Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Older adults’ use of various types of technology: A typology approach

Developed in the late 1990s, the modernization theory of aging posited that older adults were in danger of losing control and power over their lives because they could not keep up with technological progress. Early concerns about the age-related digital divide focused more on the access to technology; however, the age-related digital divide is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. Previous works on technology use are not without substantial inconsistencies, and the research findings on antecedents and consequences of technology use remain especially equivocal. Without refining technology construct, inconsistent findings could hinder the understanding of different associations among distinct forms of technology used by older adults. This dissertation consists of three studies that examined predictors of refined technology construct health-related information technology (HIT), work-related information technology (WIT), communications technology (CT), entertainment technology (ET) and patterns of technology use in older populations, using the data from the most recent wave (2011) of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). I further explored patterns of technology use in older populations that have been overlooked in previous studies. Results from the first study showed sets of factors (i.e., individual characteristics, social roles, and personality traits) differently predicted each type of technology use. Older women were more likely to use HIT and CT, but less likely to use WIT. However, there were no gender differences in ET use. Older adults with higher subjective health predicted the use of WIT, CT, and ET, but not HIT. Among the Big Five personality traits, openness predicted all types of technology use, higher agreeableness was associated with less use of both HIT and WIT, and less conscientiousness was associated with less use of ET.
Noise removal using smoothed normals and surface fitting

In this work, we use partial differential equation techniques to remove noise from digital images. The removal is done in two steps. We first use a total-variation filter to smooth the normal vectors of the level curves of a noise image. After this, we try to find a surface to fit the smoothed normal vectors. For each of these two stages, the problem is reduced to a nonlinear partial differential equation. Finite difference schemes are used to solve these equations. A broad range of numerical examples are given in the paper.
A Model Based on the Relationship between Attachment to God and Marital Conflicts Mediated by Religious Coping

This study developed a model to explain the relationship between quality of attachment to God and marital conflicts through religious coping. For this purpose, the Muslim married students who were studying in the Al-Mustafa International University, Mashhad, were invited to participate in the study. Finally, 21 women and 22 men voluntarily enrolled and filled the M-SAS, the brief RCOPE (Pargament) and GRIMS. The results were analyzed by using structural equation modelling using partial least square and the software SmartPLS. The results showed a significant relationship (p<0.05) between secure attachment to God and marital conflicts through positive religious coping (t=7.89) and secure attachment to God and marital conflicts (t=2.46). Secure attachment to God could predict variations in marital conflicts. Moreover, there was a significant relationship (p<0.05) between avoidant attachment to God and marital conflicts (t=3.96); the avoidant attachment to God could predict 20% variance in marital conflicts (p<0.05). However, there was no significant relationship (p<0.05) between anxious attachment to God and marital conflicts and negative religious coping did not mediate the relationship between quality of attachment to God and marital conflicts (p<0.05). Therefore, the model could explain the relationship between secure attachment to God through positive religious coping and avoidant attachment to God and marital conflicts.
Empirical Estimate of Lyman-alpha Escape Fraction in a Statistical Sample of Lyman-alpha Emitters

The Lyman-alpha (Lya) recombination line is a fundamental tool for galaxy evolution studies and modern observational cosmology. However, subsequent interpretations are still prone to a number of uncertainties. Besides numerical efforts, empirical data are urgently needed for a better understanding of Lya escape process. We empirically estimate the Lyman-alpha escape fraction fesc(Lya) in a statistically significant sample of z ~ 0 - 0.3 galaxies in order to calibrate high-redshift Lyman-alpha observations. An optical spectroscopic follow-up of a sub-sample of 24 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) detected by GALEX at z ~ 0.2-0.3, combined with a UV-optical sample of local starbursts, both with matched apertures, allow us to quantify the dust extinction through Balmer lines, and to estimate the Lyman-alpha escape fraction from the Halpha flux corrected for extinction in the framework of the recombination theory. The global escape fraction of Lyman-alpha radiation spans nearly the entire range of values, from 0.5 to 100 %, and fesc(Lya) clearly decreases with increasing nebular dust extinction E(B-V). Several objects show fesc(Lya) greater than fesc(continuum) which may be an observational evidence for clumpy ISM geometry or for an aspherical ISM. Selection biases and aperture size effects may still prevail between z ~ 0.2-0.3 LAEs and local starbursts, which may explain the difference observed for fesc(Lya).
The Curious Case of Behavioral Backlash: Why Brands Produce Priming Effects and Slogans Produce Reverse Priming Effects

Five experiments demonstrate that brands cause priming effects (i.e., behavioral effects consistent with those implied by the brand), whereas slogans cause reverse priming effects (i.e., behavioral effects opposite to those implied by the slogan). For instance, exposure to the retailer brand name “Walmart,” typically associated with saving money, reduces subsequent spending, whereas exposure to the Walmart slogan, “Save money. Live better,” increases it. Slogans cause reverse priming effects and brands cause priming effects because people perceive slogans, but not brands, as persuasion tactics. The reverse priming effect is driven by a nonconscious goal to correct for bias and can occur without any conscious mediation (i.e., following subliminal exposure to the word “slogan”). These findings provide evidence that consumer resistance to persuasion can be driven by processes that operate entirely outside conscious awareness.
A System for Detecting Interviewer Falsification

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a federally sponsored annual survey that gathers data on substance use and abuse among the non-institutionalized civilian population of the United States, has developed a detailed system for the detection of interviewer falsification. This process includes phone, mail, and in-person field verification procedures, and the review of interview and interviewer-level process data to identify cases and interviewers requiring extra verification efforts. While these components of the system can successfully identify potential falsifiers, more savvy falsifiers may be able to remain undetected if they are aware that their data are being scrutinized. To address this gap, the NSDUH has recently added a new component to the falsification detection system: the regular review of interview response and question-level timing data. Response distributions for each interviewer are compared to those from other interviewers to identify interviewers whose responses appear to be highly unlikely, given their caseloads. These additional measures make it even more difficult for falsifiers to remain undetected, since they would need to have a specific understanding of the prevalence and correlates of substance use in order to enter likely responses. Similarly, question-level timings for particular items that require certain interviewer-respondent interactions are analyzed to detect outliers. Once potential falsifiers are identified, the work of the suspected interviewers is subject to 100% and/or in-person verification.
On the extinction profile of solutions to fast diffusion

Abstract We study the extinction behaviour of solutions to the fast diffusion equation ut = Δum on ℝ N × (0, T), in the range of exponents . We show that if the initial value u 0 is trapped in between two Barenblatt solutions vanishing at time T, then the vanishing behaviour of u at T is given by a Barenblatt solution. We also give an example showing that for such a behaviour the bound from above by a Barenblatt solution B (vanishing at T) is crucial: we construct a class of solutions u with initial value u 0 = B(1 + o(1)), near |x| » 1, which live longer than B and change behaviour at T. The behaviour of such solutions is governed by B(·, t) up to T, while for t > T the solutions become integrable and exhibit a different vanishing profile. For the Yamabe flow the above means that these solutions u develop a singularity at time T, when the Barenblatt solution disappears, and at t > T they immediately smoothen up and exhibit the vanishing profile of a sphere.
The relative importance of adolescent skills and behaviors for adult earnings: A cross-national study

Seeking convergent findings in five data sets from four countries, we assess the relative importance of adolescent skills and behaviors for completed schooling and labor market success in adulthood. We provide a framework for classifying "noncognitive" skills and use data designed by developmental psychologists to provide reliable measures of a variety of achievement and behavioral skills assessed between ages 13 and 16. Results show that adolescent achievement, particularly math achievement, is a stronger predictor of completed schooling than measures of noncognitive skills. Achievement skills also out-predict noncognitive skills with regard to adult earnings, although the differences are not as striking.
Psychometric Properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale Among Arab Americans

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE SATISFACTION WITH LIFE SCALE AMONG ARAB AMERICANS Afnan Musaitif, M.S. Marquette University, 2018 The body of literature on the Arab American population is growing both in breadth and depth. A biopsychosocial perspective has been applied in a review of the research on this population revealing gaps in the area of well-being among Arab Americans. Particularly, few studies have investigated well-being as defined by positive constructs, positive psychology, subjective well-being, or psychological wellbeing. More specifically, measures of these conceptualizations of well-being beyond the deficit model have not been validated among Arab Americans. This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of one of the most commonly used subjective well-being instruments, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Results of the study found strong evidence for the validity of the SWLS among Arab Americans. Implications of these findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Effect of Maillard Reacted Peptides on Human Salt Taste and the Amiloride-Insensitive Salt Taste Receptor (TRPV1t)

Maillard reacted peptides (MRPs) were synthesized by conjugating a peptide fraction (1000–5000 Da) purified from soy protein hydrolyzate with galacturonic acid, glucosamine, xylose, fructose, or glucose. The effect of MRPs was investigated on human salt taste and on the chorda tympani (CT) taste nerve responses to NaCl in Sprague–Dawley rats, wild-type, and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) knockout mice. MRPs produced a biphasic effect on human salt taste perception and on the CT responses in rats and wild-type mice in the presence of NaCl + benzamil (Bz, a blocker of epithelial Na+ channels), enhancing the NaCl response at low concentrations and suppressing it at high concentrations. The effectiveness of MRPs as salt taste enhancers varied with the conjugated sugar moiety: galacturonic acid = glucosamine > xylose > fructose > glucose. The concentrations at which MRPs enhanced human salt taste were significantly lower than the concentrations of MRPs that produced increase in the NaCl CT response. Elevated temperature, resiniferatoxin, capsaicin, and ethanol produced additive effects on the NaCl CT responses in the presence of MRPs. Elevated temperature and ethanol also enhanced human salt taste perception. N-(3-methoxyphenyl)-4-chlorocinnamid (a blocker of TRPV1t) inhibited the Bz-insensitive NaCl CT responses in the absence and presence of MRPs. TRPV1 knockout mice demonstrated no Bz-insensitive NaCl CT response in the absence or presence of MRPs. The results suggest that MRPs modulate human salt taste and the NaCl + Bz CT responses by interacting with TRPV1t.
Theta phase precession in hippocampal neuronal populations and the compression of temporal sequences

O'Keefe and Recce [1993] Hippocampus 3:317–330 described an interaction between the hippocampal theta rhythm and the spatial firing of pyramidal cells in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus: they found that a cell's spike activity advances to earlier phases of the theta cycle as the rat passes through the cell's place field. The present study makes use of large‐scale parallel recordings to clarify and extend this finding in several ways: 1) Most CA1 pyramidal cells show maximal activity at the same phase of the theta cycle. Although individual units exhibit deeper modulation, the depth of modulation of CA1 population activity is about 50%. The peak firing of inhibitory interneurons in CA1 occurs about 60° in advance of the peak firing of pyramidal cells, but different interneurons vary widely in their peak phases. 2) The first spikes, as the rat enters a pyramidal cell's place field, come 90°–120° after the phase of maximal pyramidal cell population activity, near the phase where inhibition is least. 3) The phase advance is typically an accelerating, rather than linear, function of position within the place field. 4) These phenomena occur both on linear tracks and in two‐dimensional environments where locomotion is not constrained to specific paths. 5) In two‐dimensional environments, place‐related firing is more spatially specific during the early part of the theta cycle than during the late part. This is also true, to a lesser extent, on a linear track. Thus, spatial selectivity waxes and wanes over the theta cycle. 6) Granule cells of the fascia dentata are also modulated by theta. The depth of modulation for the granule cell population approaches 100%, and the peak activity of the granule cell population comes about 90° earlier in the theta cycle than the peak firing of CA1 pyramidal cells. 7) Granule cells, like pyramidal cells, show robust phase precession. 8) Cross‐correlation analysis shows that portions of the temporal sequence of CA1 pyramidal cell place fields are replicated repeatedly within individual theta cycles, in highly compressed form. The compression ratio can be as much as 10:1.
The relationship between parent–young adult religious concord and depression

ABSTRACT The study’s purpose was to evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms in emerging adults (ages 18–24) and religious concordance/discordance with their parents (n = 161 dyads). Online surveys were distributed to young adults and a corresponding parent, evaluating religiosity, depressive symptoms (young adults only), and demographics. Regarding depressive symptoms among surveyed young adults, concordance for non-organizational religiosity (e.g., prayer/meditation; p = .005), and mother-young adult concordance were significantly inversely related (p = 0.0015), females (p = 0.001) were more likely to report depressive symptoms than males, and young adults with parental relationship asset (one parent: p = 0.0048; both parents: p = 0.0002) reported significantly lower depressive symptoms. Recommendations are discussed.
Teleparallel quintessence with a nonminimal coupling to a boundary term

We propose a new model in the teleparallel framework where we consider a scalar field nonminimally coupled to both the torsion $T$ and a boundary term given by the divergence of the torsion vector $B=\frac{2}{e}\partial_\mu (eT^\mu)$. This is inspired by the relation $R=-T+B$ between the Ricci scalar of general relativity and the torsion of teleparallel gravity. This theory in suitable limits incorporates both the nonminimal coupling of a scalar field to torsion, and the nonminimal coupling of a scalar field to the Ricci scalar. We analyse the cosmology of such models, and we perform a dynamical systems analysis on the case when we have only a pure coupling to the boundary term. It is found that the system generically evolves to a late time accelerating attractor solution without requiring any fine tuning of the parameters. A dynamical crossing of the phantom barrier is also shown to be possible.
A Demonstrator for Automatic Music Mood Estimation

Interest in automatic music mood classification is increasing because it could enable people to browse and manage their music collections by means of the music’s emotional expression complementary to the widely used music genres. We continue our work on designing a well defined ground-truth database for music mood classification and show a demonstrator of automatic mood estimation. While a subjective evaluation of this algorithm on arbitrary music is ongoing, the initial classification results are encouraging and suggest that an automatic predicition of music mood is possible.
A Transcendental Phenomenological Investigation of Novice Teachers' Experiences with Parental Involvement in Title I Elementary Schools

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe novice teachers’ experiences with parental involvement in Title I elementary schools in southern Virginia. Parental involvement was defined as parents actively engaging in their child’s education, critically important to academic development. Kolb’s (2015) experiential learning theory was the theoretical framework for this study. The significance of this study investigated novice teachers, those with five or fewer years’ teaching background, and their experiences with parental involvement in Title I elementary schools. In doing so, 14 novice teachers from Title I elementary schools in southern Virginia, were chosen to participate. Interviews, individual and focus group, as well as writing prompts, were used to collect data. This study attempted to answer the central research question: How do novice teachers describe their experience with parental involvement in Title I elementary schools in southern Virginia? This study also attempted to answer sub-questions: (a) What role do novice teachers perceive Title I elementary schools to have when engaging parents in family-school relationships? (b) How do novice teachers in Title I elementary schools describe prior experiences in teacher-preparation programs when training for building family-school relationships? (c) What successful academic and social experiences can novice teachers describe with students in Title I elementary schools when parents are homeand/or school-base involved? and (d) What do novice teachers perceive as academic challenges with students when observing a lack of homeand/or school-based parental involvement in Title I elementary schools? Data analysis used Moustakas’ (1994) step-by-step method, to provide a rich description of novice teachers’ experiences.
The Effects of Varying Active A f Temperatures on the Fatigue Properties of Nitinol Wire

The influence of deformation temperature on mechanical properties of Shape Memory and Superelastic NickelTitanium (Nitinol) alloys has been studied and is well documented. In determining the effectiveness of a device when it is deployed and maintained under strain at ambient or body temperature, both the material properties and the environments encountered by the final device must be taken into account. In device design, it is important to understand the thermomechanical history of the wire supplied. However, data is lacking in terms of deriving a relationship between transition temperatures to a breadth of mechanical properties. Engineers of medical devices tailor the final material properties of wires used in a medical device application typically through a shape-setting process. Heat treating Nitinol wires in this type or a similar process aids in obtaining a desired shape as well as in reaching a target Active Af prior to final surface preparation. These processing steps can affect fatigue life. By applying alternating tension and compression states through rotary beam fatigue testing, one may generate data to predict the life expectancy of Nitinol wires. Specimens with varying Active Austenitic Finish temperatures have been subjected to multiple strain levels. The relevancy of this type of study, which involves the generation of fatigue data, supplements thermal and mechanical data to provide design engineers additional information for the development of Nitinol wire implants.
A Role for the Periaqueductal Gray in Switching Adaptive Behavioral Responses

Previous studies suggested a role for the rostral lateral periaqueductal gray (PAG) in the inhibition of maternal behavior induced by low doses of morphine in dams with previous morphine experience. In the present study, we first showed that unilateral NMDA lesions placed in this particular PAG region prevented the morphine-induced inhibition of maternal behavior in previously morphine-sensitized dams. As suggested by previous Fos data on the PAG, predatory hunting appears as a likely candidate to replace maternal behavior in the morphine-treated dams. By testing saline- and morphine-treated dams with live cockroaches only, we have presently shown that morphine challenge increased insect hunting. Moreover, morphine- and saline-treated dams were also observed in an environment containing pups and roaches. Although most of the saline-treated animals displayed active nursing and only occasionally presented insect hunting, all of the morphine-treated animals ignored the pups and avidly pursued and caught the roaches. We next questioned whether the rostral lateral PAG would be involved in this behavioral switch. Our results showed that unilateral lesions of the rostral lateral PAG, but not other parts of the PAG, partially impaired predatory hunting and restored part of the maternal response. Moreover, bilateral lesions of the rostral lateral PAG produced even more dramatic effects in inhibiting insect hunting and restoring maternal behavior. The present findings indisputably show that the rostral lateral PAG influences switching from maternal to hunting behavior in morphine-treated dams, thus supporting a previously unsuspected role for the PAG in selecting adaptive behavioral responses.