concentrations, one saturating and one near half- saturating, and with two extracellular K+ concentrations of 4.6 and 1.0 mM. Ion effects on type-h pumps were therefore measured using 5 microM DHO and on total pump current using 1 mM DHO. Extracellular K+ half- maximally activated the type-h pumps at 0.4 mM and the type-1 at 3.7 mM. Extracellular H+ blocked the type-1 pumps with half-maximal blockade at a pH of 7.71 whereas the type-h pumps were insensitive to extracellular pH. Both types of pumps responded similarly to changes in intracellular-Na+, with 9.6 mM causing half-maximal activation. Neither changes in intracellular pH between 6.0 and 7.2, nor concentrations of intracellular K+ of 140 mM or below, had any effect on either type of pump. The lack of any effect of intracellular K+ suggests the dissociation constants are in the molar range so this step in the pump cycle is not rate limiting under normal physiological conditions. Changes in intracellular-Na+ did not affect the half-maximal activation by extracellular K+, and vice versa. We found DHO-blockade of Na/K pump current in canine ventricular myocytes also occurred with two affinities, which are very similar to those from guinea pig myocytes or rat ventricular myocytes. In contrast, isolated canine Purkinje myocytes have predominantly the type-h pumps, insofar as DHO-blockade and extracellular K+ activation are much closer to our type-h results than type-1. These observations suggest for mammalian ventricular myocytes: (a) the presence of two types of Na/K pumps may be a general property. (b) Normal physiological variations in extracellular pH and K+ are important determinants of Na/K pump current. (c) Normal physiological variations in the intracellular environment affect Na/K pump current primarily via the Na+ concentration. Lastly, Na/K pump current appears to be specifically tailored for a tissue by expression of a mix of functionally different types of pumps.
The manufacturing of denial: the making of the Turkish ‘official thesis’ on the Armenian Genocide between 1974 and 1990

Abstract This paper analyses the Turkish historiographical encounter with the Armenian genocide in the 1970s and 1980s. It shows how denialism was institutionalized by the 1980s by the post-1980 junta and its academic–political–security complex as a response to the revival of the obscured memories of 1915 after decades of oblivion due to the rise of the Armenian efforts to create an awareness regarding the genocide. Hence, the paper historicizes Turkish denialism. Furthermore, not seeing Turkish denialism as a monolithic discourse, it identifies three modes of Turkish denialism, left wing, right wing and centrist, all entrenched in different ideological sets. The paper also discusses the Turkish national security establishment’s strategies to counter Armenian activism.
On the co‐occurrence of startles and hippocampal sharp waves in newborn rats

Hippocampal sharp waves (SPWs) are among the earliest neural population patterns observed in infant mammals. Similarly, startles are among the earliest behavioral events observed. Here we provide evidence indicating that these two events are linked mechanistically soon after birth in freely moving and head‐fixed 1 to 4‐day‐old rats. EMG electrodes and intrahippocampal silicon depth electrodes were used to detect the presence of startles and SPWs, respectively. In intact pups, the majority of sharp waves were preceded by startles (average latency: 161 ms). When the hippocampal formation was surgically separated from the brainstem, however, sharp waves and startles still occurred, but now independently. In addition, unrelated to startles or SPWs, gamma oscillations were detected in several subjects, as were neocortical “spindles” that propagated passively into the hippocampus. The cooccurrence of sharp waves and startles provides the opportunity for Hebbian changes in synaptic efficacy and, thus, is poised to contribute to the assembly of neural circuits early in development. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Elemental Abundance Ratios in Stars of the Outer Galactic Disk. II. Field Red Giants

We summarize a selection process to identify red giants in the direction of the southern warp of the Galactic disk, employing VIC photometry and multiobject spectroscopy. We also present results from follow-up high-resolution, high signal-to-noise echelle spectroscopy of three field red giants, finding [Fe/H] values of about -0.5. The field stars, with galactocentric distances estimated at 10–15 kpc, support the conclusion of Yong and coworkers that the Galactic metallicity gradient disappears beyond RGC values of 10–12 kpc for the older stars and clusters of the outer disk. We summarize the detailed abundance patterns for 15 other elements for these stars and compare them with recently obtained results for old open cluster red giants in the outer disk. The field and cluster stars at such large distances show very similar abundance patterns, and, in particular, all show enhancements of the α-elements O, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti and the r-process element Eu. These results suggest that Type II supernovae have been significant contributors to star formation in the outer disk relative to Type Ia supernovae within the past few gigayears. We also compare our results with those available for much younger objects. The limited results for the H II regions and B stars in the outer disk also suggest that the radial metallicity gradient in the outer disk is shallow or absent. The much more extensive results for Cepheids confirm these trends and that the change in slope of the metallicity gradient may occur at a larger galactocentric distance than for the older stars and clusters. However, the younger stars also show rising α-element enhancements with increasing RGC, at least beyond 12 kpc. These trends are consistent with the idea of a progressive growth in the size of the Galactic disk with time and episodic enrichment by Type II supernovae as part of the disk's growth.
MC simulation of strained Si/SiGe devices

Transport in strained Si N- and PMOSFETs with gate lengths from 250 to 50 nm is investigated by full-band MC (Monte Carlo) device simulation. Performance improvement by strain is found for both device types, and even for the shortest gate length the on-current is enhanced by about 30% compared to the unstrained case. Thus, these simulations predict that the performance advantage of strained Si MOSFETs will scale well into the deca-nanometer gate length range. This seems to be due to the reduction in scattering by strain, leading to quasi-ballistic transport and enhanced charge carrier velocities at the source side injection point of the inversion channel.
Hindsight ≠ foresight: the effect of outcome knowledge on judgment under uncertainty*

One major difference between historical and nonhistorical judgment is that the historical judge typically knows how things turned out. In Experiment 1, receipt of such outcome knowledge was found to increase the postdicted likelihood of reported events and change the perceived relevance of event descriptive data, regardless of the likelihood of the outcome and the truth of the report. Judges were, however, largely unaware of the effect that outcome knowledge had on their perceptions. As a result, they overestimated what they would have known without outcome knowledge (Experiment 2), as well as what others (Experiment 3) actually did know without outcome knowledge. It is argued that this lack of awareness can seriously restrict one’s ability to judge or learn from the past.
Evaluation on fusion of saliency and objectness for salient object segmentation

Saliency detection measures the probability how a region attracts human visual attention, and objectness estimates the probability that a rectangle window may contain potential objects. Can a salient object segmentation method which utilizes both saliency and objectness achieve a better segmentation performance? To address this problem, this paper evaluates different fusion schemes to integrate saliency with objectness for effective salient object segmentation. Based on the saliency map generated by any saliency model and the pixel-level objectness map, the resultant fusion map is exploited to initialize salient object and background. Then a fusion map based salient object segmentation method under the framework of graph cut is proposed to obtain the final salient object segmentation result. We performed extensive experiments on two public datasets, and conclude that fusion of saliency and objectness generally facilitates to improve salient object segmentation performance compared to only using saliency or objectness, and the proposed segmentation method using a number of fusion schemes with saliency models outperforms the state-of-the-art salient object segmentation method.
Shared caregiving responsibilities of adult siblings with elderly parents

This paper uses a nonstructural, ordered discrete choice model to measure the effects of various parent and child characteristics upon the independent caregiving decisions of the adult children of elderly parents sampled in the 1982 and 1984 National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS). While significant effects are noted, emphasis is placed on test statistics constructed to measure the independence of caregiving decisions. The test statistic results are conclusive: the caregiving decisions of adult children are dependent across time and family members. Structural models taking dependencies among family members into account note effects similar to those in the nonstructural model.
An Organization-oriented Model for Agent Societies

We present a conceptual framework for agent societies that incorporates the specification of global organizational characteristics with individual aims and capabilities. The framework consists of three interrelated models each describing different aspects of the society. The organizational model describes agent societies in terms of roles, constraints and interactions rules. The social model populates the society with actual agents that realize the objectives of the society by enacting role(s) described in the organizational model. Finally, the interaction model describes the interaction commitments between those agents. The interdependencies between models are described by means of contracts. Contract rules specify commitments between agents and society concerning role enactment, and commitments between agents concerning interaction.
ON THE PROGENITORS OF SUPER-CHANDRASEKHAR MASS TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) can be used as the standard candle to determine the cosmological distances because they are thought to have a uniform fuel amount. Recent observations of several overluminous SNe Ia suggest that the white dwarf masses at supernova explosion may significantly exceed the canonical Chandrasekhar mass limit. These massive white dwarfs may be supported by rapid differential rotation. Based on a single-degenerate model and the assumption that the white dwarf would differentially rotate when the accretion rate 3\times 10^{-7}\,M_{\odot }\rm \;yr^{-1}$? >, we have calculated the evolutions of close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a normal companion. To include the effect of rotation, we introduce an effective mass Meff for white dwarfs. For the donor stars with two different metallicities Z = 0.02 and 0.001, we present the distribution of the initial donor star masses and the orbital periods of the progenitors of super-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia. The calculation results indicate that, for an initial massive white dwarf of 1.2 M☉, a considerable fraction of SNe Ia may result from super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs, but very massive (> 1.7 M☉) white dwarfs are difficult to form, and none of them could be found in old populations. However, super-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia are very rare when the initial mass of white dwarfs is 1.0 M☉. Additionally, SNe Ia in low metallicity environment are more likely to be homogeneous.
The Effect of Team Cohesion on Social Loafing in Relay Teams

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent team cohesion influences social loafing in a 30-meter sprint relay. Thirty-nine male college sport students competed under high and low identifiable conditions in which the differences between sprint times were recorded. Faster running times under the identified condition than under the non-identified condition was seen as indicative of social loafing. In order to create variability in cohesion, the participants were randomly divided into ten teams, and half of the team participated in a team-building exercise. The results indicated that participants in the cohesive groups tended to perform equally well under identified and non-identified conditions, whereas those participants in the non-cohesive teams ran more slowly under the non-identified condition than under the identified condition. The results support our expectation that group cohesion reduces participants` willingness to engage in social loafing.
A Meta-analysis of the Factors Affecting Chinese College Students' Internet Addiction

This study aims to make a meta-analysis of 20 relevant articles on empirical research published in China in recent 7 years.The findings are listed as follows:(1) The male college students majoring in science and engineering tend to suffer from Internet addiction,but the demographic factor has a small effect on Internet addiction(|r|0.184). (2) Such external factors as life events and social support,and such internal factors as the coping style, the EPQ personality,mental health,depression,loneliness,and self-respect all have a small effect on college students' Internet addiction(|r|0.278). (3) There is a significant heterogeneity in most current researches on the factors affecting Internet addiction(P0.05). The authors conclude the following: under certain conditions,each college student is likely to suffer from Internet addiction,which is a biological nature of human beings;college students' Internet addiction results from various factors instead of a single factor;the present researches are characterized by heterogeneity as a result of different research tools,testing methods and research objects.
“Biribiara Wo Ne Mmerε” (Everything Has Its Time): Exploring Changing Perceptions of Transportation on Film from the Colonial Gold Coast to Contemporary Ghana

Abstract:Public perceptions and cinematic portrayals of Ghanaian passenger transportation vehicles and their drivers have undergone a massive transformation on film in the past fifty years. Colonial films depicted these vehicles as a symbol of modernity and drivers as cosmopolitan men, but contemporary Ghanaian popular culture portrays these vehicles and their drivers through a negative lens. This article uses ethnographic and archival data to explain why this shift occurred and its effects on the contemporary tro-tro industry. Portrayals of these vehicles have shifted because of a combination of historical, geographical, and social factors, including historical change, urbanization, proximity to corruption, the spread of HIV/AIDS, differences in rural settings, socioeconomic status, and perceptions of safety.