Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deployment of a Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity

Digital identity is unsolved: after many years of research there is still no trusted communication over the Internet. To provide identity within the context of mutual distrust, this paper presents a blockchain-based digital identity solution. Without depending upon a single trusted third party, the proposed solution achieves passport-level legally valid identity. This solution for making identities Self-Sovereign, builds on a generic provable claim model for which attestations of truth from third parties need to be collected. The claim model is then shown to be both blockchain structure and proof method agnostic. Four different implementations in support of these two claim model properties are shown to offer sub-second performance for claim creation and claim verification. Through the properties of Self-Sovereign Identity, legally valid status and acceptable performance, our solution is considered to be fit for adoption by the general public.
Low tumor infiltrating mast cell density confers prognostic benefit and reflects immunoactivation in colorectal cancer

The role of mast cells (MCs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression was controversial. Thus, our study was designed to evaluate the prognostic value of MCs as well as their correlation with immune microenvironment. A retrospective cohort of CRC patients of stages I–IV was enrolled in our study. Consecutive patients (854) were divided into training set (427 patients) and validation set (427 patients) randomly. The findings were further validated in a GEO cohort, GSE39582 (556 patients). The mast cell density (MCD) was measured by immunohistochemical staining of tryptase or by CIBERSORT algorithm. Low MCD predicted prolonged overall survival (OS) in training and validation set. Moreover, MCD was identified as an independent prognostic indicator in both sets. Better stratification for CRC prognosis can be achieved by building a MCD based nomogram. The prognostic role of MCD was further validated in GSE39582. In addition, MCD predicted improved survival in stages II and III CRC patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). Multiple immune pathways were enriched in low MCD group while cytokines/chemokines promoting anti‐tumor immunity were highly expressed in such group. Furthermore, MCD was negatively correlated with CD8+ T cells infiltration. In conclusion, MCD was identified as an independent prognostic factor, as well as a potential biomarker for ACT benefit in stages II and III CRC. Better stratification of CRC prognosis could be achieved by building a MCD based nomogram. Moreover, immunoactivation in low MCD tumors may contributed to improved prognosis.
And Their Children after Them? The Effect of College on Educational Reproduction1

Conventional analyses of social mobility and status reproduction retrospectively compare an outcome of individuals to a characteristic of their parents. By ignoring the mechanisms of family formation and excluding childless individuals, conventional approaches introduce selection bias into estimates of how characteristics in one generation affect an outcome in the next. The prospective approach introduced here integrates the effects of college on marriage and fertility into the reproduction of educational outcomes. Marginal structural models with inverse probability of treatment weighting are used with data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to estimate the causal effect of pathways linking graduating from college with having a child who graduates from college. Results show that college increases male graduates’ probability of having a child who completes college; for female graduates there is no effect. The gender distinction is largely explained by the negative effects of college on women’s likelihood to marry and have children.
Nucleocytoplasmic p27Kip1 Export Is Required for ERK1/2-Mediated Reactive Astroglial Proliferation Following Status Epilepticus

Reactive astrogliosis is a prominent and ubiquitous reaction of astrocytes to many types of brain injury. Up-regulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression and astroglial proliferation are hallmarks of reactive astrogliosis. However, the mechanisms that regulate reactive astrogliosis remain elusive. In the present study, status epilepticus (SE, a prolonged seizure activity) led to reactive astrogliosis showing the increases in GFAP expression and the number of proliferating astrocytes with prolonged extracellular signal receptor-activated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) activation and reduced nuclear p27Kip1 level. U0126, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, showed opposite effects. Leptomycin B (LMB), an inhibitor of chromosomal maintenance 1 (CRM1), attenuated nucleocytoplasmic p27Kip1 export and astroglial proliferation, although it up-regulated ERK1/2 phosphorylation and GFAP expression. Roscovitine ameliorated the reduced nuclear p27Kip1 level and astroglial proliferation without changing GFAP expression and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. U0126 aggravated SE-induced astroglial apoptosis in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus that was unaffected by LMB and roscovitine. In addition, U0126 exacerbated SE-induced neuronal death, while LMB mitigated it. Roscovitine did not affect SE-induced neuronal death. The present data elucidate for the first time the roles of nucleocytoplasmic p27Kip1 transport in ERK1/2-mediated reactive astrogliosis independent of SE-induced neuronal death and astroglial apoptosis. Therefore, our findings suggest that nucleocytoplasmic p27Kip1 export may be required for ERK1/2-mediated astroglial proliferation during reactive astrogliosis, and that nuclear p27Kip1 entrapment may be a potential therapeutic strategy for anti-proliferation in reactive astrocytes.
Sensory Gating Deficits and their Clinical Correlates in Drug-Free/Drug-Naive Patients with Schizophrenia

Background: Sensory gating refers to “filtering” of irrelevant sensory input in the brain. Auditory sensory gating deficit has been considered as a marker of schizophrenia (SCZ) and assessed using P50 paired-click paradigm. We explore sensory gating deficits and their clinical correlates in SCZ. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five drug-free/drug-naïve patients with SCZ, whose psychopathology was assessed using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and 25 age-matched normal controls (NC) were recruited. ERP recordings were done using 40-channel event-related potential measuring system. Results: S2-S1 P50 amplitude difference, an index of sensory gating, was significantly lower in SCZ at F3 and F4 sites when compared to NC, indicating impaired gating. SCZ had significantly lower S1 amplitude compared to NC at these sites; S2 amplitudes were comparable. The sensory gating index also showed significant correlations with PANSS scores. Conclusions: Our study reiterates sensory gating abnormalities in SCZ and confers a frontal specificity, implying specific deficits in early preattentive processes to them. Further, we suggest that gating deficits in SCZ are driven predominantly by abnormally small S1 rather than an inability to suppress S2. A correlation between sensory gating parameters and measures of psychopathology strengthens the hypothesis that abnormal response to sensory input may contribute to the psychopathology in SCZ.
The Role of Open Source Communities in Development: Policy Implications for Governments

Open Source Software (OSS) communities engage in a shared design of software that meets the needs of community members. This dynamic may have a positive influence on development by enabling the growth of micro-enterprises thus offering opportunities for governments to stimulate their growth. This paper explores the connection between OSS communities and development outcomes to arrive at a theoretical framework that enables the investigation of the role of OSS communities in development. By examining existing government policies, we find that policymakers recognize the potential for OSS communities to create shared value through private-collective innovation. In understanding the transformative role of OSS, this research investigates (1) how OSS communities contribute to development efforts and (2) how government policy can stimulate development efforts through OSS. The contribution of this paper is in the policy implications for governments on how they may use OSS to drive development.
Controlling for performance capacity confounds in neuroimaging studies of conscious awareness

Abstract Studying the neural correlates of conscious awareness depends on a reliable comparison between activations associated with awareness and unawareness. One particularly difficult confound to remove is task performance capacity, i.e. the difference in performance between the conditions of interest. While ideally task performance capacity should be matched across different conditions, this is difficult to achieve experimentally. However, differences in performance could theoretically be corrected for mathematically. One such proposal is found in a recent paper by Lamy, Salti and Bar-Haim [Lamy D, Salti M, Bar-Haim Y. Neural correlates of subjective awareness and unconscious processing: an ERP study. J Cognitive Neurosci 2009,21:1435-46], who put forward a corrective method for an electroencephalography experiment. We argue that their analysis is essentially grounded in a version of High Threshold Theory, which has been shown to be inferior in general to Signal Detection Theory. We show through a series of computer simulations that their correction method only partially removes the influence of performance capacity, which can yield misleading results. We present a mathematical correction method based on Signal Detection Theory that is theoretically capable of removing performance capacity confounds. We discuss the limitations of mathematically correcting for performance capacity confounds in imaging studies and its impact for theories about consciousness.
How Does Self-Tracking Go? A Research Model and Pre-Test

Physical inactivity has become a serious problem in modern societies leading to a multitude of diseases. Insurer try to counteract this problem by supporting the use of self-tracking applications. While the effectiveness of self-tracking applications is widely assumed, scant studies investigate the influence of self-tracking applications and those few studies show different results. We propose a research model and measurements based on the cognitive dissonance theory to explain how and why selftracking influences behavior. This understanding is of critical importance for the design of effective selftracking applications. Specifically, we propose that the usage of step-counter apps leads to a higher awareness of two inconsistent cognitions, which induce cognitive dissonance. Because people strive for consistency, they try to reduce the dissonance through either ignoring the situation, finding new information or behavior change. We tested our measurements with an item-sort-task and found high substantive validity as an indicator for good construct validity.
On Rapport Uncertainty in the Sharing Economy - Extending the Categories of Uncertainty

Sharing Economy platforms enable a close physical interaction among strangers by mediating goods and services owned or provided by individuals. This close physical interaction is an inherent part of the service experience, is highly individual and thus can hardly be evaluated beforehand. This gives rise to a novel type of service uncertainty that we term as rapport uncertainty. Building on the hierarchical decomposition of service quality, we construct an uncertainty model that encompasses three uncertainty categories consumers face when sharing a resource: rapport, technical, and environment uncertainty. Our empirical study in a ride sharing context reveals that rapport uncertainty differs from other categories of uncertainty and significantly reduces the intention to transact with a service provider. Our findings illustrate how the concept of uncertainty must be extended to reflect the nature of shared service experiences. We suggest that owners of these platforms should actively manage this aspect through platform design.
Distinct Microbial Assemblage Structure and Archaeal Diversity in Sediments of Arctic Thermokarst Lakes Differing in Methane Sources

Developing a microbial ecological understanding of Arctic thermokarst lake sediments in a geochemical context is an essential first step toward comprehending the contributions of these systems to greenhouse gas emissions, and understanding how they may shift as a result of long term changes in climate. In light of this, we set out to study microbial diversity and structure in sediments from four shallow thermokarst lakes in the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. Sediments from one of these lakes (Sukok) emit methane (CH4) of thermogenic origin, as expected for an area with natural gas reserves. However, sediments from a lake 10 km to the North West (Siqlukaq) produce CH4 of biogenic origin. Sukok and Siqlukaq were chosen among the four lakes surveyed to test the hypothesis that active CH4-producing organisms (methanogens) would reflect the distribution of CH4 gas levels in the sediments. We first examined the structure of the little known microbial community inhabiting the thaw bulb of arctic thermokarst lakes near Barrow, AK. Molecular approaches (PCR-DGGE and iTag sequencing) targeting the SSU rRNA gene and rRNA molecule were used to profile diversity, assemblage structure, and identify potentially active members of the microbial assemblages. Overall, the potentially active (rRNA dominant) fraction included taxa that have also been detected in other permafrost environments (e.g., Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi, and others). In addition, Siqlukaq sediments were unique compared to the other sites, in that they harbored CH4-cycling organisms (i.e., methanogenic Archaea and methanotrophic Bacteria), as well as bacteria potentially involved in N cycling (e.g., Nitrospirae) whereas Sukok sediments were dominated by taxa typically involved in photosynthesis and biogeochemical sulfur (S) transformations. This study revealed a high degree of archaeal phylogenetic diversity in addition to CH4-producing archaea, which spanned nearly the phylogenetic extent of currently recognized Archaea phyla (e.g., Euryarchaeota, Bathyarchaeota, Thaumarchaeota, Woesearchaeota, Pacearchaeota, and others). Together these results shed light on expansive bacterial and archaeal diversity in Arctic thermokarst lakes and suggest important differences in biogeochemical potential in contrasting Arctic thermokarst lake sediment ecosystems.
Virtual Collaboration with Mobile Social Media in Multiple-Organization Projects

This study investigates the use of mobile social media as emerging collaboration tools by virtual teams. Based on the construal level theory, it develops a research model hypothesizes that collaboration tool effectiveness influence contextual performance and task performance through the mediation of procedure agreeability. In addition, geographic dispersion, team size and project duration serve as moderators as they reflect virtual collaboration complexity. Empirical findings support most hypothesized relationships. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
High CO 2 decreases the long‐term resilience of the free‐living coralline algae Phymatolithon lusitanicum

Abstract Mäerl/rhodolith beds are protected habitats that may be affected by ocean acidification (OA), but it is still unclear how the availability of CO 2 will affect the metabolism of these organisms. Some of the inconsistencies found among OA experimental studies may be related to experimental exposure time and synergetic effects with other stressors. Here, we investigated the long‐term (up to 20 months) effects of OA on the production and calcification of the most common mäerl species of southern Portugal, Phymatolithon lusitanicum. Both the photosynthetic and calcification rates increased with CO 2 after the first 11 months of the experiment, whereas respiration slightly decreased with CO 2. After 20 months, the pattern was reversed. Acidified algae showed lower photosynthetic and calcification rates, as well as lower accumulated growth than control algae, suggesting that a metabolic threshold was exceeded. Our results indicate that long‐term exposure to high CO 2 will decrease the resilience of Phymatolithon lusitanicum. Our results also show that shallow communities of these rhodoliths may be particularly at risk, while deeper rhodolith beds may become ocean acidification refuges for this biological community.
Esthetic Improvement of a Nasolabial Cutaneous Sinus Tract

A cutaneous sinus tract of dental origin is relatively uncommon and may easily be misdiagnosed, owing to its uncommon occurrence and absence of dental symptoms. Such a lesion continues to be a diagnostic dilemma. The case described here presented a nasolabial cutaneous sinus tract of dental origin that was treated by a surgical approach with an excellent esthetic improvement.
On shape similarity

An algorithm for the detection of 'perceptual similarity' among planar shapes is suggested. Current state-of-the-art matching algorithms deal mainly with shapes which are similar modulo a well defined geometric transformation. The goal of this paper is to suggest a similarity measure among shapes which 'look similar', such as different fonts of a letter or pictures of different 'perceptually similar' chairs. The essence of the authors' approach consists in the representation of the shapes as special weighted graphs, the vertices of which represent the 'lumps' of the shapes in a given orientation. Then, these graphs are gradually reduced by a 'small leaf' trimming procedure until the resulting graphs are isomorphic. A similarity measure is calculated based on this representation. Since the graphs are orientation dependent, the similarity measure is minimized over all orientations of one of the shapes. Experimental results of pairwise comparisons of a 24 shape database are presented.
The Interaction of Trait Competitiveness and Leaderboard Design - An Experimental Analysis of Effects on Perceptions and Usage Intention

Gamification is a valuable approach to foster user engagement, raise motivation, and induce behavioral change. As a maturing field of research, the complex interactions of the various elements of gameful systems remain opaque. However, understanding these interactions, especially between user and gamified system, builds the foundation for the vast application of gamified systems. To advance our knowledge in this field, we employ an experimental research design with 192 participants. Thereby we show that users’ personal development competitiveness positively affects the perception and usage intention of a competitive gamified system in a work scenario. Further, this relationship is moderated by the system’s design. Focusing on a team-based rather than a player-based leaderboard supports the usage intentions and perceptions of individuals high in personal development competitiveness. Our study supports the need for individualized gameful systems rather than relying on one-system-fits-all approaches often found in business practice.
Tactile-to-Visual Cross-Modal Transfer of Texture Categorisation Following Training: An fMRI Study

We investigated the neural underpinnings of texture categorisation using exemplars that were previously learned either within modalities (visual training and visual test) or across modalities (tactile training and visual test). Previous models of learning suggest a decrease in activation in brain regions that are typically involved in cognitive control during task acquisition, but a concomitant increase in activation in brain regions associated with the representation of the acquired information. In our study, participants were required to learn to categorise fabrics of different textures as either natural or synthetic. Training occurred over several sessions, with each fabric presented either visually or through touch to a participant. Pre- and post-training tests, in which participants categorised visual images only of the fabrics, were conducted during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Consistent with previous research on cognitive processes involved in task acquisition, we found that categorisation training was associated with a decrease in activation in brain regions associated with cognitive systems involved in learning, including the superior parietal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLFC). Moreover, these decreases were independent of training modality. In contrast, we found greater activation to visual textures in a region within the left medial occipital cortex (MOC) following training. There was no overall evidence of an effect of training modality in the main analyses, with texture-specific regional changes associated with both within- (visual) and cross- (touch) modal training. However, further analyses suggested that, unlike categorisation performance following within-modal training, crossmodal training was associated with bilateral activation of the MOC. Our results support previous evidence for a multisensory representation of texture within early visual regions of the cortex and provide insight into how multisensory categories are formed in the brain.
Understanding stigma as a barrier to accessing cancer treatment in South Africa: implications for public health campaigns

Introduction Cancer contributes to significant illness burden in South Africa, with delayed diagnosis resulting from limited knowledge of cancer, lack of biomedical treatment and stigma. This study examines ways in which people are identified as having cancer through perspectives of traditional healing or the biomedical model. Additionally, we sought to understand the stigma associated with cancer, including stereotypes, anticipated discrimination and coping styles. Methods Livestrong Foundation conducted 11 semi-structured focus groups with key community stakeholders in three South African townships. Interviews examined the negative consequences of being labeled with a cancer diagnosis as well as causes of, possible prevention of and barriers and methods to improve access to cancer treatment. Analyses were completed using directed content analysis. Results Revealed three main labeling mechanisms: physical appearance of perceived signs/symptoms of cancer, diagnosis by a traditional healer, or a biomedical diagnosis by a Western physician. Being labeled led to anticipated discrimination in response to prevalent cancer stereotypes. This contributed to delayed treatment, use of traditional healers instead of biomedical treatment and secrecy of symptoms and/or diagnosis. Further, perceptions of cancer were commonly conflated with HIV/TB owing to prior educational campaigns. Conclusion Our study deepens the understanding of the cancer labeling process in South Africa and the resulting negative effects of stigma. Future anti-stigma interventions should partner with traditional healers due to their respected community status and consider how previous health interventions may significantly impact current understandings of illness.
Performance evaluation of texture measures with classification based on Kullback discrimination of distributions

This paper evaluates the performance both of some texture measures which have been successfully used in various applications and of some new promising approaches. For classification a method based on Kullback discrimination of sample and prototype distributions is used. The classification results for single features with one-dimensional feature value distributions and for pairs of complementary features with two-dimensional distributions are presented.