Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Ties and Collective Efficacy as Predictors of Volunteering

Volunteering has been defined as any activity to which (1) an individual devotes their free time; and (2) a second person or group receives a benefit (Wilson, 2000). This definition includes a large number of volunteering behaviors including engaging in informal helping behaviors and working through formal organizations (Wilson, 2000). Research consistently demonstrates that volunteering has multiple positive outcomes on both individuals and neighborhoods (Sampson, 2012; Sharkey, Torrats-Espinosa, & Takyar, 2017; Talò, Mannarini, & Rochira, 2014; Wandersman & Florin, 2000; Wuthnow, 1998). It is important to understand the factors that promote volunteering given its positive impact on multiple outcomes. Previous research suggests that volunteering is influenced by complex interrelationships among individual and neighborhood level characteristics. Social ties and collective efficacy are two neighborhood social processes that warrant further study (Carbone & McMillin, 2019; Wickes, Hipp, Sargeant, & Mazerolle, 2017). Social ties refers to the number of social connections an individual has, and the strengths of these connections. Collective efficacy is the process by which social cohesion is activated as informal social control (Sampson, 2012). Social cohesion refers to mutual trust, solidarity, and shared values among residents (Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). Informal social control reflects the willingness of residents to intervene and enforce social norms (Sampson et al., 1997). Findings pertaining to the relationships among social ties, collective efficacy, and volunteering are complex. The present study attempts to refine our understanding of the relationships among these constructs by using a sample of 7,556 individuals embedded within 342 neighborhood clusters from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). We use hierarchical linear modeling to test whether collective efficacy and social ties are associated with two forms of volunteering: activism and organizational participation. In addition, we wanted to assess if the relationships between neighborhood social processes and individual behavior are mediated by individuals’ perceptions of neighborhood processes.
Ecological Risk Assessment of Cadmium in Karst Lake Sediments Based on Daphnia pulex Ecotoxicology

The background value of cadmium (Cd) in soil and water sediments in the karst area is 0.31 mg kg−1, with a typical high background of cadmium geochemistry. It is well-known that Cd is classified as a highly toxic metal. Therefore, at the Yelang reservoir in Guizhou province, eco-toxicological tests were carried out using Daphnia pulex. The Geo-Accumulation Index and Potential Ecological Risk Index were used to assess the environmental risk of Cd in sediments. The Cd contents in the sediments of Yelang reservoir ranged from 2.51 to 5.23 mg kg−1, while the LC50 values of the acute toxicity test of Daphnia pulex and Cd at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h were 1.17, 0.50, 0.24, and 0.12 mg L−1, respectively, giving a Safe Concentration threshold of Cd of 1.20 × 10−3 mg L−1 in the water body. Based on curve fitting the solid–liquid two-phase distribution model of cadmium in Yelang reservoir was Y = 7.59 × 10−9 × X2.58 (R2 = 0.9995). The safety threshold sediment Cd concentration was 103 mg kg−1, and was much higher than the Cd content in the sediment of the Yelang reservoir. The Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo 2.432–3.491) results show that the sediments had reached medium-strong or strong risk levels. The Potential Ecological Risk Index (Eri 242.8–505.9) reached a very high or extremely high-risk level. However, due to high concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+, and the pH being in the neutral–alkaline range of water body in karst areas, the Daphnia ecotoxicology evaluation method showed slight ecological risk, quite different from other assessment results, thus this method could be considered to use in such areas.
Attention Voting Network with Prior Distance Augmented Loss for 6DoF Pose Estimation

SUMMARY 6DoF pose estimation from a monocular RGB image is a challenging but fundamental task. The methods based on unit direction vector-ﬁeld representation and Hough voting strategy achieved state-of-the-art performance. Nevertheless, they apply the smooth (cid:2) 1 loss to learn the two elements of the unit vector separately, resulting in which is not taken into account that the prior distance between the pixel and the key-point. While the positioning error is signiﬁcantly a ﬀ ected by the prior distance. In this work, we propose a Prior Distance Augmented Loss (PDAL) to exploit the prior distance for more accurate vector-ﬁeld representation. Furthermore, we propose a lightweight channel-level attention module for adaptive feature fusion. Embedding this Adaptive Fusion Attention Module (AFAM) into the U-Net, we build an Attention Voting Network to further improve the performance of our method. We conduct extensive experiments to demonstrate the e ﬀ ectiveness and performance improvement of our methods on the LINEMOD, OCCLUSION and YCB-Video datasets. Our experiments show that the proposed methods bring signiﬁcant performance gains and outperform state-of-the-art RGB-based methods without any post-reﬁnement.
Characterizing the accuracy of Global Positioning System for single point positioning at African low-latitude region

ABSTRACT This paper examines the accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS) within the African low-latitude sector. We evaluated the vertical and horizontal of the single-point positioning (SPP) accuracy of GPS and critically analysed the effects of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) over the region of study. Our results imply that using single-frequency GPS for any application could give a positioning error up to 45.00 m vertically and ~25.00 m horizontally. The study revealed that 54% of GNSS positioning errors during the night-time could be linked to ionospheric plasma irregularities. Also, positioning errors are higher in western Africa than in the eastern region. The influence of geomagnetic activities is not consistent with GPS positioning accuracy. However, positioning errors are lower during geomagnetically disturbed conditions in comparison to quiet conditions. The unique phenomena of the EIA can severely limit GPS services at night-time for positioning in the study area.
Molecular Mechanism of Staphylococcus xylosus Resistance Against Tylosin and Florfenicol

Purpose Drug resistance presents an ever-increasing global public health threat that involves all major microbial pathogens and antimicrobial drugs. Strains that are resistant to multiple drugs pose severe clinical problems and cost lives. However, systematic studies on cross-resistance of Staphylococcus xylosus have been missing. Methods Here, we investigated various mutations in the sequence of ribosomal proteins involved in cross-resistance. To understand this effect on a molecular basis and to further elucidate the role of cross-resistance, we computationally constructed the 3D model of the large ribosomal subunit from S. xylosus as well as its complexes with both tylosin and florfenicol. Meanwhile, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations was used. In addition, the regulation of protein networks also played an essential role in the development of cross-resistance in S. xylosus. Results We discovered that the minimum inhibitory concentration against both tylosin and florfenicol of the mutant strain containing the insertion L22 97KRTSAIN98 changed dramatically. Further, we found that unique structural changes in the β-hairpin of L22 played a central role in this variant in the development of antibiotic resistance in S. xylosus. The regulation of protein networks also played an essential role in the development of cross-resistance in S. xylosus. Conclusion Our work provides insightful views into the mechanism of S. xylosus resistance that could be useful for the development of the next generation of antibiotics.
A METHOD FOR DETECTING BONE DENSITY AT DIFFERENT SIDES AND FIVE SITES OF MANDIBULAR BONE BY NEW COMPUTERIZED MEASUREMENTS

Introduction: The bone quality also affects the stress distribution under buccolingual load. Low density bone presents reduced stiffness and increases implant displacement. Under highest displacement, the bone is deformed, consequently higher stresses in the cortical and cancellous bone are predicted. The mental foramen is a principle factor for placing implants in the foraminal rang of the mandibular arch. Objectives: To provide available clinical techniques to detect and identification of mandibular bone density around the tooth and alveolar ridges at the different five sites for both male and female groups and comparing them for accurate plane and not interfere with the mental foramen and canal during surgical treatment. Material and Methods: Twelve patients ranged from 45-60 year old (6 males and 6 female) came to the Department of Prosthodontics, Alexandria University with past medical history. The evaluation of alveolar mandibular bone density using a new computerized method (Image J program) which was not used in the previous studies for prober assessment of bone height measurements. Results: There was insignificant change of bone density around the 5 sites at both groups. In the midline, there was gradual increase in the bone density from midline region to molar region and in males more than females Conclusions: There was no statistical significant difference between the right side for female and male density at different sites, indicating more favorable stable supported overdenture with the use of accurate surgical position.
Involvement of endosomal and synaptic Aβ in models of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating chronic neurodegenerative disease that accounts for 60-80% of all dementia cases. AD is characterized by progressive decline in cognitive function, aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ) in amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), dystrophic neurites and loss of synapses and neurons. However, the earliest changes in the pathology of AD occur in the endocytic pathway with enlarged endosomes and accumulation of multivesicular bodies (MVBs), lysosomes and autophagic vacuoles. Aβ accumulates and aggregates particularly in MVBs in synaptic terminals, with signs of synaptic pathology. It is also well known that synaptic loss is a better correlate of cognitive decline than plaques or NFTs. Hence, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of Aβ in the endocytic pathway and at synapses in AD. We found that extracellularly applied Aβ1-42 is taken up by primary neurons at synapses, and more by excitatory CAMKIIα-positive than inhibitory GAD67-positive ones. However, with no clear preference to the preor the post-synaptic site. Aβ1-42 uptake led to enlarged diameter of MVBs and aggregation of Aβ1-42 in endocytic vesicles. With time, loss of impermeability appeared in the endocytic pathway with oligomeric or fibrillar structures extending out extracellularly from late endocytic vesicles. Indicative of a role in plaque formation, markers of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT)-components were found in plaques of AD-transgenic mouse models. We also show that APP traffics in the same subpopulation of MVBs as EGFR and is degraded in the lysosome. Depleting cells of ESCRT-components led to reduced secretion of Aβ and a marked intracellular accumulation of Aβ and APP. Hence, we suggest a scenario where disturbances in the MVB pathway, caused by Aβ, or vice versa, lead to a vicious circle of more Aβ accumulation and aggregation. We further investigated the native state of this early Aβ aggregation in a mouse model of AD showing that focal β-sheet formation begins already before the onset of plaques. Here, we also confirmed the findings of Aβ accumulation leading to disrupted synaptic terminals in AD-transgenic mice brain. Additionally, we present data supporting the requirement of APP for normal synaptic composition of mature neurons. Taken together, this work further strengthens the significance of Aβ accumulation and aggregation in the endocytic pathway at synapses, as an early event in AD pathogenesis.
Results of surgical treatment after Gamma Knife radiosurgery for cerebral arteriovenous malformations: patient series

BACKGROUND Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is a safe and effective treatment, but it has a risk of bleeding. Herein, the authors describe their experience with some patients who required surgical removal of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) located mainly in eloquent areas of the brain after GKRS, and they consider the advantages of surgical removal after GKRS. OBSERVATIONS Twelve patients who had undergone surgical removal of AVMs after GKRS at Tokyo Women’s Medical University between April 2013 and July 2019 were selected for analysis. All participants underwent GKRS as first-line therapy for AVMs located in an eloquent region or if requested by the patient. Complete obliteration was achieved in 7 patients, and the size of the nidus decreased in 3 patients during the follow-up period. The Spetzler-Martin grade decreased in 11 patients. Three patients experienced symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage before and after confirmation of complete obliteration of the nidus via GKRS, and 7 patients experienced some neurological deficits because of an encapsulated expanding hematoma. All patients underwent resection of the nidus without complications. The preoperative neurological deficits improved in 6 patients and remained unchanged in 6 patients. LESSONS This report indicates that performing GKRS before surgery may be useful for future multimodal therapy.
Quantifying Periodic Variations in Hotspot Melt Production

Fluctuations in estimated mantle plume melt production rates suggest complex dynamics in the upper mantle including changes in plume upwelling, compositional heterogeneity within plume stems, entrainment of anomalous mantle, or other processes. Despite the implications for mantle dynamics, differences between previous studies including the methods, study areas, and types of melt volumes estimated, limit inter‐hotspot comparisons and assessment of global variability. Here, we use a consistent methodology to calculate igneous melt production through time across a suite of 12 hotspot chains located in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Ocean basins. Using global data sets of topography, gravity, sediment cover, and seafloor age along with spectral methods for calculating elastic plate flexure and gravity anomalies, we estimate the total volume of igneous material at each hotspot in three components: (a) volcanic edifices, (b) flexural infill, and (c) intrusions (underplating) within the upper mantle and lower crust. Results indicate time‐averaged melt production rates across all studied hotspots range from 3.44 m3 s−1 (Cobb) to 14.75 m3 s−1 (Kerguelen), with underplating making up the largest component. Through time, melt production rates vary from 0.1 to 2.5 times average values with statistically significant periodic fluctuations of 1.1–71.5 Myr. Spectral analysis of estimated melt volumes shows total melt production varies periodically at all 12 hotspots. Excepting Galápagos, the studied hotspots exhibit multiple periodicities of melt production variability, implying complex dynamic, thermal, and/or chemical processes within the plume conduit. Moreover, we find several groups of hotspots exhibiting similar periods of melt production variability.
Fine Tuning of Real Time PCR as a First Tool for the Detection of G143A Substitution in Venturia inaequalis Samples

Apple scab caused by Venturia inaequalis (Cke.) Wint. is the most important disease of apple trees worldwide and requires a high number of fungicide applications. The G143A substitution in the inhibitor binding site of cytochrome b of V. inaequalis confers a high level of resistance to strobilurins targeting the bc1 complex. The aim of this work was to substitute the labor intensive in vitro assays, with the faster quantitative PCR. An allele-specific qPCR method with a newly designed primer set was successfully developed to quantitatively determine the frequency of QoI-resistant A143 allele in populations of V. inaequalis. To be able to suggest that the molecular method could be applied as unique and robust technique, we carried out in vitro sensitivity test to trifloxystrobin; first testing the relative germination and subsequently confirmed with the quantification of mutated allele frequencies by qPCR on forty-nine Italian V. inaequalis populations. qPCR gave a similar pattern to that obtained using in vitro conidial germination test in predominantly sensitive and resistant populations, the variability between these two tests was observed in some heterogeneous populations. The qPCR assay developed in this study efficiently quantifies the A143 allele and we can conclude that this method could be useful for the study of the fungicide resistance at population level in the fields, giving a quick response also with a large amount of samples.
Unitary dual of p-adic group SO(7) with support on minimal parabolic subgroup

In this paper, the unitary dual of p-adic group SO(7) with support on minimal parabolic subgroup is determined. In explicit determination of the unitary dual the external approach is used, which represents the basic approach for finding the unitary dual, and consists of two main steps: a complete description of the non-unitary dual and the extraction of the classes of unitarizable representations among the obtained irreducible subquotients. We expect that our results will provide deeper insight into the structure of the unitary dual in the general case.
Restoring the Balance between People, Places, and Profits: A Psychosocial Analysis of Uneven Community Development and the Case for Placemaking Processes

Recent years have seen a paradigm shift from individualistic, market-based models of community development to more sustainable and human-centered approaches that emphasize inclusion and participation. Yet processes of privatization in the era of neoliberalism threaten these efforts by concentrating profits for elites while impoverishing everyday people and the environments they inhabit, resulting in profoundly uneven access to resources, inclusion, and participation. This analysis examines the psychosocial processes that produce and are produced by these unequal and segregated settings, as well as the causes and correlates of this imbalance in the context of the United States. Then, empirical literature is reviewed exploring the harmful consequences that inequality entails for individual and societal wellbeing, arguing that inequality (a) undermines opportunity by limiting access to resources and constraining upward mobility, (b) undermines community by dissolving trust and cohesion, (c) undermines ecosystems health by accelerating environmental degradation, and (d) undermines democracy by reducing the political power of the non-wealthy relative to the wealthy. Finally, four placemaking principles are proposed as a way to promote more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive community development.
Family affairs – Corporate governance involvement of families and stock market returns

This study explores the association between family influence in firms and stock market returns in Germany, a country with a less investor-friendly corporate governance system where shareholders cannot directly influence top managers. The study forms portfolios of firms with and without the influence of families as shareholders or members of the firm’s legal bodies. The models estimate portfolio returns from 2003-2013 using a four-factor model. Results suggest that corporate governance is highly correlated with stock returns in Germany. Specifically, they document a significant relationship between family influence and firm valuation. Firms with stronger family influence via voting rights and board-participation are found to have a higher firm value (annualized excess return: 0.48%-6.00%). The study interprets this to mean that families may improve a firm’s internal corporate governance, as their strong motivation and ability to become actively engaged in a firm’s daily operations or to assume a monitoring role distinguishes them from other corporate blockholders. The results add to those of an increasing number of publications finding a positive association between strong family governance and performance. They contribute to a year-long scholarly exploration of performance differences among family and non-family businesses, mainly by defining the former by mere ownership. The study combines a large set of governance provisions into a novel, transparent, and replicable index of family involvement and then estimates the empirical relation with market performance. The index captures influence via shareholder voting rights, considers direct influence of owners on day-to-day operations, and controls for indirect influence via supervisory board. AcknowledgmentThe authors acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the HTWK Leipzig.
Bilingualism: A Neurocognitive Exercise in Managing Uncertainty

Abstract Bilinguals have distinct linguistic experiences relative to monolinguals, stemming from interactions with the environment and the individuals therein. Theories of language control hypothesize that these experiences play a role in adapting the neurocognitive systems responsible for control. Here we posit a potential mechanism for these adaptations, namely that bilinguals face additional language-related uncertainties on top of other ambiguities that regularly occur in language, such as lexical and syntactic competition. When faced with uncertainty in the environment, people adapt internal representations to lessen these uncertainties, which can aid in executive control and decision-making. We overview a cognitive framework on uncertainty, which we extend to language and bilingualism. We then review two “case studies,” assessing language-related uncertainty for bilingual contexts using language entropy and network scientific approaches. Overall, we find that there is substantial individual variability in the extent to which people experience language-related uncertainties in their environments, but also regularity across some contexts. This information, in turn, predicts cognitive adaptations associated with language fluency and engagement in proactive cognitive control strategies. These findings suggest that bilinguals adapt to the cumulative language-related uncertainties in the environment. We conclude by suggesting avenues for future research and links with other research domains. Ultimately, a focus on uncertainty will help bridge traditionally separate scientific domains, such as language processing, bilingualism, and decision-making.