Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personality's correlates of adult development and aging

Three cross-sectional studies examined stability and change in personality over the course of life by measuring the relations linking age to personality traits, self-efficacy beliefs, values, and well-being in large samples of Italian male and female participants. In each study, relations between personality and age were examined across several age groups ranging from young adulthood to old age. In each study, personality constructs were first examined in terms of mean group differences accrued by age and gender and then in terms of their correlations with age across gender and age groups. Furthermore, personality-age correlations were also calculated, controlling for the demographic effects accrued by marital status, education, and health. Findings strongly indicated that personality functioning does not necessarily decline in the later years of life, and that decline is more pronounced in males than it is in females across several personality dimensions ranging from personality traits, such as emotional.
Cellular and behavioural effects of the adenosine A2a receptor antagonist KW‐6002 in a rat model of l‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesia

We have examined the ability of KW‐6002, an adenosine A2a antagonist, to modulate the dyskinetic effects of l‐DOPA in 6‐hydroxydopamine‐lesioned rats. In animals rendered dyskinetic by a previous course of l‐DOPA treatment, KW‐6002 did not elicit any abnormal involuntary movements on its own, but failed to reduce the severity of dyskinesia when coadministered with l‐DOPA. A second experiment was undertaken in order to study the effects of KW‐6002 in l‐DOPA‐naive rats. Thirty‐five animals were allotted to four groups to receive a 21‐day treatment with: (i) KW‐6002 (10 mg/kg/day); (ii) l‐DOPA (6 mg/kg/day) i.p.; (iii) KW‐6002 plus l‐DOPA (same doses as above) or (iv) vehicle. Chronic treatment with KW‐6002‐only produced a significant relief of motor disability in the rotarod test in the absence of any abnormal involuntary movements. Combined treatment with l‐DOPA and KW‐6002 improved rotarod performance to a significantly higher degree than did each of the two drugs alone. However, this combined treatment induced dyskinesia to about the same degree as did l‐DOPA alone. In situ hybridization histochemistry showed that KW‐6002 treatment alone caused an approximately 20% reduction in the striatal levels of preproenkephalin mRNA, whereas neither the coadministration of KW‐6002 and l‐DOPA nor l‐DOPA alone significantly altered the expression of this transcript in the dopamine‐denervated striatum. Either alone or in combination with l‐DOPA, KW‐6002 did not have any modulatory effect on prodynorphin mRNA expression or FosB/ΔFosB‐like immunoreactivity in the dopamine‐denervated striatum.
Specialization of Binaural Responses in Ventral Auditory Cortices

Accurate orientation to sound under challenging conditions requires auditory cortex, but it is unclear how spatial attributes of the auditory scene are represented at this level. Current organization schemes follow a functional division whereby dorsal and ventral auditory cortices specialize to encode spatial and object features of sound source, respectively. However, few studies have examined spatial cue sensitivities in ventral cortices to support or reject such schemes. Here Fourier optical imaging was used to quantify best frequency responses and corresponding gradient organization in primary (A1), anterior, posterior, ventral (VAF), and suprarhinal (SRAF) auditory fields of the rat. Spike rate sensitivities to binaural interaural level difference (ILD) and average binaural level cues were probed in A1 and two ventral cortices, VAF and SRAF. Continuous distributions of best ILDs and ILD tuning metrics were observed in all cortices, suggesting this horizontal position cue is well covered. VAF and caudal SRAF in the right cerebral hemisphere responded maximally to midline horizontal position cues, whereas A1 and rostral SRAF responded maximally to ILD cues favoring more eccentric positions in the contralateral sound hemifield. SRAF had the highest incidence of binaural facilitation for ILD cues corresponding to midline positions, supporting current theories that auditory cortices have specialized and hierarchical functional organization.
A population of large neurons in laminae III and IV of the rat spinal cord that have long dorsal dendrites and lack the neurokinin 1 receptor

The dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord contains a population of large neurons with cell bodies in laminae III or IV, that express the neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1r) and have long dorsal dendrites that branch extensively within the superficial laminae. In this study, we have identified a separate population of neurons that have similar dendritic morphology, but lack the NK1r. These cells also differ from the NK1r‐expressing neurons in that they have significantly fewer contacts from substance P‐containing axons and are not retrogradely labelled following injection of tracer into the caudal ventrolateral medulla. We also provide evidence that these cells do not belong to the postsynaptic dorsal column pathway or the spinothalamic tract. It is therefore likely that these cells do not have supraspinal projections. They may provide a route through which information transmitted by C fibres that lack neuropeptides is conveyed to deeper laminae. The present findings demonstrate the need for caution when attempting to classify neurons solely on the basis of somatodendritic morphology.
Differential Selection Pressure Exerted on HIV by CTL Targeting Identical Epitopes but Restricted by Distinct HLA Alleles from the Same HLA Supertype1

HLA diversity is seen as a major challenge to CTL vaccines against HIV. One current approach focuses on “promiscuous” epitopes, presented by multiple HLA alleles from within the same HLA supertype. However, the effectiveness of such supertype vaccines depends upon the functional equivalence of CTL targeting a particular epitope, irrespective of the restricting HLA. In this study, we describe the promiscuous HIV-specific CTL epitopes presented by alleles within the B7 supertype. Substantial differences were observed in the ability of CTL to select for escape mutation when targeting the same epitope but restricted by different HLA. This observation was common to all six promiscuous B7 epitopes identified. Moreover, with one exception, there were no significant differences in the frequency, magnitude, or immunodominance of the CTL responses restricted by different HLA alleles to explain these discrepancies. This suggests that the unique peptide/MHC complexes generated by even closely related HLA induce CTL responses that are qualitatively different. This hypothesis is supported by additional differences observed between CTL targeting identical epitopes but restricted by different HLA: first, the occurrence of distinct, HLA-specific escape mutation; second, the recruitment of distinct TCR repertoires by particular peptide/MHC complexes; and, third, significant differences in the functional avidity of CTL. Taken together, these data indicate that significant functional differences exist between CTL targeting identical epitopes but restricted by different, albeit closely related HLA. These findings are of relevance to vaccine approaches that seek to exploit HLA supertypes to overcome the problem of HLA diversity.
Implementation and evaluation of a simulation system based on particle swarm optimisation for node placement problem in wireless mesh networks

With the fast development of wireless technologies, wireless mesh networks WMNs are becoming an important networking infrastructure due to their low cost and increased high speed wireless internet connectivity. This paper implements a simulation system based on particle swarm optimisation PSO in order to solve the problem of mesh router placement in WMNs. Four replacement methods of mesh routers are considered: constriction method CM, random inertia weight method RIWM, linearly decreasing Vmax method LDVM and linearly decreasing inertia weight method LDIWM. Simulation results are provided, showing that the CM converges very fast, but has the worst performance among the methods. The considered performance metrics are the size of giant component SGC and the number of covered mesh clients NCMC. The RIWM converges fast and the performance is good. The LDIWM is a combination of RIWM and LDVM. The LDVM converges after 170 number of phases but has a good performance.
Toward Risk Assessment as a Service in Cloud Environments

Security and privacy assessments are considered a best practice for evaluating a system or application for potential risks and exposures. Cloud computing introduces several characteristics that challenge the effectiveness of current assessment approaches. In particular, the on-demand, automated, multi-tenant nature of cloud computing is at odds with the static, human process-oriented nature of the systems for which typical assessments were designed. This paper describes these challenges and recommends addressing them by introducing risk assessment as a service.
Study Strategies and Type of Test Item in Prose Comprehension Test

The performance of four groups having different study strategies on a multiple-choice prose comprehension test composed of 40 each factual and inferential test items was investigated. 120 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology were subjects. No significant difference in the over-all performance on the factual and inferential test items was noted but there were significant differences among groups on inferential test items. The ‘Yoked’ and the ‘Control’ groups performed better than those with self-generated questions and experimenter-adjunct questions.
The Mannose Receptor Mediates Dengue Virus Infection of Macrophages

Macrophages (MØ) and mononuclear phagocytes are major targets of infection by dengue virus (DV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus that can cause haemorrhagic fever in humans. To our knowledge, we show for the first time that the MØ mannose receptor (MR) binds to all four serotypes of DV and specifically to the envelope glycoprotein. Glycan analysis, ELISA, and blot overlay assays demonstrate that MR binds via its carbohydrate recognition domains to mosquito and human cell–produced DV antigen. This binding is abrogated by deglycosylation of the DV envelope glycoprotein. Surface expression of recombinant MR on NIH3T3 cells confers DV binding. Furthermore, DV infection of primary human MØ can be blocked by anti-MR antibodies. MR is a prototypic marker of alternatively activated MØ, and pre-treatment of human monocytes or MØ with type 2 cytokines (IL-4 or IL-13) enhances their susceptibility to productive DV infection. Our findings indicate a new functional role for the MR in DV infection.
Translation Model Interpolation for Domain Adaptation in TectoMT

We present an implementation of domain adaptation by translation model interpolation in the TectoMT translation system with deep transfer. We evaluate the method on six language pairs with a 1000-sentence in-domain parallel corpus, and obtain improvements of up to 3 BLEU points. The interpolation weights are set uniformly, without employing any tuning.
Flexibility in the Small Firm: the dynamics of market re-positioning and scale adjustment in the early stages of the life cycle

This paper examines flexibility in the small firm in two ways. First, it looks at the re-positioning of their main product markets that firms undertake in the early life cycle, in an attempt to best exploit their niche advantages. The market extent variables used are: local, regional, Scottish, national, and international. A transition probability approach is taken, estimating the probability of moving from one market are to another in a unit period. In this way, it is possible to compare the long run equilibrium of such a process, with the period by period adjustment. This examination of short run adjustment to a long period equilibrium provides insights into small firm flexibility as regards market area and niche exploitation. It is found that the speed of adjustment of small firms is relatively rapid, and they typically get close to the long period equilibrium in just a few periods of adjustment. This suggests high flexibility in the exploitation of market areas. Secondly, the paper estimates a model of the dynamics of small firm sales growth. This is a variant of a Gibrat's law type of model. It is shown that rapid sales growth is often achieved in the early life cycle. This process is log-linear in size, dynamically stable, and implies a plausible value for the long run equilibrium size of the small firm. Over short periods, of just a few years, however, most small firms were yet still below their equilibrium sizes, though a systematic tendency towards equilibrium was observed. Thus pervasive flexibility was evident in small firm behaviour, both in terms of niche exploitation and growth. Greater flexibility was observed in niche exploitation, as compared to overall scale.
Introduction to Radiobiology of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy

During the last decades, new radionuclide-based targeted therapies have emerged as efficient tools for cancer treatment. Targeted radionuclide therapies (TRTs) are based on a multidisciplinary approach that involves the cooperation of specialists in several research fields. Among them, radiobiologists investigate the biological effects of ionizing radiation, specifically the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the radiation response. Most of the knowledge about radiation effects concerns external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and radiobiology has then strongly contributed to the development of this therapeutic approach. Similarly, radiobiology and dosimetry are also assumed to be ways for improving TRT, in particular in the therapy of solid tumors, which are radioresistant. However, extrapolation of EBRT radiobiology to TRT is not straightforward. Indeed, the specific physical characteristics of TRT (heterogeneous and mixed irradiation, protracted exposure, and low absorbed dose rate) differ from those of conventional EBRT (homogeneous irradiation, short exposure, and high absorbed dose rate), and consequently the response of irradiated tissues might be different. Therefore, specific TRT radiobiology needs to be explored. Determining dose–effect correlation is also a prerequisite for rigorous preclinical radiobiology studies because dosimetry provides the necessary referential to all TRT situations. It is required too for developing patient-tailored TRT in the clinic in order to estimate the best dose for tumor control, while protecting the healthy tissues, thereby improving therapeutic efficacy. Finally, it will allow to determine the relative contribution of targeted effects (assumed to be dose-related) and non-targeted effects (assumed to be non-dose-related) of ionizing radiation. However, conversely to EBRT where it is routinely used, dosimetry is still challenging in TRT. Therefore, it constitutes with radiobiology, one of the main challenges of TRT in the future.
Flowering time variation in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is associated with allelic variation in the FRIGIDA homologue BnaA.FRI.a

Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is a major oil crop which is grown worldwide. Adaptation to different environments and regional climatic conditions involves variation in the regulation of flowering time. Winter types have a strong vernalization requirement whereas semi-winter and spring types have a low vernalization requirement or flower without exposure to cold, respectively. In Arabidopsis thaliana, FRIGIDA (FRI) is a key regulator which inhibits floral transition through activation of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), a central repressor of flowering which controls vernalization requirement and response. Here, four FRI homologues in B. napus were identified by BAC library screening and PCR-based cloning. While all homologues are expressed, two genes were found to be differentially expressed in aerial plant organs. One of these, BnaA.FRI.a, was mapped to a region on chromosome A03 which co-localizes with a major flowering time quantitative trait locus in multiple environments in a doubled-haploid mapping population. Association analysis of BnaA.FRI.a revealed that six SNPs, including at least one at a putative functional site, and one haplotype block, respectively, are associated with flowering time variation in 248 accessions, with flowering times differing by 13–19 d between extreme haplotypes. The results from both linkage analysis and association mapping indicate that BnaA.FRI.a is a major determinant of flowering time in oilseed rape, and suggest further that this gene also contributes to the differentiation between growth types. The putative functional polymorphisms identified here may facilitate adaptation of this crop to specific environments through marker-assisted breeding.
A review on Distribution Network protection with penetration of Distributed Generation

Distribution Generation Networks connected to low voltage distribution networks are nowadays becoming popular due to advantages over the other resources and environmental benefits. In spite of these benefits DG also impacts on the power system. Problems arising due to connection of Distribution Generation (DG) to the Distribution Network (DN) are such as power system stability issues, voltage regulation and protection coordination issues. In this paper, impacts of DG penetration in DN are investigated and possible solutions to reduce this impact are suggested. Microgrid consists of low voltage distribution systems with distributed energy resources (DER) and controllable loads. The main issue related with the microgrid is the protection coordination having inverter interfaced DG units especially in islanded microgrids. This paper reviews on traditional and state of the art of the protection strategies with respect to the microgrid protection.
Instrumentation of Annotated C Programs for Test Generation

Software verification and validation often rely on formal specifications that encode desired program properties. Recent research proposed a combined verification approach in which a program can be incrementally verified using alternatively deductive verification and testing. Both techniques should use the same specification expressed in a unique specification language. This paper addresses this problem within the Frama-C framework for analysis of C programs, that offers ACSL as a common specification language. We provide a formal description of an automatic translation of ACSL annotations into C code that can be used by a test generation tool either to trigger and detect specification failures, or to gain confidence, or, under some assumptions, even to confirm that the code is in conformity with respect to the annotations. We implement the proposed specification translation in a combined verification tool Study. Our initial experiments suggest that the proposed support for a common specification language can be very helpful for combined static-dynamic analyses.
Gender identity affirmation among male-to-female transgender persons: a life course analysis across types of relationships and cultural/lifestyle factors

Disclosures of a transgender identity to others, and responses from others allowing for desired gender role behavior, are defining events for male-to-female (MTF) transgender persons. This study systematically examined these interpersonal acts of gender identity affirmation among 571 MTF transgender persons from New York City. Using the Life Chart Interview, biographical information about gender identity disclosure to others and desired gender role casting from others was obtained across stages of the life course (early adolescence, late adolescence, early adulthood, young adulthood and middle age) and types of relationships (parents, siblings, sexual partners, friends, fellow students and co-workers). Summaries of gender identity disclosure and gender role casting were then computed across the life course and relationships and associated with sexual orientation, ethnicity and sex work history (cultural/lifestyle factors). The two aspects of gender identity affirmation were, predictably, more likely in achieved (i.e. friends) as compared to ascribed (i.e. parents) relationships. Younger respondents (age 19–39) were generally more likely to report gender identity disclosure and desired gender role casting. Strong and highly significant differences were observed across cultural/lifestyle factors. Implications of these findings for the mental health of MTF transgender persons, and mental health therapy, are discussed.
Three‐Dimensional Speckle‐Tracking Echocardiography: Methodological Aspects and Clinical Potential

Speckle‐tracking echocardiography (STE) is an advanced echocardiographic technique that allows a novel approach to the assessment of cardiac physiology through the study of myocardial mechanics. In its three‐dimensional (3D) modality, it overcomes the drawbacks inherent to other echocardiographic techniques, namely two‐dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging. Several research studies and software improvements have led 3D‐STE to become a promising tool for accurate evaluation of global and regional cardiac function. This article addresses the image acquisition, analytical methods, and parameters of myocardial mechanics that could be derived from 3D‐STE. This systematic guidance may help to establish its usefulness in the global and regional evaluation of cardiac function, and to facilitate its clinical application.
TREC 2007 ciQA Track at RMIT and CSIRO

The only difference between all our system runs lies in the way in which the query was constructed. In our baseline system run, rmitrun1, we used those words within the brackets embedded in a question template as a query. In our second system run, rmitrun2, we added some additional words into the query; namely, those words form the narrative field of a question topic, except the introduction part (such as "The analyst would like to know of"). These words give elaborated information about what is counted as an answer. For the purpose of exploring the second research question, we would like to get an answer list from rmitrun2 that is sufficiently different from the one from rmitrun1, but not too dramatically dissimilar. We therefore experimented with giving different weights to the two sets of words from the title and narrative fields. Our submitted run used equal weight for the words from two fields.
Smart Device-Based Multimodal Biometric Authentication with the Function for Environment Recognition

For smart devices, such as smart-phones and tablet PCs, multimodal biometric authentication can be implemented by integrating multiple sensors, such as cameras and touch panels, mounted on these devices. However, the performance in various usage environments has not always been evaluated sufficiently. In this paper, we propose a multimodal biometric authentication system with a function for recognizing usage environments. The function alleviates the degradation in verification accuracy caused by the difference in usage environments. We also present an evaluation of the performance of the system under different usage environments by focusing on faces and handwriting as acquirable biometric information from the smart devices. The evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of our system.