Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY ON MEMORY SELF-REPORT AMONG BLACK AND WHITE OLDER ADULTS

Abstract Personality traits, particularly neuroticism, have been associated with self-reported memory problems, but little is known regarding differences across racial groups. Community-dwelling older adults (n=425; M(SD) = 76.7(4.7) years; 62.6% female; 72.0% White) without cognitive impairment completed up to 11 annual comprehensive medical and neuropsychological examinations as part of the Einstein Aging Study. Multilevel modeling tested: 1) the association of neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness with three types of self-reported memory problems (frequency, one-year decline, and ten-year decline), and 2) whether these associations differed by race, specifically Black and White. Neuroticism predicted self-reported frequency of memory problems and perceived one-year decline when considered alone; however, this did not remain significant after including all personality traits. Conscientiousness influenced perceived ten-year memory decline in Black older adults but not White. Our findings suggest that the influence of personality on self-reported memory problems may not be consistent across racial groups.
Reactive oxygen species and reactive carbonyl species constitute a feed-forward loop in the auxin signaling for lateral root formation.

In auxin-stimulated roots, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the hormone-induced activation of respiratory burst oxidase homologous NADPH oxidases facilitates lateral root (LR) formation. In this study, in order to verify that ROS can modulate auxin signaling, we examined the involvement of the lipid peroxide-derived agents known as reactive carbonyl species (RCS) in LR formation. When auxin was added to Arabidopsis thaliana roots, the levels of RCS, e.g., acrolein, 4-hydroxynonenal and crotonaldehyde, were increased prior to LR formation. Addition of the carbonyl scavenger carnosine suppressed the auxin-induced LR formation. Addition of RCS to the roots induced the expression of the auxin-responsive DR5 promotor and TIR1, IAA14, ARF7, LBD16 and PUCHI genes and facilitated LR formation, without increasing the endogenous auxin level. DR5 and LBD16 were activated in the LR primordia. The auxin signaling-deficient mutants arf7 arf19 and slr-1 did not respond-and tir1 afb2 appeared to show a poor response-to RCS. RCS given to the roots promoted the disappearance of the AXR3NT-GUS fusion protein, i.e., the degradation of the Aux/IAA protein, as did auxin. These results indicate that the auxin-induced production of ROS and their downstream products RCS modulate the auxin signaling pathway in a feed-forward manner. RCS are key agents that connect the ROS signaling and the auxin signaling pathways. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Infrared Nanospectroscopy at the Graphene-Electrolyte Interface.

We present a new methodology that enables studies of the molecular structure of graphene-liquid interfaces with nanoscale spatial resolution. It is based on Fourier transform infrared nanospectroscopy (nano-FTIR), where the infrared (IR) field is plasmonically enhanced near the tip apex of an atomic force microscope (AFM). The graphene seals a liquid electrolyte reservoir while acting also as a working electrode. The photon transparency of graphene enables IR spectroscopy studies of its interface with liquids, including water, propylene carbonate and aqueous ammonium sulfate electrolyte solutions. We illustrate the method by comparing IR spectra obtained by nano-FTIR and attenuated total reflection (which has a detection depth of a few microns) demonstrating that the nano-FTIR method makes possible to determine changes in speciation and ion concentration in the electric double and diffuse layers as a function of bias.
An efficient bus architecture for system-on-chip design

This paper presents the issues confronted when integrating system-on-chip (SOC) designs and offers solution through a detailed description of the CoreFrame/sup TM/ system-on-chip bus architecture that has dramatically reduced system design and verification effort while enhancing the reusability and customizability of system-on-chip product developments. The CoreFrame on-chip bus architecture is defined along with examples to illustrate how a design friendly bus standard will effect the mix and match of reusable cores without sacrificing performance.
An agricultural market information service (AMIS) in Bangladesh: evaluating a mobile phone based e-service in a rural context

The farmers’ community in Bangladesh is one of the most deprived ones in terms of economy and access to social facilities. An agricultural market information service (AMIS) can be one of the important tools for reducing such social inequality by integrating the farmers with their markets more efficiently. Following the failure of a web-based AMIS initiated by the Government of Bangladesh and considering the wide availability of cellular networks, a mobile phone based AMIS was implemented on a pilot basis in some remote villages in Bangladesh. This paper evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of this mobile service in terms of users, technology, process and facilitating conditions in a rural context. In general this is an interpretive case study as well as an evaluation research which is based on two small scale surveys and observations. Based on a literature review, a conceptual model is also applied for a systematic evaluation. Findings show that effectiveness of a rural e-service depends on the design and delivery of the service in accordance with the individual’s information needs, adaptive technologies with easy accessibility within a given infrastructure, affordable services with a rational business model, adequate awareness and efficient communication with the respective community.
Factors influencing long-term survival rates of implants placed simultaneously with lateral maxillary sinus floor augmentation: A 6- to 20-year retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the long-term influence of residual bone height (RBH), sinus membrane perforation and the presence of voids on the survival of implants placed simultaneously with lateral maxillary sinus floor augmentation (MSFA). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 207 patients (613 implants) who underwent MSFA from 1999 to 2003 and followed up until 2018 were included in this study. RBH and marginal bone loss were assessed using a series of panoramic and periapical radiographs. Cumulative survival rates (CSR) with log-rank tests and hazard ratios of implant failure according to RBH, membrane perforation and the presence of voids were assessed. RESULTS The overall 10-year and 20-year CSRs were 95% (95% CI: 84.95-85.05%) and 85% (95% CI: 84.95-85.05%), respectively. CSR was significantly higher for implants with ≥ 3 mm RBH (n=260, 92.4%) than those with < 3 mm RBH (n=353, 78.8%) (p=0.002). CSR of non-smoking group (n=312, 90.0%) was higher than that of smoking group (n=301, 77.1%) (p = 0.009). There was no significant difference in the hazard ratio of implant failure between the perforated membrane group (n=245) and the non-perforated group (n=368). In two out of 11 patients with voids, the inflammation of peri-implantitis progressed into voids, resulting in severe bone resorption. CONCLUSIONS The survival of implants placed in <3 mm of RBH, even though it showed a lower CSR, could be considered acceptable. Neither sinus membrane perforation nor the presence of voids appeared to affect implant survival as long as supportive maintenance therapy with proper oral hygiene was provided. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Empirical Methods for Fine-grained Opinion Extraction from Text

Opinions are everywhere. The op/ed pages of newspapers, political blogs, and consumer websites like epinions.com are just some examples of the textual opinions available to readers. And there are many consumers who are interested in following these opinions—intelligence analysts who track the opinions of foreign countries, public relation firms who want to ensure positive opinions for their clients, pollsters who want to know the public's opinions about politicians, and companies who want to know customers' opinions about their products. The problem faced by all of these consumers of opinion is that there is such a wealth of text to process that it is hard to read it all. Central to processing the opinions in these text will be solving two specific problems—identifying expressions of opinion, and identifying their hierarchical structure. We demonstrate solutions involving empirical natural language processing techniques. Although empirical, data-driven methods such as these have become the norm in natural language processing, little work has been done in analyzing their impact on the reproducibility, efficiency, and effectiveness of research. We address two specific problems in this area. We introduce a lightweight computational workflow system to improve the reproducibility and efficiency of machine learning and natural language processing experiments. And we investigate the process of feature generation, setting out desiderata for an ideal process and exploring the effectiveness of several alternatives. Both are investigated in the context of the natural language learning tasks set out earlier.
Encoding variability accounts for false recognition of noncorresponding lures on the forced-choice Mnemonic Similarity Task

On forced-choice tests of recognition memory, performance is best when targets are paired with novel foils (A-X), followed by corresponding lures (A-A′), and then noncorresponding lures (A-B′). The current study tested the prediction that encoding variability accounts for reduced performance on A-B′ trials. Young adults (n = 43) completed the forced-choice Mnemonic Similarity Task while eye movements were recorded. Errors on the A-B′ test format were attributable to encoding variability; incorrect A-B′ trials were associated with more fixations to the B stimulus than the A stimulus at encoding. However, encoding variability did not account for accuracy on the A-A′ test format.
CrossTalk proposal: Exercise training intensity is more important than volume to promote increases in human skeletal muscle mitochondrial content

Mitochondria are vital organelles for health and performance that display remarkable plasticity, particularly in response to changes in contractile stimuli (Hood et al. 2019). Exercise training increases the abundance of skeletal muscle mitochondria (Holloszy, 1967; Morgan, 1971), as assessed by mitochondrial fractional area, respiration, enzyme activity and protein content, among other measures (Larsen et al. 2012). Given the associations between skeletal muscle mitochondrial content, exercise capacity and health (Holloszy, 1967; Hood et al. 2019), examining the responsiveness of mitochondria to various exercise stimuli is critical for understanding physiological regulation and providing evidence-based exercise prescription in athletic and clinical settings. While the responsiveness of skeletal muscle mitochondria to different exercise stimuli has been addressed in several systematic rodent studies (e.g. Fitts et al. 1975; Hickson, 1981; Dudley et al. 1982), the focus of this
Improving and maintaining prediction accuracy in agent based modeling systems under dynamic environment

The dynamic and complex nature of real world systems makes it difficult to build an accurate artificial simulation. Agent Based Modeling Simulations used to build such simulated models are often oversimplified and not realistic enough to predict reliable results. In addition to this, the validation of such Agent Based Model (ABM) involves great difficulties thus putting a question mark on their effective usage and acceptability. One of the major problems affecting the reliability of ABM is the dynamic nature of the environment. An ABM initially validated at a given time stamp is bound to become invalid with the inevitable change in the environment over time. Thus, an ABM not learning regularly from its environment cannot sustain its validity over a longer period of time. This thesis describes a novel approach for incorporating adaptability and learning in an ABM simulation, in order to improve and maintain its prediction accuracy under dynamic environment. In addition, it also intends to identify and study the effect of various factors on the overall progress of the ABM, based on the proposed approach.
Activation of the autophagy pathway by Torovirus infection is irrelevant for virus replication

Autophagy is a conserved eukaryotic process that mediates lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic macromolecules and damaged organelles, also exerting an important role in the elimination of intracellular pathogens. Despite the antiviral role of autophagy, many studies suggest that some positive-stranded RNA viruses exploit this pathway to facilitate their own replication. In this study, we demonstrate that the equine torovirus Berne virus (BEV), the prototype member of the Torovirus genus (Coronaviridae Family, Nidovirales Order), induces autophagy at late times post-infection. Conversion of microtubule associated protein 1B light chain 3 (LC3) from cytosolic (LC3 I) to the membrane associated form (LC3 II), a canonical marker of autophagosome formation, is enhanced in BEV infected cells. However, neither autophagy induction, via starvation, nor pharmacological blockade significantly affect BEV replication. Similarly, BEV infection is not altered in autophagy deficient cells lacking either Beclin 1 or LC3B protein expression. Unexpectedly, the cargo receptor p62, a selective autophagy receptor, aggregates within the region where the BEV main protease (Mpro) localizes. This finding, coupled with observation that BEV replication also induces ER stress at the time when selective autophagy is taking place, suggests that the autophagy pathway is activated in response to the hefty accumulation of virus-encoded polypeptides during the late phase of BEV infection.
Dichoptic De-Masking Learning in Adults With Amblyopia and Its Mechanisms.

Purpose Recently, we reported that dichoptic de-masking training can further boost stereoacuity, but not visual acuity, in adults with amblyopia after extensive monocular perceptual training. Here, we investigated whether this dichoptic training targets on interocular suppression directly, or improves vision through high-level brain mechanisms. Methods Eleven adults with amblyopia first used amblyopic eyes (AEs) to perform contrast (n = 6) or orientation (n = 5) discrimination training, while resisting dichoptic noise masking from fellow eyes (FEs). Learning was indicated by increased maximal tolerable noise contrast (TNC) for AE contrast/orientation discrimination. After dichoptic training, six observers continued to use AEs to perform monocular training for nine sessions. Results (1) Training of dichoptic de-masking doubled maximal TNC, but learning did not transfer much to the same task at an orthogonal orientation or a different task, showing orientation/task specificities. (2) Following a training-plus-exposure (TPE) protocol, AEs then received exposure of the orthogonal orientation by performing the other orientation/contrast discrimination task at the orthogonal orientation. After this TPE training, dichoptic learning with the original discrimination task transferred to the orthogonal orientation. (3) Dichoptic training improved AE's acuity (1.2 lines), stereoacuity (60.2%), and contrast sensitivity (mainly at higher spatial frequencies). (4) Additional monocular training did not produce further acuity and stereoacuity gains. Conclusions The initial orientation/task specificities exclude the possibility that dichoptic training reduces physiological interocular suppression. The later transfer of learning to an orthogonal orientation with TPE training suggests improvement in high-level brain processing. Dichoptic training may strengthen top-down attention to AEs to counter the impacts of attentional bias to FEs and/or physiological interocular suppression and improve stereoacuity.
Comparison of Oxygen Uptake Kinetics During Severe-intensity Laboratory and Field Cycling

Abstract The O2-kinetic response to constant work rate exercise provides an insight into the adjustment of systemic oxygen transport and muscle metabolism. Whether O2-kinetics measured in laboratory conditions reflect O2-kinetics in field conditions has not yet been analysed. The aim of this study was to compare O2-kinetics between field and laboratory conditions. Thirteen competitive male cyclists (mean±SD age 23.3±4.1 years; V̇O2peak 68.2±4.7 mL.min−1.kg−1) completed two 6-min severe-intensity trials at 60 and 90 rev.min−1 in both conditions. Power output was measured with an SRM power meter and V̇O2 was measured with a portable gas analyser. The time constant (τ), the time delay (TD) and the amplitude (Amp) were resolved by least square regression, and the V̇O2 slow component (SC) was calculated as the difference between the end-exercise V̇O2 and Amp. To determine differences between the trials, a repeated-measure ANOVA was conducted. The Amp and end-exercise V̇O2 were significantly higher during field cycling whereas the SC were significantly higher during laboratory cycling (all at p<0.001). No significant differences were found for τ (p=0.24). Laboratory measures tend to underestimate the oxygen demand in field cycling. A higher cadence leads to greater oxygen demand in laboratory and field cycling.
Improvement of transmitter identification system for low SNR transients

Performance of radio transmitter identification systems for low SNR transients can be improved by utilising the transient SNR information in the classifier training stage. The SNR of the unknown transient, which determines the amount of noise to be added into the neural network training set, has been estimated at the classification stage using pre- and post-trigger samples of the captured noisy transient signal. Performance improvement observed in simulations is verified with experimental data.
Baloxavir and Treatment-Emergent Resistance: Public Health Insights and Next Steps.

Drug resistance is a topic of significant concern in the treatment of infectious diseases caused by rapidly evolving RNA viruses that can persist (eg, human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus) or reinfect (eg, influenza virus). Combination drug therapy is standard of care for the treatment of infections by rapidly mutating RNA viruses [1, 2]. However, it is not a common approach for treating influenza virus infections, partly because of the limited number of anti-influenza drugs and drug targets. We now know that all of the classes of anti-influenza drugs—M2 blockers, neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), and the newly licensed cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor (baloxavir marboxil)—have low genetic barriers to resistance: 1 or 2 amino acid substitutions are sufficient to gain resistance [3, 4].
Modeling the impact of liana infestation on the demography and carbon cycle of tropical forests

There is mounting empirical evidence that lianas affect the carbon cycle of tropical forests. However, no single vegetation model takes into account this growth form, although such efforts could greatly improve the predictions of carbon dynamics in tropical forests. In this study, we incorporated a novel mechanistic representation of lianas in a dynamic global vegetation model (the Ecosystem Demography Model). We developed a liana‐specific plant functional type and mechanisms representing liana–tree interactions (such as light competition, liana‐specific allometries, and attachment to host trees) and parameterized them according to a comprehensive literature meta‐analysis. We tested the model for an old‐growth forest (Paracou, French Guiana) and a secondary forest (Gigante Peninsula, Panama). The resulting model simulations captured many features of the two forests characterized by different levels of liana infestation as revealed by a systematic comparison of the model outputs with empirical data, including local census data from forest inventories, eddy flux tower data, and terrestrial laser scanner‐derived forest vertical structure. The inclusion of lianas in the simulations reduced the secondary forest net productivity by up to 0.46 tC ha−1 year−1, which corresponds to a limited relative reduction of 2.6% in comparison with a reference simulation without lianas. However, this resulted in significantly reduced accumulated above‐ground biomass after 70 years of regrowth by up to 20 tC/ha (19% of the reference simulation). Ultimately, the simulated negative impact of lianas on the total biomass was almost completely cancelled out when the forest reached an old‐growth successional stage. Our findings suggest that lianas negatively influence the forest potential carbon sink strength, especially for young, disturbed, liana‐rich sites. In light of the critical role that lianas play in the profound changes currently experienced by tropical forests, this new model provides a robust numerical tool to forecast the impact of lianas on tropical forest carbon sinks.
A study on split-output TSPC CMOS circuits

In this paper, we present a heuristic study of a class of CMOS true single-phase clocked circuits (TSPC). TSPC circuits have proven to yield good performances at high frequencies. The proposed method may speed up design by identifying technology insensitive circuit properties. Our study focuses on split-output circuits which are believed to yield better performances than the other single-phase clocked circuits. We also present a characterization of the performances of these circuits as a function of load with NORTEL 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. With realistic (nonideal) Hspice simulated netlist extracted from layout, we observed that the maximum operating frequency for split-output was 1.17 GHz. It is shown that the maximum speed of TSPC latches obtained with our simple suboptimal design method does not directly decrease with loading as in static gates. Finally, the speed degradation of the studied circuit with degraded clocks is characterized.
Authors’ Awareness and Attitudes Toward Open Access Repositories

This article investigates the awareness of scholarly authors toward open access repositories and the factors that motivate their use of these repositories. The article reports on the findings obtained from a mixed methods approach which involved a questionnaire returned by over 3000 respondents, supplemented by four focus groups held across Europe in the summer 2009. The research found that although there was a good understanding and appreciation of the ethos of open access in general, there were clear differences between scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds in their understanding of open access repositories and their motivations for depositing articles within them. This research forms the first part of a longitudinal study that will track the changing behaviors and attitudes of authors toward open access repositories.