Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lost in Time and Space: States of High Arousal Disrupt Implicit Acquisition of Spatial and Sequential Context Information

Biased cognition during high arousal states is a relevant phenomenon in a variety of topics: from the development of post-traumatic stress disorders or stress-triggered addictive behaviors to forensic considerations regarding crimes of passion. Recent evidence indicates that arousal modulates the engagement of a hippocampus-based “cognitive” system in favor of a striatum-based “habit” system in learning and memory, promoting a switch from flexible, contextualized to more rigid, reflexive responses. Existing findings appear inconsistent, therefore it is unclear whether and which type of context processing is disrupted by enhanced arousal. In this behavioral study, we investigated such arousal-triggered cognitive-state shifts in human subjects. We validated an arousal induction procedure (three experimental conditions: violent scene, erotic scene, neutral control scene) using pupillometry (Preliminary Experiment, n = 13) and randomly administered this method to healthy young adults to examine whether high arousal states affect performance in two core domains of contextual processing, the acquisition of spatial (spatial discrimination paradigm; Experiment 1, n = 66) and sequence information (learned irrelevance paradigm; Experiment 2, n = 84). In both paradigms, spatial location and sequences were encoded incidentally and both displacements when retrieving spatial position as well as the predictability of the target by a cue in sequence learning changed stepwise. Results showed that both implicit spatial and sequence learning were disrupted during high arousal states, regardless of valence. Compared to the control group, participants in the arousal conditions showed impaired discrimination of spatial positions and abolished learning of associative sequences. Furthermore, Bayesian analyses revealed evidence against the null models. In line with recent models of stress effects on cognition, both experiments provide evidence for decreased engagement of flexible, cognitive systems supporting encoding of context information in active cognition during acute arousal, promoting reduced sensitivity for contextual details. We argue that arousal fosters cognitive adaptation towards less demanding, more present-oriented information processing, which prioritizes a current behavioral response set at the cost of contextual cues. This transient state of behavioral perseverance might reduce reliance on context information in unpredictable environments and thus represent an adaptive response in certain situations.
Postnatal cellular proliferation in mouse and hamster lung.

Summary Tumor production in young adult strain A mouse lungs by urethan is correlated with proliferation of cells in alveolar walls during Days 2 through 10 after administration of urethan (Nature, 199: 1267–1268, 1963), but tumors do not appear until 45 to 60 days later. Lung tumors emerge at 3 to 10 days of age in mice exposed to urethan 1 day before birth; hence a search was made for an early proliferative event induced by urethan in neonatal mice. High proportions of lung cells incorporated tritiated thymidine between 3 and 8 days of age in mice exposed to urethan 24 hr prenatally but also occurred in controls not exposed to urethan. When neonatal proliferation of lung tissue was sought in hamsters in which spontaneous and urethan-induced lung tumors are not described, increased proportions of cells incorporating tritiated thymidine increased specific activity of DNA in lung, and a 3-fold increase in lung weight were found between 2 and 6 days of age in normal suckling hamsters. This proliferative event is interpreted as an anatomic accommodation to the onset of respiration in newborn rodents with widely different genetic traits for lung adenoma formation. Early tumor emergence in strain A mice suggests that maximal physiological proliferation, which could not be increased by urethan, bears the same essential relationship to emergence of lung tumors as does proliferation in urethan-treated, genetically predisposed adult mice.
Information Seeking Behavior of Expats in Asia on Facebook Open Groups

With the rise of the global economy and an increasingly mobile global workforce, expat communities are commonplace the world over. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in keeping people connected, facilitating the formation of virtual communities based on interest, stage of life, profession and other commonalities. These virtual communities, much in the same way as traditional communities, feature social transactions of different kinds, including information seeking. Using content analysis, our study seeks to delineate patterns of information seeking on three Facebook groups for expats in terms of the categories of information sought and shared, speed of responses and group participation using the Facebook metrics for stakeholder engagement as proposed by Bonson and Ratkai (2015). We found that certain themes of information seeking/sharing were popular across the three groups. We also found that for all the groups, the most engaged members were those that responded the most to other’s posts. This study can shed some light in viewing social media as an important and alternative source of information for expatriates a less explored yet sizable user group. By understanding the process of information sharing between the expatriates in social media groups, our study can provide insights that may be of interest to group administrators and others.
Comparative Aging Study of Organic Solar Cells Utilizing Polyaniline and PEDOT:PSS as Hole Transport Layers.

UNLABELLED The aging effect on P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells was investigated with camphorsulfonic doped polyaniline (PANI:CSA) or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) ( PEDOT PSS) used as the hole transport layer (HTL). The cells were encapsulated and exposed to a continuous normal atmosphere on a dark shelf and then characterized intermittently for more than two years. The photovoltaic results revealed that the cells with PEDOT PSS HTL showed better initial results than the cells with PANI:CSA HTL. Over time, PEDOT PSS-based cells exhibited faster degradation than PANI:CSA-based cells, where the average efficiency of six cells dropped to zero in less than one and a half years. On the other hand, PANI:CSA-based cells exhibited a much more stable performance with an average efficiency drop of only 15% of their initial values after one and a half years and 63% after two years. A single-diode model was utilized to fit the experimental data with the theoretical curve to extract the diode parameters, such as the ideality factor, to explain the effect of aging on the diode's performance.
Electrophysiologic Properties of the Cannabinoids

Abstract: The effects of the psychoactive cannabinoid Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the nonpsychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) were investigated comparatively on electrically caused transcallosal cortical evoked responses, electrically induced limbic afterdischarges, photically evoked cortical afterdischarges, spontaneous cortical focal epileptic potentials, and spinal monosynaptic reflexes. In each system, THC produced central excitation; for example, the drug's responses ranged from enhancement of synaptic transmission to precipitation of frank convulsions. In addition to central nervous system stimulation, THC usually elicited depression; the qualitative character of the effect of the drug was dependent upon the dosage and the test system. In contrast to THC, cannabidiol generated no CNS excitation: it was either depressant or inert in these test systems. The results clearly demonstrate the complexity of the CNS properties of THC and the selectivity of the depressant properties of cannabidiol; moreover, the data illustrate the wide range of neuropharmacologic responses that potentially any cannabinoid can effect.
Predictors of pessimistic breast cancer risk perceptions in a primary care population

AbstractOBJECTIVE: To identify sociodemographic characteristics, numeracy level, and breast cancer risk factors that are independently associated with the accuracy of lifetime and 5-year breast cancer risk perceptions. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. A probability scale was used to measure lifetime and 5-year risk perceptions. The absolute difference between perceived risk and the Gail model risk of breast cancer was calculated. Linear regression models were built to predict lifetime and 5-year breast cancer risk estimation error. SETTING: Primary care internal medicine practices (N=2). PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred fifty-four women 40 to 85 years of age. RESULTS: The mean lifetime and 5-year calculated breast cancer risk was 8.4% (SD [standard deviation] 6.1) and 1.5% (SD 1.3), respectively. Subjects had a mean estimation error for lifetime and 5-year risk of 29.5% (SD 22.9) and 24.8% (SD 23.9), respectively. In multivariate analyses, lower numeracy scores (0.005), higher number of previous breast biopsies (0.016), and a higher number of first-degree relatives (0.054) were predictive of larger estimation error for lifetime breast cancer risk. White race (0.014), lower educational levels (0.009), higher number of previous breast biopsies (0.008), and higher number of first-degree relatives (0.014) were predictive of larger estimation error for 5-year risk. CONCLUSION: Among a primary care population, breast cancer risk factors may be more consistently associated with pessimistic perceptions of breast cancer risk than other factors studied during a lifetime and 5-year time span. Primary care physicians should consider counseling patients about individual breast cancer risk factors and risk over time.
The Consumption Function as a Tool for Prediction

E VER since the General Theory, continued experimentation with various sets of independent variables has produced numerous consumption functions. The bulk of this work was completed during or immediately following World War II, and therefore little of it has been tested with respect to the postwar period. Some may object to the use of the postwar years for testing purposes, on the grounds that the economic system had not returned to "normal" conditions, especially in the sphere of consumers' expenditures, owing to the existence of the deferred demand which had grown to immense proportions as the result of five years of war production. But, as we are now engaged in a staggering rearmament program coupled with a foreign war, these immediate postwar years of I946-50 appear as close an approach to the "normal" period as may legitimately be expected in the near future. Thus, it seems opportune to take stock of some of the existing contributions to see if we may find a consumption function suitable for use as a tool for prediction. The functions which we shall endeavor to test for the postwar period fall into three groups.
Mortality rates associated with operative treatment of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm in The Netherlands

Information on surgery for non‐ruptured and ruptured infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in all hospitals in The Netherlands in 1990 was obtained from the Dutch National Medical Registration Foundation. The operation rate in the population over the age of 50 years was 30·3 per 100000 for non‐ruptured AAA and 16·8 per 100000 for ruptured aneurysm. The hospital operative mortality rate for non‐ruptured AAA surgery was 6·8 per cent in 1289 patients and for ruptured aneurysm 43·6 per cent in 709. For non‐ruptured AAA the mortality rate almost doubled per age group of 10 years, whereas the influence of age was less significant for ruptured lesions. The operative mortality rate for non‐ruptured aneurysm in university hospitals exceeded that in other hospitals, but no difference was found for emergency surgery on ruptured AAA. Nationwide results give a more representative picture of the true mortality rate associated with operation for aortic aneurysm. Such data are important for planning future treatment strategy and for evaluating the efficacy of screening.
Pelvic tilt makes acetabular cup navigation inaccurate

Background Modern navigation techniques allow precise positioning of the acetabular cup relative to the anterior pelvic plane. Variations in pelvic tilt will affect the resulting spatial orientation of the cup. Methods We measured pelvic tilt in 30 volunteers with an inclinometer combined with an ultrasonographic position measurement system. A mathematical algorithm was developed to calculate the resulting cup position measured on standard radiographs, depending on pelvic tilt. Results Average pelvic tilt at rest was −4° in the lying position and −8° in the standing position, and ranged from −27° to +3°. Pelvic reclination of 1° will lead to functional anteversion of the cup of approximately 0.7°. Interpretation Pelvic tilt makes navigation systems referring to the anterior plane inaccurate.
The Canadian way of counterterrorism: introducing the GATE-Canada data set

Abstract How does Canada fight terrorism, and to what effect? In this article, we introduce an original data set of all reported actions taken by the Canadian government in relation to both domestic and international terror groups between 1985 and 2013. Data include conciliatory and repressive, verbal and physical, and discriminate and indiscriminate actions relating to a wide variety of constituencies. We demonstrate the value of these data by applying them to a key scholarly and policy question: whether actions by Canada relevant to terrorism abroad affect its terrorism relevant actions at home. Our results suggest that international actions related to terrorism did lead to a subsequent increase in domestic actions. Interestingly, the effects of international actions on domestic actions after 9/11 extend not only to Muslims in Canada, but also to other Canadian political constituencies. This finding lends support to the hypothesis that an increased mandate and resources to counter a particular threat may lead to more generalized counter-terrorism initiatives domestically.
Relaxed persistency of excitation for uniform asymptotic stability

The persistency of excitation property is crucial for the stability analysis of parameter identification algorithms and adaptive control loops. We propose a relaxed definition of persistency of excitation and we use it to establish uniform global asymptotic stability (UGAS) for a large class of nonlinear, time-varying systems. Our relaxed definition is conceptually equivalent to the definition introduced in Loria et al. (1999), but is easier to verify. It is useful for stability analysis of nonlinear systems that arise, for example, in nonlinear adaptive control, stabilization of nonholonomic systems, and tracking control. Our proof of UGAS relies on some integral characterizations of UGAS established in Teel et al. (2000). These characterizations also streamline the proof of UGAS in the presence of (uniform) classical persistency of excitation.
A Tale of Two Ginis in the US, 1921-2012

Following a methodology proposed by Jantzen and Volpert (2012), we use IRS Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) data for the United States (1921-2012) to estimate two Gini-like indices representing inequality at the bottom and the top of the income distribution. We also calculate the overall Gini index as a function of the parameters underlying the two indices. Our findings can be summarized as follows. First, we find that the increase in the Gini index from the mid 1940s to the late 1970s seems to be mostly explained by an increase in inequality at the bottom of the income distribution, which more than offsets the decrease in inequality at the top. The implication is that middle incomes gained relative to high incomes, but especially relative to low incomes. Conversely, it is rising inequality at the top that appears to drive the rise in the Gini index since 1981. Second, inequality at the top of the income distribution follows a U-shaped trajectory over time, similar to the pattern of the share of top incomes documented by Piketty and Saez (2003, 2006) and Atkinson, Piketty, and Saez (2011). Third, the welfare effects of the different forces behind an increasing Gini index can be evaluated in light of the Lorenz dominance criterion proposed by Atkinson (1970): both top-driven and bottom-driven increases in the index appear not to imply strict Lorenz dominance by previous income distributions, and therefore are not associated with lower welfare in an absolute sense. In a relative sense, however, once average growth rates over the two periods are taken into account, the top-driven increase in inequality since 1981 appears to have been welfare reducing.
NICE to HELP: Operationalizing National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Guidelines to Improve Clinical Practice

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom developed guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention, and management of delirium in July 2010 that included 10 recommendations for delirium prevention. The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) is a targeted multicomponent strategy that has proven effective and cost‐effective at preventing functional and cognitive decline in hospitalized older persons. HELP provided much of the basis for seven of the NICE recommendations. Given interest by new HELP sites to meet NICE guidelines, three new protocols addressing hypoxia, infection, and pain that were not previously included in the HELP program were developed. In addition, the NICE dehydration guideline included constipation, which was not specifically addressed in the HELP protocols. This project describes the systematic development of three new protocols (hypoxia, infection, pain) and the expansion of an existing HELP protocol (constipation and dehydration) to achieve alignment between the HELP protocols and NICE guidelines. Following the Institute of Medicine recommendations for developing trustworthy guidelines, an interdisciplinary group of experts conducted a systematic review of current literature, rated the quality of the evidence, developed intervention protocols based on the highest‐quality evidence, and submitted the protocols first to internal review and then to external review by an interdisciplinary panel of experts. The protocols were revised based on the review process and incorporated into the HELP materials. Inclusion of these protocols enhances the scope of the HELP program and allows fulfillment of NICE guideline recommendations for delirium prevention. The rigorous process applied may provide a useful example for updating existing guidelines or protocols that may be applicable to a broad range of clinical applications.
Effect of Tolcapone on Plasma Levodopa Concentrations after Coadministration with Levodopa/Carbidopa to Healthy Volunteers

Summary:Tolcapone (Ro 40–7592) is a novel inhibitor of catechol-O-methyltransferase that is being developed for clinical use in the treatment of Parkinson's disease as add-on therapy to a combination of levodopa and a peripheral amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor (benserazide or carbidopa). The current single-blind, randomized study was designed to evaluate the effect of tolcapone compared with placebo on plasma levodopa concentrations in healthy volunteers concomitantly receiving 25 mg of carbidopa and 100 mg of levodopa (Sinemet 25–100) and to assess the tolerability and safety of this combination. Placebo or tolcapone at doses of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg was coadministered orally with Sinemet 25–100. Each dose was tested in a crossover fashion in a new group of six participants who each received active drug on one occasion and placebo on the other. Tolcapone increased the area under the plasma concentration-time curve and half-life of levodopa approximately twofold, without appreciably increasing the peak concentration. The maximum effect on levodopa half-life was observed with the 200-mg dose. Adverse effects were minor at all doses.
Improving the quality and safety of frozen muscle foods by emerging freezing technologies: A review

ABSTRACT Freezing is one of the most widespread used preservation methods for meats including fish meat. Traditional freezing methods such as air blast freezing and cryogenic freezing could induce some quality deterioration such as damage to cell structure, increased drip loss, and poor sensory value. Therefore, novel freezing methods have been developed to minimize the disadvantages of traditional freezing methods. This review describes the enhancement of quality attributes of muscle tissues frozen by novel freezing technologies, including high pressure freezing, electrically and magnetically assisted freezing, ultrasound assisted freezing and antifreeze protein. These quality attributes include microstructure, moisture loss, color, tenderness, protein denaturation, lipid and protein oxidation, and microbial counts. In this review, the principles of these emerging freezing technologies are introduced, and the impacts of these technologies on controlling the formation and growth of ice crystals and on complex changes of protein are also discussed. The current review shows that the novel freezing methods have positive effects on promoting the quality of frozen muscle. At a micro level, the majority of the novel methods have some certain ability on controlling the formation and growth of ice crystals, thus creating smaller, and more homogeneous and regular distribution of ice crystals, leading to better microstructure and enhanced quality attributes of frozen meats. Meanwhile, complex changes of protein take place under some of these novel freezing processes, and therefore the possible negative effect of the changes of protein should also be considered for commercial applications of these technologies in the frozen food industry.
Public Sector Unions and Privatization: Evidence From the Eldercare Sector in Danish Municipalities

Privatization varies considerably among local governments. One of the oft-listed explanations is the ability of public employees to block privatization. However, many studies on the influence of public employees on privatization do not use very precise measures of the influence of public employees, they have been unable to isolate a one-way effect, and the studies have not been attentive to whether the effect varies for different market forms. In this article, we focus on privatization in Denmark through a voucher market without price competition for eldercare services. Using new data for all 98 Danish municipalities in 2012, we are able to measure the strength of the public eldercare union as well as the number of the public eldercare workers relative to the number of local voters. We find that the increased union strength measured in terms of union density at the municipal level leads to substantially and significantly less privatization through the voucher market. By comparison, the estimated relationship between the relative number of public workers and privatization does not reach statistical significance. Features of the voucher market and qualitative evidence suggest that the union influence primarily goes through a direct user channel, that is through union influence directed at the service users, whereas a minor effect possibly runs through a political channel, that is lobbying directed at the local politicians.