Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are losses more effective than rewards in improving performance in a cognitive task?

It is widely assumed that individuals are more driven to avoid losses than to gain rewards. Yet, this assumption has not been explicitly tested in commonly used cognitive tasks. Here, we compared the influence of both incentives on performance in the Stroop task, in which fast and correct responses resulted in increased rewards or reduced losses. No-incentive trials served as control condition. If losses indeed have a higher subjective weight than equivalent rewards, performance should be improved most by the prospect of loss reduction. While both incentives clearly improved performance as compared to no-incentive trials across three experiments, we observed no significant advantage of loss compared to reward trials. Rather, our data point in the opposite direction, with overall significantly slower responses in loss compared to reward trials, which may reflect a conflict between an inherent avoidance tendency and the required immediate response. Overall, these findings suggest that losses are not more, but slightly less effective than rewards in improving performance in this cognitive task. Since our data does not support the notion of an asymmetry under which avoided losses are more effective than equivalent rewards to improve performance in a prototypical cognitive control task, both incentives should be fully matched to provide a fair comparison in such task contexts.
Treatment Efficiencies of the Vertical Flow Pilot-Scale Constructed Wetlands for Domestic Wastewater Treatment

To foster the practical development of the constructed wetlands used for water quality enhancement in Turkey, 2 vertical subsurface flow pilot-scale constructed wetlands were implemented on the METU campus, Ankara, Turkey. Both of the wetlands were planted with Phragmites australis and operated identically at a flowrate of 3 m3.d-1 and a hydraulic loading rate (HLR) of 0.100 m.d {-1}, intermittently. The main objective of the research was to quantify the effect of different substrates (gravel and blast furnace granulated slag) on the nutrient removal performance of the constructed wetlands in the prevailing climate of Ankara. According to the monitoring study (July 2002-January 2003), concentration based average removal efficiencies for the slag and gravel reed beds were as follows: TSS (64% and 62%), COD (49% and 40%), NH4+ -N (88% and 58%), TN (41% and 44%), TP (63% and 9%) and PO43- -P (60% and 4%). In general, the treatment performance of the slag system was better than that of the gravel system.
Possible genotoxic mechanisms of nanoparticles: Criteria for improved test strategies

Abstract We review the mechanisms and pathways whereby nanoparticles might cause genotoxicity. Primary and secondary mechanisms are discussed in relation to the general particle toxicology paradigm. We also discuss how we might improve genotoxicity assays for nanoparticles. In this context we describe the role of the dispersion and the protein corona, the most relevant metric, choice of controls and new endpoints for genotoxicity along with the need for a structure activity model of NP genotoxicity.
R&D Activities and FDI in China’s Iron Ore Mining Industry

In recent years, the Chinese government has committed additional resources in promoting research and development (R&D). At the same time, China has started implementing a more targeted foreign direct investment (FDI) policy. Using firm level panel data from China’s iron ore mining industry, this paper aims to evaluate the performance differences between the firms that undertake R&D and those who do not. We also examine the role of FDI, which has not been the subject of an in-depth investigation. In addition, we use a relatively recently developed coarsened exact matching technique. We find that domestic firms in China’s iron ore mining industry that conduct R&D are on average 0.3937% more productive and their sales are 0.0253% higher. While this industry attracts less than 1% of the total FDI in China, FDI has a positive and sizable impact on both productivity and profitability of domestic firms in China’s iron ore mining industry. The results presented in this paper suggest that investment in China’s iron ore mining industry offers attractive returns to foreign investors.
Putting Oneself in the Task: Choice, Personalization, and Confidence

Incidental choice over the features of a task provides both control and personalization. Previous accounts of the tendency of choice to enhance task confidence have emphasized the importance of perceived control. The authors reexamined the enhancement effect to determine whether personalization is equally important. The results of two studies revealed that only choices reflecting personal preferences increased confidence in the task outcome (Study 1) and boosted performance-related self-esteem (Study 2). These findings point to the importance of self-identity expression for understanding the judgmental effects of choice.
ANTIBACTERIAL SCREENING OF CRUDE ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF FOUR MEDICINAL PLANTS Eze

Agar well diffusion techniques and macrobroth dilution methods were used to screen the ethanolic leaf extracts of four medicinal plants (Picralima nitida, Chromolaena odorata, Aspilia africana and Hyptis suaveolens) for antibacterial activity against the following bacterial pathogens: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp. , Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of P. nitida ranged from 1.56 mg/ml to 6.25 mg/ml and that of C. odorata ranged from 2.0 mg/ml to 7.8 mg/ml, while that of A. africana and H. suaveolens varied from 1.56 mg/ml to 4.69 mg/ml and 6.25 mg/ml to 31.25 mg/ml respectively. The extracts appeared to perform best at concentration of 100 mg/ml in agar well diffusion with average inhibition zone diameters ranging from 15 mm to 21 mm (for P. nitida), 16 mm to 22 mm (for C. odorata), 15 mm to 20 mm (for A. africana) and 11 mm to17 mm (for H. suaveolens). P nitida was the most active extract against E. coli and Salmonella spp (P < 0.05), while C. odorata and A. africana were the most active against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The phytochemical screening of the crude extracts revealed the presence of varied concentrations of bioactive compounds including tannins, flavonoid, alkaloid, etc. The results provide justification for the use of these plants in treatment of various infections in herbal medicine.
Executives' Gender Diversification, Cash Holdings and Corporate Value —Based on Panel Data Analysis of a Share Listed Companies

: With the advancement of social and economic status, female members play an increasingly important role in modern business management, and the decision-making behavior and governance characteristics of female executives have attracted more and more attention in academic studies. This paper focuses on the impact of gender diversity on cash holdings and corporate value. The empirical test based on the panel data of A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2016 shows that: cash holdings and corporate value have an obvious inverted U-shaped relationship. The proportion of senior executive gender diversity has a significant positive impact on corporate value, but when the cash holdings are getting high, the role of senior executive gender diversity on corporate value will be significantly weakened. Further study shows that under the influence of different financing constraints, the relationship among gender diversity, cash holdings and firm value is different. This paper enriches the research on cash holding and enterprise value from the perspective of executive gender diversity and contributes new knowledge to improve management structure and performance.
Age-dependent changes in distribution of P3a/P3b amplitude and thickness of the cerebral cortex

With increasing age, the electrophysiological event-related potentials P3a/P3b tend to get a more frontal maximum. The cognitive significance of this so-called frontal shift is not known, but hypotheses have focused on changes in the integrity of the frontal lobes. The aim of the present study was to test how the thickness of the cerebral cortex is related to the frontal shift. Well screened elderly participants went through a visual three-stimuli oddball-task, a battery of neuropsychological tests and magnetic resonance imaging scans. It was found that participants with frontocentral maxima had a thicker cerebral cortex in distinct areas than participants with parietal maxima, both for P3a and for P3b, while the parietal P3b participants had a thicker cortex in the anterior cingulate. This is the first study to demonstrate that age-dependent changes in the scalp distribution of electrophysiological activity are related to differences in thickness of the cerebral cortex.
Design of a broadband low-loss coupled-line multisection symmetrical 3-dB directional coupler in suspended stripline technology

Design of a broadband 3-dB coupled-line directional coupler has been presented. The wide bandwidth has been achieved using symmetrical three-section coupled-line circuit. In order to achieve low-losses of the designed coupler a suspended stripline technology has been chosen. To equalize capacitive and inductive coupling coefficients a recently presented method of capacitive compensation has been utilized and for the first time applied simultaneously in tightly and weakly coupled sections. The measured results of the manufactured directional coupler confirm that the presented design method is suitable for multisection couplers operating in wide frequency range equal in the presented example f1/f2=4∶1.
Event-Related Potential Effects Associated with Insight Problem Solving in a Chinese Logogriph Task

The electrophysiological correlates of insight and non-insight problems solving were studied using event- related potentials (ERPs). Participants were given some time to guess Chinese logogriphs and then presented with an answer to judge whether it matched the logogriph. Results showed that the insight trials elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N300-500) than did the non-insight trials in most scalp regions. In a later time window from 600 ms to 1100 ms, the insight trials elicited a more positive ERP deflection (P600-1100) than the non-insight trials, mostly in central regions. The results indicate that the early N300-500 effect may reflect cognitive conflict resulting from the breaking of mental set and the later P600-1100 effect may be related to the formation of novel associations, both crucial to the occurrence of insight.
An empirical study of U.S. hospital quality: Readmission rates, organizational culture, patient satisfaction, and Facebook ratings

Abstract Reducing hospital readmission rates has been increasingly important as a measure of hospital quality and safety performance. While in recent years hospitals have emphasized the importance of organizational culture as an effective strategy for improving overall hospital performance, there has been a lack of research on the link between organizational culture and readmission rates. In addition, hospitals have been considering the amount of attention they should be paying to unsolicited feedback posted on social media sites like Facebook. Therefore, this study will examine the relationship between organizational culture and readmission rates, and explore whether readmission rates are linked to increased customer satisfaction and, ultimately, to higher hospital Facebook ratings. Survey data collected from 173 hospitals are merged with both publicly available customer satisfaction measures obtained from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as with data gathered from hospital Facebook sites. Using structural equation modeling, the authors find that a hierarchical culture is the only organizational culture type related to reducing readmission rates. In turn, lower readmission rates are associated with an increased likelihood of patients recommending the hospital and, ultimately, to higher Facebook ratings. This study provides empirical support that hospital administrators should focus on developing a hierarchical culture as a strategy for tackling these rates. The authors’ findings also indicated that hospitals' overall effort to improve hospital readmission rates is related to increased patient satisfaction and public perception of the hospitals, as indicated on public websites such as CMS and Facebook.
Dectin-1 Plays an Important Role in House Dust Mite–Induced Allergic Airway Inflammation through the Activation of CD11b+ Dendritic Cells

It is well known that sensitization against fungi is closely associated with severity of asthma. Dectin-1 (gene symbol Clec7a), a C-type lectin receptor, recognizes the fungal cell wall component β-glucan, as well as some component(s) in house dust mite (HDM) extract. However, the roles of Dectin-1 in HDM-induced allergic airway inflammation remain unclear. In this study, we used Dectin-1–deficient (Clec7a−/−) mice to examine whether Dectin-1 is involved in HDM-induced allergic airway inflammation. We found that HDM-induced eosinophil and neutrophil recruitment into the airways was significantly attenuated in Clec7a−/− mice compared with that in wild-type mice. In addition, HDM-induced IL-5, IL-13, and IL-17 production from mediastinum lymph node cells was reduced in HDM-sensitized Clec7a−/− mice. Dectin-1 was expressed on CD11b+ dendritic cells (DCs), an essential DC subset for the development of allergic inflammation, but not on CD103+ DCs, plasmacytoid DCs, or lung epithelial cells. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the expression of chemokine/chemokine receptors, including CCR7, which is indispensable for DC migration to draining lymph nodes, was decreased in Clec7a−/− DCs. In accordance with these results, the number of HDM-labeled CD11b+ DCs in mediastinum lymph nodes was significantly reduced in Clec7a−/− mice compared with wild-type mice. Taken together, these results suggest that Dectin-1 expressed on CD11b+ DCs senses some molecule(s) in HDM extract and plays a critical role in the induction of HDM-induced allergic airway inflammation by inducing the expression of chemokine/chemokine receptors in DCs.
Effectiveness of a freely available computerised cognitive behavioural therapy programme (MoodGYM) for depression: Meta-analysis

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a freely available computerised cognitive behavioural therapy programme (MoodGYM) for depression (primary outcome), anxiety and general psychological distress in adults. Method: We searched PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Social Science Citation Index and references from identified papers. To assess MoodGYM’s effectiveness, we conducted random effects meta-analysis of identified randomised controlled trials. Results: Comparisons from 11 studies demonstrated MoodGYM’s effectiveness for depression symptoms at post-intervention, with a small effect size (g = 0.36, 95% confidence interval: 0.17–0.56; I2 = 78%). Removing the lowest quality studies (k = 3) had minimal impact; however, adjusting for publication bias reduced the effect size to a non-significant level (g = 0.17, 95% confidence interval: −0.01 to 0.38). Comparisons from six studies demonstrated MoodGYM’s effectiveness for anxiety symptoms at post-intervention, with a medium effect size (g = 0.57, 95% confidence interval: 0.20–0.94; I2 = 85%). Although comparisons from six studies did not yield significance for MoodGYM’s effectiveness for general psychological distress symptoms, the small effect size approached significance (g = 0.34, 95% confidence interval: −0.04 to 0.68; I2 = 79%). Both the type of setting (clinical vs non-clinical) and MoodGYM-developer authorship in randomised controlled trials had no meaningful influence on results; however, the results were confounded by the type of control deployed, level of clinician guidance, international region of trial and adherence to MoodGYM. Conclusions: The confounding influence of several variables, and presence of publication bias, means that the results of this meta-analysis should be interpreted with caution. Tentative support is provided for MoodGYM’s effectiveness for symptoms of depression and general psychological distress. The programme’s medium effect on anxiety symptoms demonstrates its utility for people with this difficulty. MoodGYM benefits from its free accessibility over the Internet, but adherence rates can be problematic and at the extreme can fall below 10%. We conclude that MoodGYM is best placed as a population-level intervention that is likely to benefit a sizeable minority of its users.
From Usable to Incentive Building Energy Management Systems

Reducing energy consumption is an individual and collective challenge that requires people to be proactive and fully involved. However, most approaches and solutions to this problem promote automated and autonomous systems that take full control of the decisions. Although these systems relieve users from setting the temperature in offices and homes, the level of thermal comfort chosen by the technology may not meet the individuals' requirements. Automating control is an obvious solution but it keeps the human out of the loop. In this paper, an alternative approach is promoted based on system–human cooperation that allows people to make the final decision. However, to make sound decisions, users need to understand the system functioning and rationale and they need to be convinced and motivated to change their habits with regard to energy consumption. Our approach is based on an e-coach system, called Involved, which provides users with contextual explanations along with a user interface designed to persuade the user to stay involved. The results of this research are the development of an early prototype that provides end-users with a 24-hour plan of recommended actions along with contextual explanations that justify each action. This plan satisfies the inhabitant's preferred compromise between the thermal comfort, air quality and financial cost specified by the inhabitant (i.e. the user) using a novel interaction technique, the Trade-Off-Pareto sliders. Users can edit the plan (e.g. suppress an action), skip some actions, perform additional actions, or even change their preferred compromise, and be informed in real time of the consequences on energy consumption and comfort.
TMS320F28335-based high-accuracy complex network analyzer instrument

Preliminary prototype of the TMS320F28335- (digital signal controller-DSC)-based complex network analyzer instrument has been developed and investigated. High accuracy (16-18 bit resolution) and relatively wide analogue bandwidth (up to 10 MHz) is achieved by using of external ADC and DAC devices. Using of DSCs offer much computational power for real-time signal processing (efficient Dual MAC operation), dedicated memory and IO controllers (DMA) and flexible communication and peripheral interfaces at low cost and reasonable power consumption. Proposed solution has been developed, described and discussed. Performance estimations, both from theoretical considerations, as well as from experimental investigations, has been given. As a result, a a very promising technical solution has been developed. Main contribution of the current work has been practical implementation and investigation of specific (high-accuracy) analog interfaces and corresponding firmware parts.
Abdominal adiposity contributes to adverse glycemic control and albuminuria in Chinese type 2 diabetic patients: A cross‐sectional study

Abdominal adipose tissue plays an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes. However, few data have suggested its role in the prognosis of diabetes. This study aimed to investigate the association between waist‐hip ratio (WHR), glycemic control, and early nephropathy in Chinese type 2 diabetic patients.
Monetary Policy Risks in the Bond Markets and Macroeconomy

What is the role of monetary policy fluctuations for the macroeconomy and bond markets? To answer this question we estimate a novel asset-pricing framework which incorporates a time-varying parameter Taylor rule, macroeconomic factors, and risk pricing restrictions of the recursive preferences. We find that in the data, monetary policy fluctuations significantly impact inflation uncertainty and bond price exposures to economic risks, but do not have a sizeable effect on the first moments of macroeconomic variables. Monetary policy fluctuations contribute about 20% to the persistent variations in bond risk premia. A significant component of the monetary policy impact on risk premia comes from its effect on inflation volatility. ∗Ivan Shaliastovich (ishal@wharton.upenn.edu) and Ram Yamarthy (yamarthy@wharton.upenn.edu) are at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. We thank Pierluigi Balduzzi, Joao Gomes, Chris Neely, Scott Richard, George Tauchen, Mathieu Taschereau-Dumouchel, and Amir Yaron, and conference and seminar participants at the 2015 European Summer Symposium in Financial Markets, the Seventh Annual Volatility Institute Conference, the North American Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Midwest Finance Association, Stockholm School of Economics, Vanderbilt University, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the Wharton School for useful comments.
The ElutionProfileof VitaminD 2 Metabolitesfrom SephadexLH 2 O Columns

A metabolite of vitamin D2 in the tissues of primates fed this vitamin co-migrates to a significant extent with 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 on columns of Sephadex LH2O, with chloroform/n-hexane (60/40 by vol) as eluent. In individuals receiving vitamin D2 and in individuals with scant exposure to sunlight this metabolite, which we believe to be 25,26-dihydroxyvitamin-D2, may yield falsely higher concentrations of apparent 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 if separation on LH2O is used.
Developmental twin study of attention problems: high heritabilities throughout development.

CONTEXT The genetic and environmental link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in childhood and the adult manifestation of the disorder is poorly understood because of a lack of longitudinal studies with cross-informant data. OBJECTIVE To explore the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences on symptoms of attention problems from childhood to early adulthood. DESIGN Analysis was conducted using longitudinal structural equation modeling with multiple informants. SETTING The Swedish Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development. PARTICIPANTS One thousand four hundred eighty twin pairs were prospectively followed up from childhood to young adulthood. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Symptoms were obtained using parent and self-ratings of the Attention Problems Scale at ages 8 to 9, 13 to 14, 16 to 17, and 19 to 20 years. RESULTS The best-fitting model revealed high heritability of attention problems as indexed by parent and self-ratings from childhood to early adulthood (h² = 0.77-0.82). Genetic effects operating at age 8 to 9 years continued, explaining 41%, 34%, and 24% of the total variance at ages 13 to 14, 16 to 17, and 19 to 20 years. Moreover, new sets of genetic risk factors emerged at ages 13 to 14, 16 to 17, and 19 to 20 years. CONCLUSIONS The shared view of self- and informant-rated attention problems is highly heritable in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, suggesting that the previous reports of low heritability for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults are best explained by rater effects. Both genetic stability and genetic innovation were present throughout this developmental stage, suggesting that attention problems are a developmentally complex phenotype characterized by both continuity and change across the life span.