Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Food Healthiness, Trust, and the Intention to Reuse Food Delivery Apps: The Moderating Role of Eco-Friendly Packaging

The goal of this research is to investigate the relationship among food healthiness, trust, and the intention to reuse food delivery apps. Another purpose of this work is to examine the moderating effect of eco-friendly food packaging on the association between food healthiness and trust in food delivery apps. A survey was the main instrument for this work, with Amazon Mechanical Turk being used to collect the relevant data, resulting in a total of 343 observations. PROCESS model 7 was employed to test the research hypotheses. The results reveal that the intention to reuse is positively impacted by trust and food healthiness in food delivery apps. The results also uncover a significant moderating impact of eco-friendly packaging on the relationship between food healthiness and trust. The high food healthiness and high eco-friendly packaging group has the highest level of trust, while the low food healthiness and low eco-friendly packaging group has the lowest. The results of this research are therefore important because they clarify the relationship among these four attributes. Moreover, the results of this study have notable managerial implications.
Repeated rainfall in summer induces prolonged high soil respiration in a semi‐arid floodplain woodland

Rainfall amounts and timing in addition to air temperature influence soil respiration (Rsoil ) especially in semi‐arid ecosystems. However, information about R soil in semi‐arid floodplains and its response to natural rainfall events is particularly limited. In this study, we measured in situ Rsoil monthly from July 2014 to August 2015 under eucalyptus canopies and intercanopy of a semi‐arid floodplain woodland, adjacent to the River Murray, Australia. Rsoil was greater under canopy than intercanopy. Five days of rainfall (total of 62 mm) in summer (air temperature approximately 23 °C) increased Rsoil by 70–85% 4 days after the last rainfall event compared with that before the rainfall. The relative increase was similar under canopy and intercanopy. Rsoil remained high over the following 2 months with no rain, although soil water content in the top soil was very low. This suggests that in the months following the short rain period, roots and rhizosphere (autotrophic respiration) in the moist subsoil were the major contributors to the total Rsoil. On the other hand, a single rainfall event (51 mm) in autumn (air temperature approximately 17 °C) did not increase Rsoil although top soil water content was 3 times higher than in the previous dry period. A laboratory incubation experiment showed that rewetting of dry soil induced only a brief flush of heterotrophic Rsoil. This study emphasized the importance of quantifying Rsoil in similar dry floodplains to better predict their role in the global carbon cycle, particularly in light of the predicted changes in rainfall patterns in many semi‐arid regions.
Behavioral Medicine in Medical Education

SUMMARY Behavioral medicine has become increasingly important in medical education over the past two decades, but adoption of its principles and methods has been slow. Behavioral medicine stresses the effects of human behavior on health and illness using a biopsychosocial approach. It also focuses on the use of the doctor-patient relationship, which, if developed using appropriate communication skills, can result in greater patient satisfaction and increased compliance. The authors surveyed all 124 American medical schools to assess both national trends and specific efforts in the teaching of behavioral medicine principles and methods. A review of the types of behavioral medicine programs offered reveals that eight percent of U.S. medical schools had integrated programs of behavioral medicine. Several successful and effective programs were identified, as were a number of specific curricular components. There are several options available to medical schools to integrate behavioral medicine into medical education. The authors conclude that medical education must include behavioral medicine in order to improve the health of the public and to meet the demands of a changing health care system.
Effects of asenapine on agitation and hostility in adults with acute manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder

Background Bipolar disorder is associated with an increased risk of aggression. However, effective management of hostility and/or agitation symptoms may prevent patients from becoming violent. This analysis investigated the efficacy of the antipsychotic asenapine on hostility and agitation in patients with bipolar I disorder. Methods Data were pooled from three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase III trials of asenapine in adults with manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I disorder (NCT00159744, NCT00159796, and NCT00764478). Post hoc analyses assessed the changes from baseline to day 21 on the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) hostility-related item scores in asenapine- or placebo-treated patients with at least minimal or mild symptom severity and on the PANSS-excited component (PANSS-EC) total score in agitated patients. Changes were adjusted for improvements in overall mania symptoms to investigate direct effects on hostility. Results Significantly greater changes in favor of asenapine versus placebo were observed in YMRS hostility-related item scores (irritability: least squares mean difference [95% confidence interval] =−0.5 [−0.87, −0.22], P=0.001; disruptive–aggressive behavior: −0.7 [−0.99, −0.37], P<0.0001), PANSS hostility item score (−0.2 [−0.44, −0.04]; P=0.0181), and PANSS-EC total score (−1.4 [−2.4, −0.4]; P=0.0055). Changes in the YMRS disruptive–aggressive behavior score and the sum of the hostility-related items remained significant after adjusting for improvements in other YMRS item scores. Conclusion Asenapine significantly reduced hostility and agitation in patients with bipolar I disorder; improvement was at least partially independent of overall improvement on mania symptoms.
Taxonomic Significance of Leaf Epidermal Characters of the Family Loranthaceae in Nigeria

Members of the parasitic family Loranthaceae are known for their destructive nature to host plants as well as for their medicinal value. Taxonomic revision and distribution study of the family in Nigeria was recently carried out. The taxonomic importance of leaf epidermal characters in the family Loranthaceae has been investigated with light microscopy in the present study. Amiphstomatic leaf type, polygonal cell shape, straight to curved anticlinal wall and pericytic stomata types were features common to all the species. Trichome and trichome bases were restricted to the genus Phragmanthera, striations were absent in Agelanthus brunneus (Engl.) Balle & Halle, Englerina gabonensis (Engl.) Balle and Tapinanthus cordifolius Polh. & Wiens. Largest cells of 67. 0µm occurred in Agelanthus dodoneifolius (DC) Polh. & Wiens while the smallest cells of 27. 5µm occurred in Tapinanthus bangwensis (Engl. & K. Krause) Danser. This is the first detailed account of epidermal and stomatal characters of the Loranthaceae in Nigeria.
"Look!": using the gaze direction of embodied agents

This paper describes the results of three studies investigating an embodied agent that supports its interaction with the user by gazing at corresponding objects within its close environment. Three experiments were conducted in order to research whether users can detect an agent's line of sight, whether the agent's gaze direction can help to guide the users' attention towards designated locations and whether such a setup can be used to improve realistic interaction situations. The results show that a) users can detect the agent's gaze direction quickly (within 200 ms) but not very exactly, b) the use of the agent's gaze direction can speed up but also slow down the detection of objects in dependence on their location and c) that the agent's gaze towards corresponding objects during the interaction can have counterproductive effects in realistic settings.
Characteristics of Observed Demand and Supply Schedules for Individual Stocks

Using complete limit order books from the Korea Stock Exchange for a three-year period including the 1998 Asian financial crisis, we observe (not estimate) demand and supply curves for individual stocks. Both curves have demonstrably finite elasticities. These fall markedly by about 40% with the crisis and remain depressed long after other economic and financial variables revert to pre-crisis norms. Although they share this common long-term modulation, the magnitudes of individual stocks’ supply and demand elasticities are negatively correlated at high frequencies. That is, when a stock exhibits an unusually elastic demand curve, it tends simultaneously to exhibit an unusually inelastic supply curve, and vice versa. These findings have potential implications for modeling how information flows into and through stock markets, how investors react or interact to information flows, and how new information is capitalized into stock prices. We advance speculative hypotheses, and invite further work – including theory papers – to explain these findings and their implications.
Surgical and pathological outcomes of complete mesocolic excision compared with conventional surgery in right colon cancers

Objective: To compare the surgical and pathological outcomes of complete mesocolic excision (CME) with conventional surgery in colon cancers. Methods: 125 patients with right colon cancer received surgical treatment were enrolled in the retrospective study, of whom, 59 underwent CME surgery (CME group) and 66 underwent conventional radical surgery (control group). Surgical specimens of the CME group were then prepared as pathological large format with the complete mesocolon. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and subsequent pathological analyses were conducted. Results: The number of dissected lymph node was larger in the CME group than that in the control group (29.7 ± 6.1 vs. 19.3 ± 5.3, P < 0.05). Similar results were observed in subgroups of stage I, II, and III colon cancers (25.2 ± 5.7 vs. 13.2 ± 5.6, 31.3 ± 7.7 vs. 19.6 ± 6.2, 30.3 ± 8.4 vs. 25.2 ± 7.2, respectively; P < 0.05). And also, larger mesocolon area, longer distance from vascular high ligation point to intestinal wall, and longer distance from vascular high ligation point to tumor center were observed in CME group (P < 0.05). The pathological large format could be used to identify mesenteric lymphatic metastasis (59.32%) and observe the dynamics of continuous and skip metastases of colon cancer along with the lymphatic vessels in a single slice. Conclusions: CME is appropriate in colon cancer surgery and it reveals the status of lymph node metastasis more precisely. The pathological large format is potential for illustrating the biological behavior of colon cancer. This technique is worth considering as a quality control standard for colon cancer surgery.
Orthogonal RNNs and Long-Memory Tasks

Although RNNs have been shown to be powerful tools for processing sequential data, finding architectures or optimization strategies that allow them to model very long term dependencies is still an active area of research. In this work, we carefully analyze two synthetic datasets originally outlined in (Hochreiter and Schmidhuber, 1997) which are used to evaluate the ability of RNNs to store information over many time steps. We explicitly construct RNN solutions to these problems, and using these constructions, illuminate both the problems themselves and the way in which RNNs store different types of information in their hidden states. These constructions furthermore explain the success of recent methods that specify unitary initializations or constraints on the transition matrices.
HLA‐DRB1 and multiple sclerosis in Argentina

Background: The association of multiple sclerosis (MS) with HLA DR subtypes, and particularly human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐DRB1*15 has been a consistent finding across nearly all Caucasian MS populations. In South America, scarce data exist about this issue. As the complete characterization of the HLA association range around the world is important to understand the role of this locus in MS susceptibility, we analyzed the frequency of HLA‐DRB1* allelic groups in an MS population in Argentina.
Modeling Indirect Influence on Twitter

Social influence in social networks has been extensively researched. Most studies have focused on direct influence, while another interesting question can be raised as whether indirect influence exists between two users who're not directly connected in the network and what affects such influence. In addition, the theory of complex contagion tells us that more spreaders will enhance the indirect influence between two users. The authors' observation of intensity of indirect influence, propagated by n parallel spreaders and quantified by retweeting probability in two Twitter social networks, shows that complex contagion is validated globally but is violated locally. In other words, the retweeting probability increases non-monotonically with some local drops. A quantum cognition based probabilistic model is proposed to account for these local drops.
Home food availability, parental dietary intake, and familial eating habits influence the diet quality of urban Hispanic children.

BACKGROUND The home food environment influences children's eating behaviors and potentially affects overall diet quality. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between the home food environment and Hispanic children's diet quality. METHODS Hispanic children, 10-14 years of age (n=187), and their parents participated in this cross-sectional study. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was used to determine diet quality based on reported dietary intake obtained through a food frequency questionnaire administered to the children. Parents self-reported home food availability, familial eating habits, and their own habitual diet through a home environment survey. RESULTS The children's HEI total score was 59.4±8.8. Reported diets did not adhere to the dietary recommendations for total vegetables, greens and beans, whole grains, seafood and plant proteins, fatty acids, refined grains, sodium, solid fats, and added sugars. None of the participants had "good" scores (HEI, >80), 86% had scores that "need improvement" (HEI, 51-80), and 14% had "poor" scores (HEI, <50). Children with lower HEI scores had sugar-sweetened beverages available at home and participated in family meals while watching television more frequently, when compared with children with higher HEI scores. CONCLUSIONS Home food availability, parental diet, and familial eating habits seem to play an important role in the diet quality of children. Interventions targeting family education on healthful dietary habits at home could have a positive impact on children's diet quality and overall health.
Effects of Dialectal Origin on Articulation Rate in French

This paper compares the articulation rate of 4 varieties of French: Parisian French (PA); Swiss French spoken in Neuchâtel (NE) and French spoken by Swiss German speakers (BE and ZH) who have been living in a French-speaking environment (in Neuchâtel) for 20 years at least. The objective is twofold: to assess the differences in articulation rate between native French speakers of a standard variety (PA) and native French speakers of a regional variety (NE), and to address whether the non-native speakers (BE and ZH) exhibit a different behavior regarding their articulation rate compared with the native speakers of the corresponding variety (NE). Aside from the "regional " factor, this study takes into account additional factors that may have an influence on articulation rate: the gender and age of the speakers, the speech style (reading or conversational) and the number of syllables within the Accentual Phrase.
The Interplay between Gut Microbiota and Cognitive Functioning in the Healthy Aging Population: A Systematic Review

Background: The gut microbiota in healthy older individuals typically show a decrease in beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, alongside an increase in pro-inflammatory microbes such as Enterobacteriaceae and Clostridia. These changes contrast with younger and middle-aged individuals and appear to correlate with cognitive status. Although there is extensive research on gut microbiota and cognitive functions in cognitively impaired elderly individuals, its impact on cognitively healthy elderly populations has not been extensively studied. Method: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to identify studies exploring the relationship between gut microbiota composition and cognitive functioning in healthy older adults. During the literature screening process, each record was initially assessed by its title, abstract, and keywords to exclude articles that did not align with the scope of this review. Three authors independently screened and retrieved the records. The inclusion criteria included: (1) publication in peer-reviewed journals; (2) studies involving neurologically, cognitively, and medically healthy populations; (3) participants identified as older adults, defined for this review as individuals aged 45 years and older due to the limited number of records; (4) analysis of gut microbiota; and (5) assessment of cognitive function. Subsequently, full texts were analyzed to determine eligibility. The exclusion criteria encompassed: (1) incorrect publication type; (2) inappropriate sample population; (3) unsuitable study design; (4) absence of one or more inclusion criteria; and (5) studies based on animal research. A risk of bias assessment was performed for each included study using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklist, ensuring all selected studies met established quality standards. Results: A total of 6 eligible research articles from a possible 1752 published until March 2024 were identified and included. We categorized the included studies into two groups based on their focus: the taxonomic composition of gut microbiota and the alpha diversity, which is the variety of organisms within a sample. Additionally, two methods were identified for assessing cognition: neuropsychological tests and physiological measurements, notably electroencephalography (EEG). The studies show varying results regarding the abundance of specific bacterial taxa and their cognitive associations. Notably, the relationship between certain bacteria and cognition may vary when analyzed at different taxonomic levels, such as phylum versus family. Conclusions: Changes in gut microbiota composition in the elderly, even without a cognitive impairment diagnosis, could potentially serve as early biological markers for Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias before mild cognitive impairment appears.
Generation of stable polytopes of Hurwitz polynomials via Routh parameters

The paper addresses an important issue in the field of continuous-time linear control systems - convex stability domain approximation problem. The constructive procedure of generating a stable polytope is proposed. The main idea is based on constructing so-called Routh stable line segments (half-lines) starting from a given stable polynomial. It is summarized in the form of a step-by-step algorithm that results in a stable polytope around a given point. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the covered concepts and the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Calculations are performed in a MATLAB environment.
Leucine Supplementation Prevents the Development of Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction in a Rat Model of HFpEF

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with exercise intolerance due to alterations in the skeletal muscle (SKM). Leucine supplementation is known to alter the anabolic/catabolic balance and to improve mitochondrial function. Thus, we investigated the effect of leucine supplementation in both a primary and a secondary prevention approach on SKM function and factors modulating muscle function in an established HFpEF rat model. Female ZSF1 obese rats were randomized to an untreated, a primary prevention, and a secondary prevention group. For primary prevention, leucine supplementation was started before the onset of HFpEF (8 weeks of age) and for secondary prevention, leucine supplementation was started after the onset of HFpEF (20 weeks of age). SKM function was assessed at an age of 32 weeks, and SKM tissue was collected for the assessment of mitochondrial function and histological and molecular analyses. Leucine supplementation prevented the development of SKM dysfunction whereas it could not reverse it. In the primary prevention group, mitochondrial function improved and higher expressions of mitofilin, Mfn-2, Fis1, and miCK were evident in SKM. The expression of UCP3 was reduced whereas the mitochondrial content and markers for catabolism (MuRF1, MAFBx), muscle cross-sectional area, and SKM mass did not change. Our data show that leucine supplementation prevented the development of skeletal muscle dysfunction in a rat model of HFpEF, which may be mediated by improving mitochondrial function through modulating energy transfer.
MoNet: Moments Embedding Network

Bilinear pooling has been recently proposed as a feature encoding layer, which can be used after the convolutional layers of a deep network, to improve performance in multiple vision tasks. Different from conventional global average pooling or fully connected layer, bilinear pooling gathers 2nd order information in a translation invariant fashion. However, a serious drawback of this family of pooling layers is their dimensionality explosion. Approximate pooling methods with compact properties have been explored towards resolving this weakness. Additionally, recent results have shown that significant performance gains can be achieved by adding 1st order information and applying matrix normalization to regularize unstable higher order information. However, combining compact pooling with matrix normalization and other order information has not been explored until now. In this paper, we unify bilinear pooling and the global Gaussian embedding layers through the empirical moment matrix. In addition, we propose a novel sub-matrix square-root layer, which can be used to normalize the output of the convolution layer directly and mitigate the dimensionality problem with off-the-shelf compact pooling methods. Our experiments on three widely used fine-grained classification datasets illustrate that our proposed architecture, MoNet, can achieve similar or better performance than with the state-of-art G2DeNet. Furthermore, when combined with compact pooling technique, MoNet obtains comparable performance with encoded features with 96% less dimensions.
MASSIVE: a distributed virtual reality system incorporating spatial trading

MASSIVE is a distributed virtual reality system. It provides rich facilities to support user interaction and cooperation via text, audio and graphics media and interaction is controlled by a spatial model of interaction. The communications architecture is based on processes communicating via typed connections which have interfaces on both ends and which integrate RPCs, attributes and streams in a common context. A spatial interface trading service, the aura manager, has been developed to support interface trading in a spatial context. The concepts embodied in the aura manager can be useful in other interface trading situations, especially where notions of "space" and "meeting" may be applied.