Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A happier and less sinister past, a more hedonistic and less fatalistic present and a more structured future: time perspective and well-being

Background. Previous studies have established a link between how people relate to their past, present, and future (i.e., time perspective) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect). Time perspective comprises five dimensions: Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future. Life satisfaction can also be evaluated in relation to different time frames. Moreover, approach related positive affect is associated to a different concept of well-being labeled psychological well-being. In the present study we extend previous findings by investigating the effect of time perspective on the time frame of evaluations of life satisfaction (past, present, future) and by investigating the relationship between time perspective and psychological well-being. Method. Questionnaires on time perspective (Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory), temporal life satisfaction (Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale), affect (Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule), and psychological well-being (Scales of Psychological Well-Being—short version) were answered by 453 individuals. Two different structural equation models were tested, one of the relationship between time perspective and temporal life satisfaction, and the other of the relationship between time perspective, affect and psychological well-being. Results. Time perspective affected life satisfaction depending on the time scale on which it was evaluated—memory of a negative past influenced life satisfaction in all time frames, and a positive view of the past influenced both past and future life satisfaction. Moreover, less rumination about past negative events (i.e., low score on Past Negative), the tendency to take risks in the present to achieve happy feelings and/or avoid boredom (i.e., high scores on Present Hedonistic), and a less hopeless and pessimistic view about the present (low scores on Present Fatalistic) were associated with higher levels of psychological well-being and positive affect. These same time perspective dimensions were associated with lower levels of negative affect. The Future time perspective dimension (i.e., approaching life with self-control, punctuality, and planning for the future) was associated with both psychological well-being and positive affect. Conclusions. High levels of both subjective and psychological well-being are related to a happier and a less sinister past, a more hedonistic and less fatalistic present, as well as to a more structured future.
Comparison of context-based interaction patterns of mothers who are homeless with their preschool children.

PURPOSE The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the influence of context on interaction patterns used by mothers who are homeless with their preschool children during book-reading and game-playing activities. The impact of mothers' previously determined language functioning on their contextual use of facilitating language utterances was also examined. METHOD Using a prospective, nonrandomized, comparison group design, mothers read a book and played a game with their preschool children. Facilitating language utterances produced by the mothers in 16 mother-child dyads during each activity were analyzed. RESULTS Regardless of their language functioning, no significant contextual differences in percentage use of facilitating language utterances were found across mothers. Overall maternal use of facilitating utterances was less than 50%. Across both contexts, mothers used few different types of facilitating language utterances. CONCLUSIONS This exploratory study provides initial evidence of overall consistency of facilitating language utterance use by mothers who are homeless during interactions with their preschool children across contexts, regardless of maternal language functioning. This study provides an initial framework for future research investigating the interactions of families who are homeless and discusses possible language interventions for these at-risk families.
Antiviral Activity of Innate Immune Protein ISG15

The host innate immune response, including the production of type-I IFN, represents the primary line of defense against invading viral pathogens. Of the hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) discovered to date, ISG15 was one of the first identified and shown to encode a ubiquitin-like protein that functions, in part, as a modifier of protein function. Evidence implicating ISG15 as an innate immune protein with broad-spectrum antiviral activity continues to accumulate rapidly. This review will summarize recent findings on the innate antiviral activity of ISG15, with a focus on the interplay between ubiquitination and ISGylation pathways resulting in modulation of RNA virus assembly/budding. Indeed, ubiquitination is known to be proviral for some RNA viruses, whereas the parallel ISGylation pathway is known to be antiviral. A better understanding of the antiviral activities of ISG15 will enhance our fundamental knowledge of host innate responses to viral pathogens and may provide insight useful for the development of novel therapeutic approaches designed to enhance the immune response against such pathogens.
HRP2 determines the efficiency and specificity of HIV-1 integration in LEDGF/p75 knockout cells but does not contribute to the antiviral activity of a potent LEDGF/p75-binding site integrase inhibitor

The binding of integrase (IN) to lens epithelium-derived growth factor (LEDGF)/p75 in large part determines the efficiency and specificity of HIV-1 integration. However, a significant residual preference for integration into active genes persists in Psip1 (the gene that encodes for LEDGF/p75) knockout (KO) cells. One other cellular protein, HRP2, harbors both the PWWP and IN-binding domains that are important for LEDGF/p75 co-factor function. To assess the role of HRP2 in HIV-1 integration, cells generated from Hdgfrp2 (the gene that encodes for HRP2) and Psip1/Hdgfrp2 KO mice were infected alongside matched control cells. HRP2 depleted cells supported normal infection, while disruption of Hdgfrp2 in Psip1 KO cells yielded additional defects in the efficiency and specificity of integration. These deficits were largely restored by ectopic expression of either LEDGF/p75 or HRP2. The double-KO cells nevertheless supported residual integration into genes, indicating that IN and/or other host factors contribute to integration specificity in the absence of LEDGF/p75 and HRP2. Psip1 KO significantly increased the potency of an allosteric inhibitor that binds the LEDGF/p75 binding site on IN, a result that was not significantly altered by Hdgfrp2 disruption. These findings help to rule out the host factor-IN interactions as the primary antiviral targets of LEDGF/p75-binding site IN inhibitors.
Ieee Transactions on Signal Processing Extension of Wirtinger's Calculus to Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces and the Complex Kernel Lms

—Over the last decade, kernel methods for nonlinear processing have successfully been used in the machine learning community. The primary mathematical tool employed in these methods is the notion of the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space. However, so far, the emphasis has been on batch techniques. It is only recently, that online techniques have been considered in the context of adaptive signal processing tasks. Moreover, these efforts have only been focussed on real valued data sequences. To the best of our knowledge, no adaptive kernel-based strategy has been developed, so far, for complex valued signals. Furthermore, although the real reproducing kernels are used in an increasing number of machine learning problems, complex kernels have not, yet, been used, in spite of their potential interest in applications that deal with complex signals, with Communications being a typical example. In this paper, we present a general framework to attack the problem of adaptive filtering of complex signals, using either real reproducing kernels, taking advantage of a technique called complexification of real RKHSs, or complex reproducing kernels, highlighting the use of the complex gaussian kernel. In order to derive gradients of operators that need to be defined on the associated complex RKHSs, we employ the powerful tool of Wirtinger's Calculus, which has recently attracted attention in the signal processing community. Wirtinger's calculus simplifies computations and offers an elegant tool for treating complex signals. To this end, in this paper, the notion of Wirtinger's calculus is extended, for the first time, to include complex RKHSs and use it to derive several realizations of the Complex Kernel Least-Mean-Square (CKLMS) algorithm. Experiments verify that the CKLMS offers significant performance improvements over several linear and nonlinear algorithms, when dealing with nonlinearities.
Dietary Patterns Derived by Cluster Analysis are Associated with Cognitive Function among Korean Older Adults

The objective of this study was to investigate major dietary patterns among older Korean adults through cluster analysis and to determine an association between dietary patterns and cognitive function. This is a cross-sectional study. The data from the Korean Multi-Rural Communities Cohort Study was used. Participants included 765 participants aged 60 years and over. A quantitative food frequency questionnaire with 106 items was used to investigate dietary intake. The Korean version of the MMSE-KC (Mini-Mental Status Examination–Korean version) was used to assess cognitive function. Two major dietary patterns were identified using K-means cluster analysis. The “MFDF” dietary pattern indicated high consumption of Multigrain rice, Fish, Dairy products, Fruits and fruit juices, while the “WNC” dietary pattern referred to higher intakes of White rice, Noodles, and Coffee. Means of the total MMSE-KC and orientation score of the participants in the MFDF dietary pattern were higher than those of the WNC dietary pattern. Compared with the WNC dietary pattern, the MFDF dietary pattern showed a lower risk of cognitive impairment after adjusting for covariates (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.44–0.94). The MFDF dietary pattern, with high consumption of multigrain rice, fish, dairy products, and fruits may be related to better cognition among Korean older adults.
Roles of Pax-genes in developing and adult brain as suggested by expression patterns

We have examined the transcript distribution of six members of the murine paired box-containing gene family (Pax-gene family) in midgestation embryo and adult brain using in situ hybridization analysis. The expression domains of several Pax-genes in the embryo brain were found to correspond with anatomical boundaries that coincide with neuromere landmarks and therefore respect former neuromere territories in the forebrain. The results are consistent with the concept of brain segmentation and suggest a role for Pax-genes in the brain regionalization. In the adult brain the expression of Pax-genes was observed in discreet areas, with a caudal to rostral restriction in the number of the expressed genes. In general the distribution of transcripts along the anterior-posterior axis was similar to that found in midgestation embryo brain, suggesting a role for Pax-genes in the commitment of the precursor cells to different neuronal cell fates and in the maintenance of specific brain cell subtypes. In the cerebellar cortex, the granular cell layer was found to express high levels of the Pax-6 gene, while putative Bergmann glia and cells surrounding the Purkinje cells contained Pax-3 transcripts. The main adult brain structures that expressed distinct Pax-mRNAs were the periglomerular and granular cell layer of olfactory bulb, nuclei of the septum, amygdala, and isthmus, which suggests a role for the Pax-gene family in the specification of the subcortical domains of the evolutionary old limbic system.
Control of moulting and metamorphosis in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (L.): cessation of juvenile hormone secretion as a trigger for pupation.

During the final larval instar of the tobacco hornworm the presence of juvenile hormone (JH) inhibits the secretion of the brain9s prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH). The corpora allata cease to secrete JH when the larvae attain a weight of approximately 5 g. The JH is cleared from the haemolymph in about 24 h. This process in itself renders the brain competent to release PTTH. The actual release of PTTH occurs at the very first photo-periodic gate after the JH has disappeared from the haemolymph. A functional failure of this normal mechanism is apparently responsible for the developmental standstill of Lepidoptera which diapause as mature larvae.
When does pleasure start after the end of pain? The time course of relief

Painful events are suggested to elicit two opponent responses: a negatively valenced and a positively valenced process triggered by their onset and termination, respectively. Consequently, stimuli (conditioned stimulus, CS) associated with pain onset (unconditioned stimulus, US) provoke defensive responses like startle potentiation, while stimuli associated with pain termination elicit appetitive responses like startle attenuation. Here we summarize four studies elucidating the time course of the relief following the termination of a painful US. In these studies, the timing of a relief‐associated stimulus (reliefCS) presented after a painful US was varied from immediately (Study1), 3 seconds (Study4), or 6 seconds (Study2 and 3) after the US. Responses to these relief CSs were compared also with responses to a stimulus presented before the US (fearCS), and a third stimulus (safetyCS) that was never associated with the US. The synopsis of these studies reveals that the timing of the reliefCS is crucial to turn a defensive response into an appetitive response. Namely, the reliefCS immediately following the US‐induced startle potentiation and negative valence (Study1); 3 seconds later, the startle response was slightly less potentiated and the ratings a little less negative (Study4); finally, the reliefCS presented 6 seconds after the US caused startle attenuation (Study2 and 3) and positively valenced ratings (Study3). In sum, the observed time course of relief closely follows the predictions of opponent process theory. This means that relief may be a reinforcer that elicits conditioned appetitive behavior, but its reinforcing properties strongly depend on its temporal relation to the aversive event. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:1653–1667, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A new approach of strength models for FRP-confined concrete

ABSTRACT One of the still opened problems relating to strengthening and repairing of reinforced concrete structures using fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) is the modelling of the behaviour of the composites structures. Many studies have been carried out to predict the axial load carrying capacities of FRP-retrofitted circular concrete specimens. In this paper, our tests results obtained experimentally and also a large test database of existing studies were applied to clear up the using possibilities of the available axial strength models for FRP confinement. Finally equations to predict the compressive strength and the failure strain, as well as the entire stress-strain curve of FRP-confined concrete cylinders were developed. Comparison between the experimental results and the proposed model provides a satisfactory prediction of the stress-strain response.
Practice management guidelines for the screening of thoracolumbar spine fracture.

BACKGROUND Fractures to the thoracolumbar spine (TLS) commonly occur because of major trauma mechanisms. In one series, 4.4% of all patients arriving at a Level I trauma center were diagnosed as having TLS fracture. Approximately 19% to 50% of these fractures in the TLS region will be associated with neurologic damage to the spinal cord. To date there are no randomized studies and only a few prospective studies specifically addressing the subject. The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma organization Practice Management Guidelines committee set out to develop an EBM guideline for the diagnosis of TLS fractures. METHODS A computerized search of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health MEDLINE database was undertaken using the PubMed Entrez (www.pubmed.gov) interface. The primary search strategy was developed to retrieve English language articles focusing on diagnostic examination of potential TLS injury published between 1995 and March 2005. Articles were screened based on the following questions. (1) Does a patient who is awake, nonintoxicated, without distracting injuries require radiographic workup or a clinical examination only? (2) Does a patient with a distracting injury, altered mental status, or pain require radiographic examination? (3) Does the obtunded patient require radiographic examination? RESULTS Sixty-nine articles were identified after the initial screening process, all of which dealt with blunt injury to the TLS, along with clinical, radiographic, fluoroscopic, and magnetic resonance imaging evaluation. From this group, 32 articles were selected. The reviewers identified 27 articles that dealt with the initial evaluation of TLS injury after trauma. CONCLUSION Computed tomography (CT) scan imaging of the bony spine has advanced with helical and currently multidetector images to allow reformatted axial collimation of images into two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. As a result, bony injuries to the TLS are commonly being identified. Most blunt trauma patients require CT to screen for other injuries. This has allowed the single admitting series of CT scans to also include screening for bony spine injuries. However, all of the publications fail to clearly define the criteria used to decide who gets radiographs or CT scans. No study has carefully conducted long-term follow-up on all of their trauma patients to identify all cases of TLS injury missed in the acute setting.
Automatic Classification of Acquisition Problems Affecting Fingerprint Images in Automated Border Controls

Automated Border Control (ABC) systems are technologies designed to increase the speed and accuracy of the identity verifications performed at international borders. A great number of ABCs deployed in different countries use fingerprint recognition techniques because of their high accuracy and user acceptability. However, the accuracy of fingerprint recognition methods can drastically decrease in this application context due to user-sensor interaction factors. This paper presents two main contributions. The first of them consists in an experimental evaluation performed to search the main negative aspects that could affect the usability and accuracy in ABCs based on fingerprint biometrics. The mainly considered aspects consists in the presence of luggage and cleanness of the finger skin. The second contribution consists in a novel approach for automatically identifying the type of user-sensor interaction that caused quality degradations in fingerprint samples. This method uses a specific feature set and computational intelligence techniques to detect non-idealities in the acquisition process and to suggest corrective actions to travelers and border guards. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method in the literature designed to detect problems in user-sensor interaction different from improper pressures on the acquisition surface. We validated the proposed approach using a dataset of 2880 images simulating different scenarios typical of ABCs. Results shown that the proposed approach is feasible and can obtain satisfactory performance, with a classification error of 0.098.
ASYMPTOTIC SIZE AND A PROBLEM WITH SUBSAMPLING AND WITH THE m OUT OF n BOOTSTRAP

This paper considers inference based on a test statistic that has a limit distribution that is discontinuous in a parameter. The paper shows that subsampling and m out of n bootstrap tests based on such a test statistic often have asymptotic size—defined as the limit of exact size—that is greater than the nominal level of the tests. This is due to a lack of uniformity in the pointwise asymptotics. We determine precisely the asymptotic size of such tests under a general set of high-level conditions that are relatively easy to verify. The results show that the asymptotic size of subsampling and m out of n bootstrap tests is distorted in some examples but not in others.
Bispectral Index Monitoring Does Not Improve Anesthesia Performance in Patients with Movement Disorders Undergoing Deep Brain Stimulating Electrode Implantation

BACKGROUND:Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a promising therapy for movement disorders. During the implantation procedure for the electrodes, the patient emerges from anesthesia repeatedly to facilitate neurological testing. We investigated whether Bispectral Index (BIS ™) monitoring would be beneficial in patients receiving “sleep-awake-sleep” anesthesia with respect to time of arousal, consumption of propofol, and cardiopulmonary stability (i.e., heart rate, arterial blood pressure, and end-tidal carbon dioxide). METHODS:We investigated 21 patients scheduled for implantation of DBS electrodes. Depth of propofol anesthesia was controlled either with BIS guidance in 10 patients (BIS group) or without in 11 patients (non-BIS group). In the BIS group, a BIS score of 40–60 was targeted during sleep periods, whereas in the non-BIS group, a value of 1 (= no response to tactile stimulation [unconsciousness]) on the Observers’ Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale was targeted. For analgesia, the sites for the burr holes and for the pins of the stereotactic ring were infiltrated with 2% lidocaine; no opioids were used. For periods during which an awake patient required neurological testing, propofol was discontinued. RESULTS:We found no difference between groups with respect to times of arousal, total amount of propofol consumption, and cardiopulmonary stability. However, significantly more propofol boluses had to be administered in the BIS group (30 ± 11.6 vs 17 ± 4.6) to maintain the BIS score within the target range (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION:BIS monitoring does not improve anesthesia management for DBS electrode implantation in patients with movement disorders.
APPROACH TO EQUILIBRIUM IN N-BODY GRAVITATIONAL SYSTEMS

The evolution of closed gravitational systems is studied by means of $N$-body simulations. This, as well as being interesting in its own right, provides insight into the dynamical and statistical mechanical properties of gravitational systems: the possibility of the existence of stable equilibrium states and the associated relaxation time would provide an ideal situation where relaxation theory can be tested. Indeed, these states are found to exist for single mass $N$-body systems, and the condition condition for this is simply that obtained from elementary thermodynamical considerations applied to self-gravitating ideal gas spheres. However, even when this condition is satisfied, some initial states may not end as isothermal spheres. It is therefore only a necessary condition. Simple considerations also predict that, for fixed total mass, energy and radius, stable isothermal spheres are unique. Therefore, statistically irreversible perturbations to the density profile caused by the accumulation of massive particles near the centre of multimass systems, destroy these equilibria if the aforementioned quantities are kept fixed. The time-scale for this to happen was found to be remarkably short (a few dynamical times when $N= 2500$) in systems undergoing violent relaxation. The time taken to achieve thermal equilibrium depended on the initial conditions and could be comparable to a dynamical time (even when the conditions for violent relaxation were not satisfied) or the two body relaxation time. The relaxation time for velocity anisotropies was intermediate between these two time-scales, being long compared to the dynamical time but much (about four times) shorter than the time-scale of energy relaxation.