Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Neural Processing of Moral Violations among Incarcerated Adolescents with Psychopathic Traits

Neuroimaging studies have found that adult male psychopaths show reduced engagement of limbic and paralimbic circuitry while making moral judgments. The goal of this study was to investigate whether these findings extend to adolescent males with psycho-pathic traits. Functional MRI was used to record hemodynamic activity in 111 incarcerated male adolescents while they viewed unpleasant pictures that did or did not depict moral transgressions and rated each on " moral violation severity ". Adolescents were assessed for psychopathic traits using the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL-YV), Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (KSADS-PL) Conduct Disorder supplement, and Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits-Youth Version (ICU-Y). While viewing pictures depicting moral transgressions, CD scores were negatively correlated with hemodynamic responses in the anterior temporal cortex. Adolescents scoring low on the ICU-Y showed a positive correlation between right amygdala responses and severity of violation ratings; those with high ICU-Y scores showed a negative correlation. While viewing unpleasant pictures with and without moral transgressions, PCL-YV scores were negatively correlated with hemodynamic responses in the left amygdala. Overall, the results are consistent with those previously found in adult male psychopaths, but vary depending on the type of psychopathy assessment.
A validated liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry method for quantitation of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in human plasma.

In order to support studies on various medication protocols for the treatment of cocaine abuse, an accurate, precise, and sensitive (2.5 to 750 ng/mL) liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay was developed to determine cocaine and benzoylecgonine in human plasma. Cocaine-d3 and benzoylecgonine-d3 were added as internal standards and samples were subjected to solid-phase extraction. Cocaine recovery was 94.4% and benzoylecgonine was 80.3% at 2.5 ng/mL. The selected reaction monitoring of parent ions at m/z 304 and 290 resulted in strong fragments at m/z 182 and 168 for cocaine and benzoylecgonine, respectively. The method was fully validated. The mean measured concentration at the 2.5 ng/mL, the lower limit of quantitation, was within 10.8% of the target and the precision determined at the low (5 ng/mL), medium (50 ng/mL), and high (650 ng/mL) quality controls ranged from 0.9 to 6.2 %CV. Cocaine and benzoylecgonine concentrations in plasma treated with 1% NaF showed changes of less than 10% when maintained at room temperature for up to 7 h and no significant changes when subjected to three freeze-thaw cycles. The concentrations of cocaine and benzoylecgonine remained stable in plasma samples stored at -20 degrees C for up to 11 months. Methanolic stock solutions of both analytes are stable, staying within 2% of the freshly prepared stock solutions, when stored at -20 degrees C for up to 235 days. Both extracted analytes reconstituted in methanolic solutions are stable for up to seven days whether stored at -20 degrees C or at room temperature on the autosampler. The method is rugged, rapid, and robust and has been applied to the batch analysis of more than 700 samples during pharmacokinetic profiling to assess potential interactions between intravenous (i.v.) cocaine challenge and treament medications. Results from three of these subjects receiving 40 mg (i.v.) cocaine demonstrate the utility of the method.
Pitch, eyebrows and the perception of focus

We report on an experiment with a Talking Head, aimed at finding out the relative contributions of pitch accents and rapid eyebrow movements for the perception of focus. For this purpose, we use a “dialogue reconstruction” experiment: subjects have to perform a perceptual task in which they have to determine on the basis of the distributions of pitch accent and eyebrow movements what the focus is of the current utterance. Our results reveal that both pitch accents and eyebrow movements can have a significant effect on the perception of focus, albeit that the effect of pitch is much larger than that of eyebrows.
Mechanical properties of cat soleus muscle elicited by sequential ramp stretches: implications for control of muscle.

1. Force changes in areflexive cat soleus muscle in decerebrate cats were recorded in response to two sequential constant velocity (ramp) stretches, separated by a variable time interval during which the length was held constant. Initial (i.e., prestretch) background force was generated by activating the crossed-extension reflex, and stretch reflexes were eliminated by section of ipsilateral dorsal roots. 2. For the initial 400-900 microns of the first stretch, the muscle exhibited high stiffness, classically termed "short-range stiffness. " This high stiffness region was followed by an abrupt reduction in stiffness, called muscle "yield," after which force remained at a relatively constant level, achieving a plateau in force. This plateau force level depended largely on stretch velocity, but this dependence was much less than proportional to the increase in stretch velocity, in that a 10-fold increase in velocity produced < 2-fold increase in plateau force. 3. In experiments where the velocities of the two sequential ramp stretches were identical, the force plateau level was the same for each stretch, regardless of the time elapsed before the second stretch (varied from 0 to 500 ms). In contrast, measures of stiffness during the initial portion of the second stretch showed time-dependent magnitude reductions. However, stiffness recovered quickly after the first stretch was completed, returning to control values within 30-40 ms. 4. In one preparation, in which the velocities of the two sequential ramp stretches were different, the force plateau elicited during the second stretch exhibited velocity dependence comparable with that recorded in the earlier single velocity studies. Furthermore, muscle yield was still evident in the case where the force change was due solely to the change in velocity and where short-range stiffness had not yet recovered fully from the initial stretch. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the classical descriptions of short-range stiffness and yield are inadequate and that the change in force that has typically been called the muscle yield reflects a transition between short-range, transient elastic behavior to steady-state, essentially viscous behavior. 5. To examine changes in the muscle's mechanical stiffness during single ramp stretches, a single pulse perturbation was superimposed at various times before, during, and subsequent to the constant velocity stretch. The force increment elicited in response to each pulse decreased relative to the initial isometric value, remained essentially constant until the end of the ramp, and then returned to its prestretch magnitude shortly (30-40 ms) after stretch termination. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The ocean returns: Mapping a mercurial Anthropocean

Humans have dumped ‘stuff’ in oceans in a particularly concentrated way since the Industrial Revolution, the effects of which we now note as evidence of the Anthropocene – or the Anthropocean. In this article, I consider what the oceans now return to us in the form of pollution. I trace the production of a mercurial ocean through the production of mercury as it is taken up and transported by atmospheric and oceanic currents from artisanal mines in Asia, and transformed into methylmercury. As methylmercury, it enters into the food chain and eventuates in the diets of certain populations, especially those in Nordic countries, with toxic effects into future generations. This, I argue, produces a particular ocean, one with temporal and spatial multiplicity. The flow of mercury is gendered and racialized with women workers in Indonesia being primarily affected while women in the north are the recipients of methylmercury in the form of toxic fish. I engage with scientific research on mercury flows and methylmercury biogeochemical cycling, and draw on the work of Annemarie Mol on the body multiple, feminist research into epigenetics (Mansfield, Guthman, Landecker), and feminist environmental posthumanism (Alaimo, Neimanis). My argument seeks to disturb the singular and othered ocean in order to make way for the ocean multiple – a conception of the different forms of the oceanic produced through the athwart admixtures of the more-than-human (Helmreich, Probyn).
General Metallic-Dielectric Structures: A Characteristic Mode Analysis Using Volume-Surface Formulations

In this article, the characteristic mode analysis (CMA) of general metallic-dielectric structures is performed using the volume-surface integral equation (VSIE). The whole-structure and substructure formulations for the CMA are presented and discussed. It is proven that only the substructure operator is symmetrical and therefore fulfills CMA's theoretic requirements. Such a symmetrical operator ensures that the computed eigencurrents are orthogonal and the eigenvalues are real numbers. Numerical analysis verifies that the substructure formulation yields more accurate results than the whole-structure one. A smartphone chassis on an FR-4 substrate and a split-ring resonator (SRR) on a Teflon substrate are analyzed using the presented method. The influence of the mesh size is discussed and it is shown that the volume mesh density increases at a rate similar to the surface mesh. In short, the volume-surface integral formulation with a substructure treatment is versatile, stable, and reasonably efficient for the CMA of thin metallicdielectric structures with planar or curved shapes.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Left Temporal Lobe Modulates Insight

Creativity is the ability to come up with new and original solutions to problems. It is characterized along a dipole spectrum, with the opposing ends defined as convergent and divergent thinking. Previous studies have provided evidence that various cognitive functions and insight into non-verbal problems can be enhanced using non-invasive brain stimulation. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether convergent and divergent thinking, as well as insight, can be modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the anterior temporal lobe (ATL). Bilateral tDCS (1.5 mA, 20 minutes) was used to modulate activity of the right (AR tDCS) and the left (AL tDCS) ATL. Twenty-one participants performed a divergent thinking test (DTT) during tDCS, while a Remote Associates Task (RAT) was administered before and after tDCS to assess convergent thinking. A control experiment, using a Simple Reaction Time (SRT) Task, was conducted in 10 subjects before and after ATL tDCS in order to investigate whether its effects reflect attention or motor effects on the dominant hand. Results from this preliminary study showed that AL tDCS reduced RAT reaction times (RTs) by 20%. Both AL and AR tDCS did not change RAT accuracy, or the DTT total or sub-item scores. No differences were found in the SRT task after either AL or AR tDCS. These findings suggest that left but not right ATL is involved in convergent thinking. Conversely, both left and right temporal cortex tDCS-induced excitability changes failed to modulate divergent thinking. Limitations are discussed.
Cultural Health Attributions, Beliefs, and Practices: Effects on Healthcare and Medical Education

Health attributions influence health beliefs and subsequent health behaviors. Health attributions are partly shaped by culture. In turn, cultural health attributions affect beliefs about disease, treatment, and health practices. Like- wise, culture influences health and healing practices. Certain cultures have culture-bound syndromes about which medical practitioners should be trained. Other sociocultural factors such as immigration, acculturation, and social support play sig- nificant roles in health attributions and medical adherence. Culturally diverse patient populations require that medical educators learn new methods of cultural assessment and treatment in order to be effective. Medical educators also need teaching and learning approaches and philosophies that consider health attributions, beliefs, and practices of patients.
Worst- and average-case complexity of LLL lattice reduction in MIMO wireless systems

Lattice reduction by means of the LLL algorithm has been previously suggested as a powerful preprocessing tool that allows to improve the performance of suboptimal detectors and to reduce the complexity of optimal MIMO detectors. The complexity of the LLL algorithm is often cited as polynomial in the dimension of the lattice. In this paper we argue that this statement is not correct when made in the MIMO context. Specifically, we demonstrate that in typical communication scenarios the worst-case complexity of the LLL algorithm is not even finite. For i.i. d. Rayleigh fading channels, we further prove that the average LLL complexity is polynomial and that the probability for an atypically large number of LLL iterations decays exponentially.
Internal Consistency and Factor Structure of the 3M Preschool Routines Functioning Scale

This article presents a pilot study of the 3M Preschool Routines Functioning Scale (3M) with Spanish children. Twenty teachers and 285 children, from 6 early childhood education centers in Valencia, Spain, participated. The teachers completed one 3M scale on each child in their classrooms. We studied the internal consistency of the scores of the scale items, the factor structure, and the sensitivity of the scale to identify differences on children's functioning level in relationship to their age. The 3M produced scores with strong internal consistency and an exploratory factor analysis resulted in 4 factors: Sophisticated Engagement, Personal–Social, Average Engagement, and Independence. The 3M total score had strong internal consistency, and the strong correlations among the factors and with the 3M total score suggested that the scale measured 1 dimension of child functioning, which we identified as participation.
Optimal Corporate Governance in the Presence of an Activist Investor

We provide a model of governance in which a board arbitrates between an activist investor and a manager facing reputational concerns. The optimal level of internal board governance depends on both the severity of the agency conflict and the strength of external governance. Internal governance creates a certification effect, so greater intervention by the board can lead to worse managerial behavior. Internal and external governance are substitutes when external governance is weak (the board commits to an interventionist policy to induce participation from the activist) and complements when external governance is strong (the board relies to a greater extent on the activist's information). The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Explicit modeling of ancestry improves polygenic risk scores and BLUP prediction

Polygenic prediction using genome-wide SNPs can provide high prediction accuracy for complex traits. Here, we investigate the question of how to account for genetic ancestry when conducting polygenic prediction. We show that the accuracy of polygenic prediction in structured populations may be partly due to genetic ancestry. However, we hypothesized that explicitly modeling ancestry could improve polygenic prediction accuracy. We analyzed three GWAS of hair color, tanning ability and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in European Americans (sample size from 7,440 to 9,822) and considered two widely used polygenic prediction approaches: polygenic risk scores (PRS) and Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP). We compared polygenic prediction without correction for ancestry to polygenic prediction with ancestry as a separate component in the model. In 10-fold cross-validation using the PRS approach, the R2 for hair color increased by 66% (0.0456 to 0.0755; p<10−16), the R2 for tanning ability increased by % (0.0154 to 0.0344; p<10−16) and the liability-scale R2 for BCC increased by 68% (0.0138 to 0.0232; p<10−16) when explicitly modeling ancestry, which prevents ancestry effects from entering into each SNP effect and being over-weighted. Surprisingly, explicitly modeling ancestry produces a similar improvement when using the BLUP approach, which fits all SNPs simultaneously in a single variance component and causes ancestry to be under-weighted. We validate our findings via simulations, which show that the differences in prediction accuracy will increase in magnitude as sample sizes increase. In summary, our results show that explicitly modeling ancestry can be important in both PRS and BLUP prediction.
ENERGY HARVESTING FOR TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS: DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

As of September 2007, all cars sold in the United States must be equipped with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). Pending legislation in the European Union and some Asian countries makes universal adoption likely in many parts of the world. Given this large mandated market along with the fact that current TPMS modules require a battery for operation, interest in energy harvesters for TPMS is high. All TPMS modules currently on the market attach to the rim or valve stem rather than the tire. The focus of this paper is to explore the application requirements, feasibility, and design considerations for rim and valve stem based energy harvesters to replace the battery in TPMS modules. The energy input along with the application requirements make a MEMS based design highly impractical. However, a technical solution to the problem that meets the current requirements from the energy available is feasible if difficult considering some of the extreme requirements.
Host gene expression classifiers diagnose acute respiratory illness etiology

Pathogen-specific host gene expression changes may combat inappropriate antibiotic use and emerging antibiotic resistance. Resisting antibiotics No matter the cause, acute respiratory infections can be miserable. Indeed, these infections are one of the most common reasons for seeking medical care. A clear diagnostic can help medical practitioners resist the patient-induced pressure to prescribe antibiotics as a catch-all therapy, which increases the risk of bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. Now, Tsalik et al. report clear differences in host gene expression induced by bacterial and viral infection as well as by noninfectious illness. These differences can be used to discriminate between these groups, and a host gene expression classifier may be a helpful diagnostic platform to curb unnecessary antibiotic use. Acute respiratory infections caused by bacterial or viral pathogens are among the most common reasons for seeking medical care. Despite improvements in pathogen-based diagnostics, most patients receive inappropriate antibiotics. Host response biomarkers offer an alternative diagnostic approach to direct antimicrobial use. This observational cohort study determined whether host gene expression patterns discriminate noninfectious from infectious illness and bacterial from viral causes of acute respiratory infection in the acute care setting. Peripheral whole blood gene expression from 273 subjects with community-onset acute respiratory infection (ARI) or noninfectious illness, as well as 44 healthy controls, was measured using microarrays. Sparse logistic regression was used to develop classifiers for bacterial ARI (71 probes), viral ARI (33 probes), or a noninfectious cause of illness (26 probes). Overall accuracy was 87% (238 of 273 concordant with clinical adjudication), which was more accurate than procalcitonin (78%, P < 0.03) and three published classifiers of bacterial versus viral infection (78 to 83%). The classifiers developed here externally validated in five publicly available data sets (AUC, 0.90 to 0.99). A sixth publicly available data set included 25 patients with co-identification of bacterial and viral pathogens. Applying the ARI classifiers defined four distinct groups: a host response to bacterial ARI, viral ARI, coinfection, and neither a bacterial nor a viral response. These findings create an opportunity to develop and use host gene expression classifiers as diagnostic platforms to combat inappropriate antibiotic use and emerging antibiotic resistance.
Naturalistic speech misperception

This thesis presents a new corpus containing ≈ 5,000 instances of naturally occurring misperception of conversational English, which is the result of a standardised format for the orthographic and phonetic transcriptions and meta-data of existing naturalistic corpora. I examined top-down phonetic/phonological factors and bottom-up lexical factors for their contributions in naturalistic settings. On the feature level, voicing/place/manner confusions were best explained using sonority, featural underspecification (Lahiri and Reetz, 2002) and markedness (Lombardi, 2002), and vowel height/backness confusions using perceived similarity (Steriade, 2001) and chain shifts (Labov, 1994a). On the segment level, I found that confusions can be explained with acoustic/featural distances, and extreme signal-to-noise ratio and narrow bandwidth were less ecologically valid. Furthermore, three well-known sound changes (TH-fronting, velar nasal fronting and back vowel fronting) were consistently found in naturalistic and experimental data. On the syllable level, codas are more likely to be misperceived than nuclei/onsets for monosyllables, but onsets are more likely to be misperceived for polysyllables. Fewer errors occur in the stressed syllables than in unstressed syllables in polysyllabic words, but not monosyllables. Initial syllables are more likely to be misperceived than medial syllables, which in turn are more prone to misperception than final syllables. On the word level, listeners were found to perceive a word of similar frequency as the intended word in a misperception – but crucially not a more frequent word. This supports the graceful degradation account of a malfunctioning system (Vitevitch, 2002). On the utterance level, listeners were sensitive to the predictability of a word, suggesting that less predictable words are more likely to be misperceived. Together, these analyses establish the naturalistic corpus as an ecologically valid resource and a benchmark of misperception, bridge the gap between experimental and naturalistic studies, and highlight the need of examining misperception with units larger than nonsense syllables.
External cameras and a mobile robot: A collaborative surveillance system

This paper presents a system that surveils an indoor environment through the collaborative use of overhead cameras and a mobile robot. The robot is localized both in the image plane of the external camera and a ground plane map of its environment. This simultaneous localization is used to build up a homography between the image plane of each external camera and the ground plane. The robot begins the calibration procedure by moving through a series of pre-determined waypoints in the environment. As it comes into view of each camera, it uses visual servoing to orbit the centre of the camera image and keeping within its eld of view whilst avoiding obstacles. The system builds up a transformation matrix between each camera and the ground plane and proceeds to patrol the environment. When an intruder is detected in any of the external cameras, the system uses the automatically determined homography matrices to calculate the ground plane position of the person and sends out the robot to intercept the intruder. Experiments are conducted with 2 external cameras in this paper but could easily be extended to N cameras.