Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The “applied poetics” of Instagram: the Greek Instapoetry landscape

ABSTRACT This study maps the Greek Instapoetry landscape by exploring a) the central formats and themes through which Greek Instapoetry becomes communicated, the most common hashtag sequences used and the predominant types of elicited responses, as well as b) the basic perceptions and experiences of Instapoetry practitioners. Findings evidenced how multiple individual forms of labour are involved in practices of content production, rendering thereby Instapoetry as a system of “applied poetics,” structured around the application of distinctive and individualised types of technological affordances for textual composition. Traditional understandings of poetry were found to be strongly upheld amongst practitioners, while the value of print was shown to be preserved as holding an additional merit. Poetic hashtags were found to be more related with visibility, in order to generate algorithmic classifications and were used mostly with strategic intent. “Ideal” instapoems were construed as short and comprehensible texts that address issues of love or point towards inspirational messages, able to elicit intense emotions in readers. Under this light, there is evidence to suggest that Instapoetry could be approached as a digitally distributed cognition ecosystem, in which affect plays a central role in understanding the cognitive processes underpinning interactions with Instapoetry-related content.
The Importance of Perceived Proximity in Local Food Mobile Apps

ABSTRACT Demand for locally produced foods is increasing. Thus, mobile apps that help consumers order local foods are more and more common. Research shows that proximity (access-, identity-, production-, and relationship-related) plays a central role in local food consumption. Questions that arise are whether these apps can create proximity between users and producers and whether such perceived proximity improves users’ attitudes toward the app, and intention to continue using it. To test this, we conducted two studies. We ran an online survey using a fictional local food app as well as a field test with consumers of an actual local food app. In both studies, we used the app’s perceived proximity as independent variables, the technology acceptance model (TAM)’s app evaluation as mediators, and consumer attitude toward the app as dependent variable. We found that perceived proximity has an impact on most TAM dimensions. The impact is further differentiated across consumers.
From place disruption to attachment: another perspective for international student mobility

ABSTRACT Places can hold the most significant experiences of peoples’ lives, and place attachment rests in these people-place meaningful connections. Traveling abroad for international students is a mobility where changes and mixed emotions entangle to one another. It represents distancing and loosening ties from a familiar place (home) and creating and connecting new ones with another place (host destination). This voluntary relocation is considered a disruption in place attachment and impacts the overall experience of the international student mobility. Nevertheless, the creation of attachment to a place derived from a place disruption remains scarce within international student mobility literature. This case study explores the production of place attachment in international students in the host destination through the conceptual lens of disruptions to attachment via changes in places. Thirty-three in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with international students from different nationalities who have finished a Master’s degree in Tourism at the University of Girona, Spain. This investigation demonstrates the motives and process of place disruption in international student mobility and the power of a host destination to create new emotional bonds and connections, becoming another home for international students.
A review of population and landscape level dynamics associated with pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep with implications for land management

Wildlife conservation necessitates understanding spatiotemporal drivers that facilitate disease outbreaks. Wildlife diseases are influenced by population and landscape level factors which affects host species’ persistence through time. Recurrent pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep have impeded population recovery throughout the western US. Recovery efforts have included translocating animals, limiting contact with known reservoirs, removing infected individuals, and depopulating herds, but pneumonia outbreaks continue to negatively impact recovery. Here, our objective was to systematically review the current literature focused on population and landscape level drivers that can contribute to pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep. We reviewed 115 studies and discovered consistent themes important to address for future conservation. One of the primary themes to advance management includes understanding how population demographics, such as age and sex cohorts, can help elucidate drivers and maintenance of pathogens associated with respiratory disease. Second, broadening knowledge of landscape level processes including population connectivity and metapopulation dynamics can inform management and recovery efforts. We identified a need for comprehensive assessments that incorporate population dynamics, landscape genomics, and population connectivity across multiple spatiotemporal scales to advance landscape management. Finally, we provide directions for future research to help managers mitigate pneumonia outbreaks and aid bighorn sheep recovery.
The Relationship Between Test Item Format and Gender Achievement Gaps on Math and ELA Tests in Fourth and Eighth Grades

Prior research suggests that males outperform females, on average, on multiple-choice items compared to their relative performance on constructed-response items. This paper characterizes the extent to which gender achievement gaps on state accountability tests across the United States are associated with those tests’ item formats. Using roughly 8 million fourth- and eighth-grade students’ scores on state assessments, we estimate state- and district-level math and reading male-female achievement gaps. We find that the estimated gaps are strongly associated with the proportions of the test scores based on multiple-choice and constructed-response questions on state accountability tests, even when controlling for gender achievement gaps as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) or Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments, which have the same item format across states. We find that test item format explains approximately 25% of the variation in gender achievement gaps among states.
Investigating the collision energy dependence of $\eta$/s in RHIC beam energy scan using Bayesian statistics

We determine the probability distributions of the shear viscosity over the entropy density ratio η/s in the quark-gluon plasma formed in Au + Au collisions at sNN=19.6,39, and 62.4GeV, using Bayesian inference and Gaussian process emulators for a model-to-data statistical analysis that probes the full input parameter space of a transport + viscous hydrodynamics hybrid model. We find the most likely value of η/s to be larger at smaller sNN, although the uncertainties still allow for a constant value between 0.10 and 0.15 for the investigated collision energy range.
A remark on Liouville property of strongly transitive actions

Liouville property of actions of discrete groups can be reformulated in terms of existence co-F$\o$lner sets. Since every action of amenable group is Liouville, the property can be served as an approach for proving non-amenability. The verification of this property is conceptually different than finding a non-amenable action. There are many groups that are defined by strongly transitive actions. In some cases amenability of such groups is an open problem. We define $n$-Liouville property of action to be Liouville property of point-wise action of the group on the sets of cardinality $n$. We reformulate $n$-Liouville property in terms of additive combinatorics and prove it for $n=1, 2$. The case $n\geq 3$ remains open.
Solution Processable PEDOT:PSS/Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Composite Films for Flexible Electrode Applications

High‐performance flexible optoelectronic devices have great potential as active elements for flexible and wearable electronics. The authors report highly flexible conducting poly (3, 4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT) composite thin films synthesized by simple, cost effective rod‐coating technique. The effect of MWCNT on PEDOT:PSS matrix is analyzed by spin coating PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT composite on glass substrates with varying concentration (0–2 wt%) of MWCNT. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE‐SEM) images confirm the uniform dispersion of MWCNT and formation of conducting path above 0.3 wt% of MWCNT. The conductivity of the spin coated films is increased from 1 Scm−1 to ≈20 Scm−1 on addition of 2 wt% of MWCNT. From UV‐Vis NIR spectra, the transparency of composite films in the visible range (at 550 nm) is found to decrease with respect to MWCNT loading. The PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT flexible electrode exhibit high electrical conductivity of 74 Scm−1 and high stability upon bending to a radius of curvature ≈9.6 mm. The features observed are an outcome of the interaction of MWCNT with PEDOT polymer as the back bone. These films are adhered to the substrate and the properties are stable upon bending the film for large number of cycles. To demonstrate the potential use of this composite film as an electrode, a thin film transistor is fabricated with PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT film as source and drain electrode. The device shows high field effect mobility of µsat = 1.16 cm2 V−1 s−1 with on/off ratio about 2.3 × 103. These favorable results make PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT conducting electrode as an excellent candidate for the next generation flexible electrodes realized by a facile solution process.
Molecular Signatures of Attention Networks

Attention network theory proposes three distinct types of attention - alerting, orienting, and control - that are supported by separate brain networks and modulated by different neurotransmitters, i.e., noradrenaline, acetylcholine, and dopamine. Here, we explore the extent of cortical, genetic, and molecular dissociation of these three attention systems using multimodal neuroimaging. We evaluated the spatial overlap between fMRI activation maps from the attention network test (ANT) and cortex-wide gene expression data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. The goal was to identify genes associated with each of the attention networks in order to determine whether specific groups of genes were co-expressed with the corresponding attention networks. Furthermore, we analysed publicly available PET-maps of neurotransmitter receptors and transporters to investigate their spatial overlap with the attention networks. Our analyses revealed a substantial number of genes (3871 for alerting, 6905 for orienting, 2556 for control) whose cortex-wide expression co-varied with the activation maps, prioritizing several molecular functions such as the regulation of protein biosynthesis, phosphorylation, and receptor binding. Contrary to the hypothesized associations, the ANT activation maps neither aligned with the distribution of noradrenaline, acetylcholine, and dopamine receptor and transporter molecules, nor with transcriptomic profiles that would suggest clearly separable networks. Independence of the attention networks appeared additionally constrained by a high level of spatial dependency between the network maps. Future work may need to re-conceptualize the attention networks in terms of their segregation and re-evaluate the presumed independence at the neural and neurochemical level.
A generalized frictional and hydrodynamic model of the dynamics and structure of dense colloidal suspensions

Controlling the structure and the rheological properties of colloidal suspension is essential in numerous applications to control the phenomenon known as shear-thickening. Here, we report on the nontrivial interplay between hydrodynamic and frictional interactions using mesoscopic characterization of semidense, φ = 0.48, and dense, φ = 0.58, colloidal suspensions. Monitoring computationally both rheology and microstructure of these complex fluids under an external deformation, we show that in the semidense regime the interactions in colloidal suspensions are dominated by hydrodynamics while the fraction of frictional bonds remains negligible and consequently the size of frictional clusters remain small. For these systems, the normal stresses remain negative and large. For dense suspensions, frictional forces are necessary to capture discontinuous shear-thickening (DST); however, the microstructure and rheology are sensitive to the level of roughness of colloidal particles. Furthermore, we show that the fr.
Inhibition of auxin biosynthesis in early rice grains leads to extensive post-fertilisation grain abortion

In spite of its abundant presence in rice grains, auxin functions during grain development are not understood well. Absence of grain-specific auxin biosynthesis mutants in rice further limits our understanding in this respect. Here, we report a chemical biology approach to inhibit auxin biosynthesis specifically in early rice grains as well as its subsequent effects on final grain yield. Exogenous application of two auxin biosynthesis inhibitors, namely L-kynurenine (L-Kyn) and 4-phenoxyphenylboronic acid (PPBo), to spikelets daily from three to ten days after pollination (DAP) significantly reduced grain levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the predominant in planta auxin. The inhibitor-treated panicles showed extensive post-fertilisation seed abortion, leading to drastic reduction in total panicle weight at maturity. Locally synthesised auxin during early grain development may therefore play a crucial role in grain retention. This chemical biology approach can be an easy and cost-effective way to study auxin biosynthesis and signalling during grain development in rice and possibly other cereal crops. Highlight Auxin synthesised in early rice grains may play a crucial role in grain retention.
Performance of Orbicella faveolata larval cohorts does not align with previously observed thermal tolerance of adult source populations

Orbicella faveolata, commonly known as the mountainous star coral, is a dominant reef-building species in the Caribbean, but populations have suffered sharp declines since the 1980s due to repeated bleaching and disease-driven mortality. Prior research has shown that inshore adult O. faveolata populations in the Florida Keys are able to maintain high coral cover and recover from bleaching faster than their offshore counterparts. However, whether this origin-specific variation in thermal resistance is heritable remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we produced purebred and hybrid larval crosses from O. faveolata gametes collected at two distinct reefs in the Upper Florida Keys, a nearshore site (Cheeca Rocks, CR) and an offshore site (Horseshoe Reef, HR), in two different years (2019, 2021). We then subjected these aposymbiotic larvae to severe (36 °C) and moderate (32 °C) heat challenges to quantify their thermal tolerance. Contrary to our expectation based on patterns of adult thermal tolerance, HR purebred larvae survived better and exhibited gene expression profiles that were less driven by stress response under elevated temperature compared to purebred CR and hybrid larvae. One potential explanation could be compromised reproductive output of CR adult colonies due to repeated summer bleaching events in 2018 and 2019, as gametes originating from CR in 2019 contained less storage lipids than those from HR. These findings provide an important counter-example to the current selective breeding paradigm, that more tolerant parents will yield more tolerant offspring, and highlight the importance of adopting a holistic approach when evaluating larval quality for conservation and restoration purposes.
A shared linguistic space for transmitting our thoughts from brain to brain in natural conversations

Effective communication hinges on a mutual understanding of word meaning in different contexts. The embedding space learned by large language models can serve as an explicit model of the shared, context-rich meaning space humans use to communicate their thoughts. We recorded brain activity using electrocorticography during spontaneous, face-to-face conversations in five pairs of epilepsy patients. We demonstrate that the linguistic embedding space can capture the linguistic content of word-by-word neural alignment between speaker and listener. Linguistic content emerged in the speaker’s brain before word articulation, and the same linguistic content rapidly reemerged in the listener’s brain after word articulation. These findings establish a computational framework to study how human brains transmit their thoughts to one another in real-world contexts.
The Cognitive Critical Brain: Modulation of Criticality in Task-Engaged Regions

The constantly evolving world necessitates a brain that can adapt and respond to rapid changes. The brain, conceptualized as a system performing cognitive functions through collective neural activity, has been shown to maintain a resting state characterized by near-critical neural activity, poised to respond to external stimuli. The dynamic adaptation of nearcriticality during various tasks, however, remains poorly understood. In this study, we utilized the prototypical Hamiltonian Ising model to investigate the modulation of near-criticality in neural activity at the cortical subsystem level during cognitive tasks. Specifically, we theoretically simulated cortical 2D-Ising models in silico using structural MRI data and empirically estimated the system state in vivo using functional MRI data. First, our findings corroborated previous studies that the resting state is typically near-critical as captured by the Ising model. Notably, we found that cortical subsystems changed their criticality levels heterogeneously during a naturalistic movie-watching task, where visual and auditory cortical regions were fine-tuned closer to criticality. A more fine-grained analysis of the ventral temporal cortex during an object recognition task revealed that only regions selectively responsive to a specific object category were tuned closer to criticality when processing that object category. In conclusion, our study supports the cognitive critical brain hypothesis that modulating the criticality of subsystems within the hierarchical modular brain may be a general mechanism for achieving diverse cognitive functions.
Accurate and Efficient 3D Reconstruction of Right Heart Shape and Motion from Multi-Series Cine-MRI

The accurate reconstruction of the right heart geometry and motion from time-resolved medical images enhances diagnostic tools based on image visualization as well as the analysis of cardiac blood dynamics through computational methods. Due to the peculiarity of the right heart morphology and motion, commonly used segmentation and/or reconstruction techniques, which only employ Short-Axis cine-MRI, lack accuracy in relevant regions of the right heart, like the ventricular base and the outflow tract. Moreover, the reconstruction procedure is time-consuming and, in the case of the generation of computational domains, requires a lot of manual intervention. This paper presents a new method for the accurate and efficient reconstruction of the right heart geometry and motion from time-resolved MRI. In particular, the proposed method makes use of surface morphing to merge information coming from multi-series cine-MRI (such as Short/Long-Axis and 2/3/4 Chambers acquisitions) and to reconstruct important cardiac features. It also automatically provides the complete cardiac contraction and relaxation motion by exploiting a suitable image registration technique. The method is applied both to a healthy and a pathological (tetralogy of Fallot) case, and yelds more accurate results than standard procedures. The proposed method is also employed to provide significant input for computational fluid dynamics. The corresponding numerical results demonstrate the reliability of our approach in the computation of clinically relevant blood dynamics quantities.
Genome-wide transcriptome analysis reveals the diversity and function of long non-coding RNAs in dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellates are a diverse group of phytoplankton, ranging from harmful bloom-forming microalgae to photosymbionts that are critical for sustaining coral reefs. Genome and transcriptome data from dinoflagellates are revealing extensive genomic divergence and lineage-specific innovation of gene functions. However, most studies thus far have focused on protein-coding genes; long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), known to regulate gene expression in eukaryotes, are largely unexplored. Here, using both genome and transcriptome data, we identified a combined total of 48,039 polyadenylated lncRNAs in the genomes of three dinoflagellate species: the coral symbionts of Cladocopium proliferum and Durusdinium trenchii, and the bloom-forming Prorocentrum cordatum. These putative lncRNAs are shorter, and have fewer introns and lower G+C-content when compared to protein-coding sequences. Although 37,768 (78.6%) lncRNAs shared no significant similarity with one another, we classified all lncRNAs based on conserved sequence motifs (k-mers) into distinct clusters following properties of potential protein-binding and/or subcellular localisation. Interestingly, 3708 (7.7%) lncRNAs were differentially expressed in response to heat stress, lifestyle, and/or growth phases, and they shared co-expression patterns with protein-coding genes. Based on inferred triplex interactions between lncRNA and upstream (putative promoter) regions of protein-coding genes, we identified a combined 19,460 putative gene targets for 3,721 lncRNAs; 907 genes exhibit differential expression under heat stress. These results reveal for the first time the functional diversity of lncRNAs in dinoflagellates, and demonstrate how lncRNAs, often overlooked in transcriptome data, could regulate gene expression as a molecular response to heat stress in these ecologically important organisms.
Fiber alignment in 3D collagen networks as a biophysical marker for cell contractility

Cells cultured in 3D fibrous biopolymer matrices exert traction forces on their environment that induce deformations and remodeling of the fiber network. By measuring these deformations, the traction forces can be reconstructed if the mechanical properties of the matrix and the force-free matrix configuration are known. These requirements severely limit the applicability of traction force reconstruction in practice. In this study, we test whether force-induced matrix remodeling can instead be used as a proxy for cellular traction forces. We measure the traction forces of hepatic stellate cells and different glioblastoma cell lines and quantify matrix remodeling by measuring the fiber orientation and fiber density around these cells. In agreement with simulated fiber networks, we demonstrate that changes in local fiber orientation and density are directly related to cell forces. By resolving Rho-kinase (ROCK) Inhibitor-induced changes of traction forces and fiber alignment and density in hepatic stellate cells, we show that the method is suitable for drug screening assays. We conclude that differences in local fiber orientation and density, which are easily measurable, can be used as a qualitative proxy for changes in traction forces. The method is available as an open-source Python package with a graphical user interface.