Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Game Features of Cognitive Training

Cognitive training aimed at older adults is introduced and the issues of engagement and adhesion are discussed. Two examples of 'brain training' games are analysed, one with a health (non-leisure) focus that is currently being deployed in a clinical trial (Protect Brain Training Study) and the other, focussed on leisure, that is available on a consumer games console (Big Brain Academy for Wii). Both are based on a set of mini-games which are aimed at training and/or testing reasoning, planning, concentration, identification, maths, visuospatial and memory skills. The game mechanics of the two examples are analysed in detail, summarised and discussed. The paper concludes with an outline of the future research direction.
A Front-end Stage for Neural Signal Recording based on a Sigma-delta Modulator

A new device for peripheral neural signals recording is presented. The designed system is composed by an analog and a digital part. The analog part, to be integrated on an implantable CMOS chip, is kept as simple as possible and hosts a low noise first order pre-amplifier/pre-filtering stage that provides a 46dB gain in the bandwidth 800Hz−7.2kHz and a 16-bit 3rd order sigma delta modulator. A highly selective band-pass filter is implemented into the digital domain, incorporated in the decimator block of the sigma-delta converter; in this way it is possible to reduce total area (which is 0.4mm2 for a single input channel) and power consumption (250μW , single channel) in the integrated, implantable module. Simulation results prove the capability of the proposed system to record signals whose magnitude is in the order of tens of microvolts thanks to the low Input Referred Noise (IRN) of 2. 4μVrms of the input stage.
Effect of ethanol on the hydroxylation of tyrosine and tryptophan in rat brain in vivo

Various doses of ethanol were injected intraperitoneally into rats. After 20 min, 3‐hydroxybenzylhydrazine (NSD 1015), an inhibitor of aromatic amino‐acid decarboxylase was injected and 30 min later the animals were killed. The amount of dopa accumulating in brain as a consequence of decarboxylase inhibition was significantly increased by moderate doses of ethanol (up to 4 g kg−1). There was no corresponding effect on 5‐hydroxytryptophan. The effect on dopa was found both in a dopamine‐ and a noradrenaline‐dominated area of the brain, suggesting that catecholamine synthesis is stimulated by ethanol in both types of neuron. The data lend support to the hypothesis of Carlsson, Engel & Svensson (1972) that cerebral catecholamines are involved in the central stimulation induced by ethanol.
Participatory Approaches and Geographical Information Systems (PAGIS) in Tourism Planning

Abstract Tourism researchers and planners continue to grapple with the problem of how to achieve more sustainable forms of tourism development; community participation and stakeholder interaction are increasingly seen as central to achieving desired outcomes. This paper explores how participatory approaches (PA) and geographical information systems (GIS) – PAGIS – can be blended to provide a framework that can facilitate a better understanding of attitudes towards tourism and enhance participation and stakeholder interaction in tourism planning. The paper demonstrates the initial development process of PAGIS by focusing on the case of Marahau, a small community in New Zealand. Marahau lies at the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, one of New Zealand's tourism icons. The community is facing considerable changes that impact on their quality of life. This is, in part, due to increasing visitor numbers and tourism developments resulting in growing conflicts over common resource use. There are multiple stakeholders (community, Maori, local government, industry, developers) involved in deciding the future of Marahau and this paper suggests that PAGIS has the potential to play an important role in enhancing sustainable tourism development outcomes.
Relationship between Cognitive Impairment and Behavioural Disturbances in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

Background and Aims: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in which the patients can exhibit some behavioural disturbances in addition to cognitive impairment. The aims of the present study were to investigate the relationship between severity and rate of decline of the cognitive and behavioural impairment in patient with AD. Methods: 54 AD patients were assessed at baseline and after 12 months with the Mental Deterioration Battery (MDB), the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment ScaleCognitive (ADASCog) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI10). Results: MDB was more accurate than ADASCog in the early diagnosis of AD. Conversely, ADASCog was more sensitive at revealing the progression of cognitive decline. Depression, Apathy and Anxiety are the most frequent and severe behavioural disturbances at baseline. At followup Delusions and Irritability increased significantly. Significant correlations were observed between severity of cognitive impairment and behavioural disorders both at baseline and in the progression rate passing from T0 to T12. Conclusions: Severity and progression rate of behavioural and cognitive alterations in patients with AD are significantly associated.
Changes in Managerial Work

This article seeks to examine how recent structural and organizational changes could have had an impact on the role and work of managers in contemporary organizations with support of empirical data gathered from a case study undertaken in India. The article basically looks at issues like effects of recession, new work of managers, their managerial style and types of skills required to effectively fulfil the functions of managers.
Forecasting water demand—A disaggregated approach

The paper outlines the background research into domestic and industrial water use that was conducted over a period of 3 years and the use that was subsequently made of the detailed information in establishing a revised 20 year forecast of the demand for potable water supplies in the Severn–Trent Water Authority area in England. The major difficulty in forecasting water demand is its multiplicity of uses, each with a different potential rate of growth in demand; a further complication is the growth in water recycling in industry. The water industry is one of the most capital intensive industries in the UK and because of the large capital sums involved in reservoir development and the long lead times for construction, the reliability of forecasts is a sensitive area. The component method described in this paper replaces the traditional extrapolatory approach and is believed to produce more meaningful forecasts.
A General Framework for Stochastic Traveling Waves and Patterns, with Application to Neural Field Equations

In this paper we present a general framework in which to rigorously study the effect of spatio-temporal noise on traveling waves and stationary patterns. In particular, the framework can incorporate versions of the stochastic neural field equation that may exhibit traveling fronts, pulses, or stationary patterns. To do this, we first formulate a local SDE that describes the position of the stochastic wave up until a discontinuity time, at which point the position of the wave may jump. We then study the local stability of this stochastic front, obtaining a result that recovers a well-known deterministic result in the small-noise limit. We finish with a study of the long-time behavior of the stochastic wave.
The Measurement of Technical Efficiency Using Frontier Production Functions of Rice Farms in West Java 1

Information from the Patanas survey of 1983/84 was used to estimate frontier production functions for rice farmers from four villages in West Java. The results indicate that rice farmers in these regions were technically efficient in their rice production. 1 The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Centre for Agro Economic Research, Indonesia. We are grateful to Dr. C. Alaouze, Dr. G. Lim and Dr. D. MacLaren for their helpful comments.
Impact of advancing age on abdominal surgical outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To describe the population-level risk of adverse outcomes among older adults undergoing common abdominal surgical procedures. DESIGN Retrospective, population-based cohort study. SETTING Washington State hospital discharge database. PARTICIPANTS A total of 101 318 adults 65 years or older who underwent common abdominal procedures such as cholecystectomy, colectomy, and hysterectomy from 1987 through 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Ninety-day rates of postsurgical morbidity and mortality. RESULTS The 90-day cumulative incidence of complications was 17.3%, with a 90-day mortality rate of 5.4%. Advancing age was associated with increasing frequency of complications (65-69 years, 14.6%; 70-74 years, 16.1%; 75-79 years, 18.8%; 80-84 years, 19.9%; 85-89 years, 22.6%; and >or=90 years, 22.7%; trend test, P < .001) and mortality (65-69 years, 2.5%; 70-74 years, 3.8%; 75-79 years, 6.0%; 80-84 years, 8.1%; 85-89 years, 12.6%; and >or=90 years, 16.7%; trend test, P < .001). After adjusting for demographic, patient, and surgical characteristics as well as hospital volume, the odds of early postoperative death increased considerably with each advance in age category. These associations were found among patients with both cancer and noncancer diagnoses and for both elective and nonelective admissions (trend test, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Among older adults, the risk of complications and early death after commonly performed abdominal procedures is greater than previously reported. These rates should be considered in ongoing quality improvement initiatives and may be helpful when counseling patients regarding abdominal operations.
The Influence of Landmarks and Pre-exposure to a Structural Map During the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition: A Study with Children and Adults in a Virtual Environment

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of featural information (landmarks) and geometric information (pre-exposure to a structural map) and their possible interaction during the process of spatial knowledge acquisition of 8- and 11-year-old children and adults in a virtual environment. The study confirmed the well-known result of a developmental achievement in spatial cognition from childhood to adulthood. Although landmarks and the pre-exposure to a structural map did not affect the time to learn a specific route, they influenced the use of behavior in spatial learning and eased the acquisition of spatial knowledge measured by a route reversal and map-drawing tasks. Children and adults are able to integrate featural and geometric information in the spatial knowledge acquisition process in an environmental space, but their integration depends on the spatial processing stages that are investigated. Moreover, it was successfully demonstrated that the use of desktop virtual environments seems to be appropriate to investigate the development of spatial cognition.
Institutional constraints and adoption of improved rice varieties: Econometric evidence from Ivory Coast

The main objective of this article is to analyze the impact of institutional constraints on the adoption and use intensity of improved rice varieties at the farm level. Among institutional barriers to the adoption of improved technologies by farming households, this paper focuses on credit constraints and deficiencies of transportation infrastructures. In our methodological process, a formal theoretical framework is examined before specifying the econometric model. The theoretical findings show a positive relationship between the amount of credit available and the adoption level of improved rice varieties. They also indicate a negative impact of transportation costs on the intensity of use of these new varieties. Econometric evidence was implemented from 311 Ivorian rice farmers using a fractional logit model. The econometric estimates confirm the findings that improving access to credit and reducing transportation costs encourage the adoption of modern rice varieties.
L1-graph semisupervised learning for hyperspectral image classification

Recently, research in semisupervised learning (SSL) based on sparse representation has shown huge potential for many classification tasks. In this paper, we address a hyperspectral image classification by integrating L1-graph and SSL. We propose a semisupervised classification method with L1-graph which has more attractive merits than traditional graph method, such as parameter free, sparsity and robustness. Our method firstly obtains the graph weights by solving a L1 optimization problem, and then generates a way of SSL with the L1-graph weights to deal with classification of hyperspectral images. The experiments are designed to cope with challenging real hyperspectral image classification task with a few labeled samples. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the L1-graph semisupervised method.
Word level lyrics-audio synchronization using separated vocals

The massive amount of digital music data available necessitates automated methods for processing, classifying and organizing large volumes of songs. As music discovery and interactive music applications become commonplace, the ability to synchronize lyric text information with an audio recording has gained interest. This paper presents an approach for lyric-audio alignment by comparing synthesized speech with a vocal track removed from an instrument mixture using source separation. We take a hierarchical approach to solve the problem, assuming a set of paragraph-music segment pairs is given and focus on within-segment lyric alignment at the word level. A synthesized speech signal is generated to reflect the properties of the music signal by controlling the speech rate and gender. Dynamic time warping finds the shortest path between the synthesized speech and separated vocal. The resulting path is used to calculate the timestamps of words in the original signal. The system results in approximately half a second of misalignment error on average. Finally, we discuss the challenges and suggest improvements to the method.
Overexpression of Simian Virus 40 Small-T Antigen Blocks Centrosome Function and Mitotic Progression in Human Fibroblasts

ABSTRACT Recombinant adenoviruses that express high levels of the simian virus 40 (SV40) small-t (ST) antigen have been used to study the requirement for ST to drive cell cycle proliferation of confluent human diploid fibroblasts. This occurs when either large-T (LT) antigen or serum is added to provide a second signal. While cells readily completed S phase in these experiments, they were found to accumulate with 4N DNA content. Cellular and nuclear morphology, as well as the biochemical status of cyclin B complexes, showed that these cells entered mitosis but were blocked prior to mitotic metaphase. The defect appears to reflect an inability of cells overexpressing ST to form organized centrosomes that duplicate and separate normally during the cell cycle and, therefore, the absence of a mitotic spindle. The ability of ST to bind protein phosphatase 2A was required for this pattern, suggesting that altered phosphorylation of key centrosomal components may occur when ST is overexpressed. Although the possible significance of ST effects on the centrosome cycle is not fully understood, these findings suggest that ST could influence chromosomal instability patterns that are a hallmark of SV40-transformed cells and LT expression.
Does polygyny reduce fertility?

Polygyny can increase, decrease, or have no effect on fertility. Understanding how this can occur requires consideration of both the proximate determinants of fertility and the ultimate effects of polygyny as a female reproductive strategy. Several factors reduced the fertility of polygynous women in 19th century Utah, including marrying at an older age, marrying older men, and conflict between co‐wives. Sterility did not explain the reduced number of children in polygynous women, nor is there evidence of a “dilution effect” from sharing a husband. If women could anticipate a reduction in their own fertility, why would they still choose polygyny? Evidence suggests that they chose it because the children of polygynous men had increased fertility, high enough to offset the low fertility of polygynous women themselves. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:222–232, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Abstract Dialectical Frameworks ∗ Properties , Complexity , and Implementation

Dialectical Frameworks∗ Properties, Complexity, and Implementation Stefan Ellmauthaler Intelligent Systems Computer Science Institute University of Leipzig 15.11. 2012 ∗The presented results are from the same-titled Master’s thesis, done at the Vienna University of Technology (Institute of Information Systems, Database and Artificial Intelligence Group)
The role of absorptive capacity in partnership retention

This study investigates the moderating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between the attributes of partner resources and the partnership retention intentions of focal firms. C-level executives from US software small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were surveyed to obtain data for the study. The results show that absorptive capacity of SMEs positively moderates the relationship between the uniqueness of partner resources and the intention of SMEs to retain the partnership. However, absorptive capacity of SMEs negatively moderates the relationship between the complementarity of partner resources and partnership retention intentions. The results of the study contribute to understanding the role of the absorptive capacity of a focal firm in partnership stability.
Assessing the Impact of Remittances on Schooling: the Mexican Experience

This paper analyzes the impact of remittances on child human capital in Mexico. During the 90s and in particular after the tequila crisis Mexican workers increased the remittances that were sent to their homes from the United States. I will analyze the effect of such increasing source of income on child human capital decisions. Contrary to Hanson and Woodruff (2003) the results obtained from Census data indicate a positive and small effect of remittances on schooling only for children living in cities with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants and with mothers with a very low level of education. However its magnitude is not substantial.
AFM studies of nanoparticle deposition via electrospray ionization

Electrospray ionization was used to deposit CdSe nanoparticles on graphite and InP substrates. The charge transferred to the substrate via the deposition was correlated to the number of particles found on the substrate by AFM observation. A charge per nanoparticle was determined from depositions of various lengths of time, which is ∼1 electron per nanoparticle. This value was found to be consistent for concentrations of nanoparticle solutions, which differed by an order of magnitude. Such a value may be used for predicting the density of nanoparticles deposited on a substrate during the deposition. It was found that above a critical concentration, the deposition process produced large clumps of particles rather than individual particles. At lower concentrations, individual particles deposited on the graphite substrates were found to be mobile, arranging themselves on step edges of the graphite. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Robustness and Balancing of Parallel-Connected Power Devices: SiC Versus CoolMOS

Differences in the thermal and electrical switching time constants between parallel-connected devices cause imbalances in the power and temperature distribution, thereby reducing module robustness. In this paper, the impact of electrothermal variations (gate and thermal resistance) between parallel-connected devices on module robustness is investigated for 900-V-CoolMOS and 1.2-kV-SiC MOSFETs under clamped inductive switching (CIS) and unclamped inductive switching (UIS). Under CIS, the difference in the steady-state junction temperature (ΔTJ) and switching energy (ΔESW) between the parallel-connected devices for a given difference in the gate and thermal resistance (ΔRG and ΔRTH) is used as the metric for determining robustness to electrothermal variations, i.e., how well the devices maintain uniform temperature inspite of switching with different rates and thermal resistances. Under UIS conditions, the change in the maximum avalanche current/energy prior to device failure as a function of the ΔTJ and ΔRG between the parallel-connected devices is used as the metric. Under both CIS and UIS, SiC devices show better performance with minimal negative response to electrothermal variations between the parallel-connected devices. Finite-element models have also been performed showing the dynamics of BJT latch-up during UIS for different technologies.
Flexible Estimation of Demand Schedules and Revenue Under Different Auction Formats

From 1976 to 1980, the International Monetary Fund sold by sealed-bid auctions one-fifth of its gold stock and systematically experimented with auction format. Based on data from these auctions, this paper uses nonlinear estimation techniques to estimate demand curves under the alternative formats. Demand schedules at the uniform-price auctions were steeper and to the right of those at discriminatory-price auctions, upholding the predictions of bidding theory. Moreover, it is estimated that discriminating-price auctions yielded lower revenue than uniform-price auctions; Monte Carlo simulations suggest that this latter result is both robust and statistically significant.
The Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing with either Frictionless or Frictional Security Markets

This paper studies asset pricing in arbitrage-free financial markets in general state space (both for frictionless market and for market with transaction cost). The mathematical formulation is based on a locally convex topological space for weakly arbitrage-free securities’ structure and a separable Banach space for strictly arbitrage-free securities’ structure. We establish, for these two types of spaces, the weakly arbitrage-free pricing theorem and the strictly arbitrage-free pricing theorem, respectively.
Visualization and analysis of SCImago Journal & Country Rank structure via journal clustering

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to visualize the structure of SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) coverage of the extensive citation network of Scopus journals, examining this bibliometric portal through an alternative approach, applying clustering and visualization techniques to a combination of citation-based links. Design/methodology/approach Three SJR journal-journal networks containing direct citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling links are built. The three networks were then combined into a new one by summing up their values, which were later normalized through geo-normalization measure. Finally, the VOS clustering algorithm was executed and the journal clusters obtained were labeled using original SJR category tags and significant words from journal titles. Findings The resultant scientogram displays the SJR structure through a set of communities equivalent to SJR categories that represent the subject contents of the journals they cover. A higher level of aggregation by areas provides a broad view of the SJR structure, facilitating its analysis and visualization at the same time. Originality/value This is the first study using Persson’s combination of most popular citation-based links (direct citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling) in order to develop a scientogram based on Scopus journals from SJR. The integration of the three measures along with performance of the VOS community detection algorithm gave a balanced set of clusters. The resulting scientogram is useful for assessing and validating previous classifications as well as for information retrieval and domain analysis.