Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MDMA Increases Excitability in the Dentate Gyrus: Role of 5HT2A Receptor Induced PGE2 Signaling

MDMA is a widely abused psychostimulant which causes release of serotonin in various forebrain regions. Recently, we reported that MDMA increases extracellular glutamate concentrations in the dentate gyrus, via activation of 5HT2A receptors. We examined the role of prostaglandin signaling in mediating the effects of 5HT2A receptor activation on the increases in extracellular glutamate and the subsequent long-term loss of parvalbumin interneurons in the dentate gyrus caused by MDMA. Administration of MDMA into the dentate gyrus of rats increased PGE2 concentrations which was prevented by coadministration of MDL100907, a 5HT2A receptor antagonist. MDMAinduced increases in extracellular glutamate were inhibited by local administration of SC-51089, an inhibitor of the EP1 prostaglandin receptor. Systemic administration of SC-51089 during injections of MDMA prevented the decreases in parvalbumin interneurons observed 10 days later. The loss of parvalbumin immunoreactivity after MDMA exposure coincided with a decrease in paired-pulse inhibition and afterdischarge threshold in the dentate gyrus. These changes were prevented by inhibition of EP1 and 5HT2A receptors during MDMA. Additional experiments revealed an increased susceptibility to kainic acid-induced seizures in MDMA treated rats which could be prevented with SC51089 treatments during MDMA exposure. Overall, these findings suggest that 5HT2A receptors mediate MDMA-induced PGE2 signaling and subsequent increases in glutamate. This signaling mediates parvalbumin cell losses as well as physiologic changes in the dentate gyrus, suggesting that the lack of the inhibition provided by these neurons increases the excitability within the dentate gyrus of MDMA treated rats.
Bullying Trends and Reporting Preferences Among an Urban, Suburban, and Rural School

BULLYING TRENDS AND REPORTING PREFERENCES AMONG AN URBAN, SUBURBAN, AND RURAL SCHOOL Noemi E. Olsen Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education Educational Specialist in School Psychology Every student has the right to a safe learning environment, yet so many students have been targets of or witnesses of bullying incidents. In spite of school administration efforts to create effective reporting systems and to implement anti-bullying programs, many students remain silent victims. The present study analyzes data collected from a School Safety Survey through SchoolTipline. This data was used to determine the bullying trends, reporting trends, and reporting preferences of 562 7th and 8th grade students at an urban, suburban, and rural school. The results of this study indicate that bullying continues to be a prevalent issue that students face, but a great majority still fail to report these bullying incidents to school personnel. The results also indicate that there are significant differences in regard to bullying among the urban, suburban, and rural schools, which warrant further research.
The invasive round goby Apollonia melanostoma (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) – a new intermediate host of the trematode Neochasmus umbellus (Trematoda: Cryptogonimidae) in Lake Erie, Ohio, USA

The invasive round goby Apollonia melanostoma (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) – a new intermediate host of the trematode Neochasmus umbellus (Trematoda: Cryptogonimidae) in Lake Erie, Ohio, USA By Y. Kvach and C. A. Stepien Odessa Branch of the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Odessa, Ukraine; Great Lakes Genetics Laboratory, Lake Erie Center and Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA
Health impact of air pollution on Italy: main findings of VIIAS and MED HISS projects

The effects of air pollution on human health in Italy have been recently estimated in two different projects with complete national coverage, VIIAS and EU LIFE+ MED HISS. The projects share the methodological approach of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and the combined use of dispersion models and monitoring networks data, but differ on the exposure assessment and the overall objectives. VIIAS, using sub-municipal census data of population projected on the dispersion model grid, has estimated health outcomes on baseline years (2005 and 2010) and on three scenarios for 2020, in order to evaluate trends and effects of alternative policies. MED HISS involves 4 European countries and aims to assess the feasibility of a low-cost approach to surveillance of longterm health effects, based on linking resources such as air pollution prediction models, mortality and hospital admissions registries and National Health Interview Surveys. As the health data are available only at municipality level, exposure in MED HISS is calculated on municipalities. Here, we show and discuss the final outcomes of VIIAS, together with some preliminary results of MED HISS and we provide a first comparison of the two approaches.
Optimization of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of Mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase I (COI) Gene in Two Bornean Fanged Frogs

Limnonectes kuhlii and Limnonectes leporinus are two of the Bornean fanged frogs (without advertisement call) which are widely distributed, thus thought to exhibit different evolutionary lineages and the existence of genetically cryptic species. Yet, the two species are still under study especially at the molecular level. Hence, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) of mitochondrial gene was used to investigate suitable parameters for DNA amplification using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Three PCR programmes (varied in the temperatures and period of each PCR step) were employed to identify the most efficient parameters in amplifying PCR products for both species. From the three programmes, Programme B (Initial denaturation: 96°C for 5 min; denaturation: 95°C for 45 sec; annealing: 48-53°C for 1 min 30 sec; extension: 72°C for 1 min 30 sec; final extension: 72°C for 10 min, 30 cycles) showed the highest percentage (53%) of optimal PCR products. The other two programmes showed non-specific products or “primer-dimers”. The results also suggest that the annealing temperature of 52°C, 0.025-0.05 units/μl of 1.5mM Taq polymerase, 0.04 mM of dNTPs mix and optimal concentrations of magnesium in 50 μl of reaction mixture were sufficient enough to amplify high quality PCR products for both species. However, using Programme B, the re-amplification of the PCR products yielded “primer-dimer”. In addition, a ‘Hot-Start’ PCR method was also applied and mostly yielded in an optimal PCR amplification. Nevertheless, further research on the second amplification of the two species should be conducted to determine the causes of the primer-dimer production.
Robust Beamforming Design for Ultra-Dense User-Centric C-RAN in the Face of Realistic Pilot Contamination and Limited Feedback

The ultra-dense cloud radio access network (UD-CRAN), in which remote radio heads are densely deployed in the network, is considered. To reduce the channel estimation overhead, we focus on the design of robust transmit beamforming for user-centric frequency division duplex UD-CRANs, where only limited channel state information (CSI) is available. Specifically, we conceive a complete procedure for acquiring the CSI that includes two key steps: channel estimation and channel quantization. The phase ambiguity (PA) is also quantized for coherent cooperative transmission. Based on the imperfect CSI, we aim to optimize the beamforming vectors in order to minimize the total transmit power subject to the users’ rate requirements and fronthaul capacity constraints. We derive the closed-form expression of the achievable data rate by exploiting the statistical properties of multiple uncertain terms. Then, we propose a low-complexity iterative algorithm for solving this problem based on the successive convex approximation technique. In each iteration, the Lagrange dual-decomposition method is employed for obtaining the optimal beamforming vector. Furthermore, a pair of low-complexity user selection algorithms is provided to guarantee the feasibility of the problem. The simulation results confirm the accuracy of our robust algorithm in terms of meeting the rate requirements. Finally, our simulation results verify that using a single bit for quantizing the PA achieves good performance.
Optimal design of IPM-PMASR motors for wide constant power speed range applications

The design of an IPM-PMASR machine represents a trade off between the magnet quantity and the realization of a high anisotropic rotor structure. The better the obtained anisotropy is, the lower the required magnet quantity is. The magnet addition always affects in a positive manner both power factor and machine torque. However, when a large CPSR is required, a low magnet quantity also allows a safe operation at high speed, where a sudden overvoltage could appear in case of inverter fault. For this reason, the rotor anisotropy has to be maximized.
"Europe-as-hegemony" and discourses in Turkey after 1999: Dialogue with the Europeanisation literature

It is not a prophecy to say that one of the most common concepts that those working on "Europe" would encounter at various points in different capacities would be "Europeanisation". This buzzword has also been crucial in understanding and explaining for Turkey's European orientation path, which acquired a new dimension and has been carried to a more substantive and institutional level with the Helsinki European Council in December 1999 when Turkey was granted formal candidacy status in its application to join the EU. Especially after this date, the concept of "Europeanisation" and the literature attached to it have almost automatically been employed to assess the relationship between Turkey and different aspects of European integration. For this aim, firstly, I present a tri-fold picture of the European studies. According to this categorisation, the studies dealing with the notion of „Europe‟ could be categorised into three groups: the studies which takes "Europe" as a fixed concept ("Europe-as-fixity"), those which subscribe to a notion of "Europe" solely as a construct ("Europe-as-construct") and the studies which take "Europe" as a contestation ("Europe-as-contestation"). After critically locating the Europeanisation literature within this categorisation, I argue that there is both a historical and epistemological need for the Europeanisation literature to address to the conflictual nature of the notion by focusing on how the discourses on "Europe" hegemonised the Turkish political terrain after 1999 and I introduce the notion of "Europe-as-hegemony". The overall argument is that the hegemony of "Europe" does not originate from the automaticity of the relationship between the European and domestic level as stipulated by the Europeanisation literature, but rather from the power of discourses on "Europe" and their ability to hegemonise the political realm. In this respect, this paper offers a novel approach to the Europeanisation literature with a particular focus on the Turkish context where the political is not only given and constructed but is also reflexive and open to contestation and negotiation.
Combined effects of boundary layer dynamics and atmospheric chemistry on aerosol composition during new particle formation periods

Abstract. Characterizing aerosol chemical composition in response to meteorological changes and atmospheric chemistry is important to gain insights into new particle formation mechanisms. A BAECC (Biogenic Aerosols – Effects on Clouds and Climate) campaign was conducted during the spring 2014 at the SMEAR II station (Station for Measuring Forest Ecosystem–Aerosol Relations) in Finland. The particles were characterized by a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). A PBL (planetary boundary layer) dilution model was developed to assist interpreting the measurement results. Right before nucleation events, the mass concentrations of organic and sulfate aerosol species were both decreased rapidly along with the growth of PBL heights. However, the mass fraction of sulfate aerosol of the total aerosol mass was increased, in contrast to a decrease for the organic mass fraction. Meanwhile, an increase in LVOOA (low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol) mass fraction of the total organic mass was observed, in distinct comparison to a reduction of SVOOA (semi-volatile OOA) mass fraction. Our results demonstrate that, at the beginning of nucleation events, the observed sulfate aerosol mass was mainly driven by vertical turbulent mixing of sulfate-rich aerosols between the residual layer and the newly formed boundary layer, while the condensation of sulfuric acid (SA) played a minor role in interpreting the measured sulfate mass concentration. For the measured organic aerosols, their temporal profiles were mainly driven by dilution from PBL development, organic aerosol mixing in different boundary layers and/or partitioning of organic vapors, but accurate measurements of organic vapor concentrations and characterization on the spatial aerosol chemical composition are required. In general, the observed aerosol particles by AMS are subjected to joint effects of PBL dilution, atmospheric chemistry and aerosol mixing in different boundary layers. During aerosol growth periods in the nighttime, the mass concentrations of organic aerosols and organic nitrate aerosols were both increased. The increase in SVOOA mass correlated well with the calculated increase in condensed HOMs' (highly oxygenated organic molecules) mass. To our knowledge, our results are the first atmospheric observations showing a connection between increase in SVOOA and condensed HOMs during the nighttime.
Socioeconomic status, sense of entitlement and self-reported driver attitudes and behaviour

The aim of the current study is to examine the possible relationship between socioeconomic status, the personality trait sense of entitlement and driver attitudes and behaviour. Previous research have shown that individuals high in sense of entitlement are less inclined to abide by the rules and norms that normally govern social interactions. They might be aware of what the rules are, but they see themselves as exempt from these rules due to their perceived special status. They also show increased levels of aggression in situations with perceived ego threat, and show less concern for the welfare of others. The same kinds of behaviour has also been associated with having a high socioeconomic position, and it could be that these variables are related. The results are based on the responses to a mail questionnaire survey carried out among a representative sample of the Norwegian public (n = 159). Sense of entitlement was found to predict attitudes towards violations and speeding, self-reported violations and aggressive behaviour in traffic, in addition to positive behaviour towards other road users. Unexpectedly, an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and sense of entitlement was found. Income had a direct effect on attitudes and behaviour, and moderated the effect of entitlement on attitudes towards violations. Sense of entitlement and socioeconomic status could be important predictors of driver behaviour and road crash involvement. Socioeconomic status has been overlooked in traffic research, and should be a topic of future
Comparaison de pratiques d'enseignants de mathématiques relations entre discours des professeurs et activités potentielles des élèves

Cet article presente quelques resultats d'une recherche portant sur l'etude des relations possibles entre le discours de l'enseignant de mathematiques, pendant des seances de resolution d'exercices, et les activites potentielles des eleves qui sont provoquees, analysees en lien avec les apprentissages. L'objet de ce travail est double : ○ Elaborer des outils qui decrivent le discours en lui-meme et nous permettre de trouver, de maniere pertinente, des ressemblances et des dissemblances entre les discours de differents enseignants. ○ Utiliser ces outils et montrer en quoi et comment ils nous renseignent sur les activites potentielles des eleves. En croisant les analyses des tâches proposees par cinq professeurs pendant une heure de classe et l'etude de leurs discours, nous avons degage des regularites et des differences dans les pratiques observees, et commence a inferer des liens entre activites des eleves et discours. Nous avons ensuite tente de lire les resultats obtenus en termes d'invariants inter enseignants et d'invariants personnels en elargissant la perspective envisagee a une prise en compte du metier dans l'analyse des pratiques des enseignants observes.
The Impact of Personality Traits on Leisure and Life Satisfaction in Women who participate in Exercise

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of personality traits on leisure and life satisfaction in women who participate in exercise. This study was conducted in the relational screening model. The participants of the study consisted of 288 ( M =35.35; SD =11.83) women from Antalya with the ages ranging between 17 and 70. The data of the study were obtained through the use of the following scales: The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised/Abbreviated Form, Leisure Satisfaction Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale. In statistical analyses; Pearson Correlation analysis and Linear Regression analysis were used. As a result of the study; neuroticism and extraversion were found significantly correlate with leisure and life satisfaction. Other findings of this study suggest that there is a statistically significant positive linear relationship between extraversion and life and leisure satisfaction meanwhile significant negative linear relationship between neuroticism and life and leisure satisfaction. Regression analysis shows that total “neuroticism” score is one of the predictors of affection in women’s leisure ( R=.15, R 2 =.02, F=6.68, p<.01 ) and life ( R=.38, R 2 =.15, F=49.35, p<.01 ) satisfaction; “extraversion” score is other of the predictors of affection in women’s leisure ( R=.20, R 2 =.04, F=12.54, p<.01 ) and life ( R=.20, R 2 =.04, F=12.71, p<.01 ) satisfaction. According to these results, “neuroticism” explained only 2% of the variance in leisure satisfaction and 15% of the variance in life satisfaction; “extraversion” explained 4% of the variance in leisure and life satisfaction.
INVESTIGATION OF REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR BUILDING THERMAL MASS CONTROL

This paper describes a simulation-based investigation of machine-learning control for the supervisory control of building thermal mass. Model-free reinforcement learning control is investigated for the operation of electrically driven chilled water systems in heavy-mass commercial buildings. The reinforcement learning controller learns to precool the building at night before the onset of occupancy based on the feedback it receives from past control actions. The learning agent interacts with its environment by commanding the global zone temperature setpoints and extracts cues about the environment solely based on the reinforcement feedback it receives, which in this study is the monetary cost of each control action. No prediction or system model is required. Over time and by exploring the environment, the reinforcement learning controller establishes a statistical summary of plant operation, which is continuously updated as operation continues. The controller learns to account for the time-dependent cost of electricity, the availability of passive thermal storage inventory, and weather conditions. This study revealed that learning control is a feasible methodology to find a near-optimal setpoint profile for exploiting the passive building thermal storage capacity. The freedom from a building model makes it especially attractive in real-time control problems, and theoretically it can reach the “true” optimum eventually, no matter what building it is dealing with, if only the environment could be sampled for an infinite period of time. The analysis showed that the learning controller is affected by the dimension of the action and state space, the utility rate differentials between on- and off-peak, learning rate and several other factors. Moreover, learning speed is relatively low when dealing with problems with large state space and action space.
A Method for Automatically Generating Questions about a User's Political Interest Using Minutes of Municipal Councils

This paper proposes a political question generation method that includes Japanese noun phrases of the form N1 no N2. We focus on generating a yes-no question whether a user is interested in the utterance of a councilor. An example of a political question is as follows: nisankatanso(N1) no haisyutu(N2) nituite kuwasiku sir- itai desu ka? (Do you want to know more about emission levels of carbon dioxide? ) In this paper, N1 and N2, mean a noun or a com- pound noun. The form N1 no N2 which includes the Japanese post- positional no has a much broader usage. These expressions of the form N1 it no N2 cannot often use a question expression for asking the interesting such as simin no minasan (All of citizens). Therefore, our method checks if an expression is whether a user can understand a question expression. Moreover, our method expands the expression N1 when a question expression of the form N1 no N2 is ambiguous. The experiment results yielded good.
Regression Monte Carlo for microgrid management

We study an islanded microgrid system designed to supply a small village with the power produced by photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and a diesel generator. A battery storage system device is used to shift power from times of high renewable production to times of high demand. We build on the mathematical model introduced in [14] and optimize the diesel consumption under a “no-blackout” constraint. We introduce a methodology to solve microgrid management problem using different variants of Regression Monte Carlo algorithms and use numerical simulations to infer results about the optimal design of the grid.
A sensitivity analysis of factors influencing thermal conductivity of nanofluids

Numerical investigations are conducted to study the effect of particle clustering and interfacial layer thickness on thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The interplay between these two factors is examined through Kapitza radius, which hasn’t often been rigorously investigated in literature. Degree of enhancement is analysed for increasing aggregate size, particle concentration and interfacial resistance. The numerical work is validated with experimental data for water-based nanofluids of Alumina, CuO and Titania nanoparticles. Particle concentrations are varied up to 4vol%. Aspect ratio (radius of gyration of aggregate to radius of primary particle, Rg/a) varied between 2 to 60. It can be confirmed that the enhancement decreases with interfacial layer thickness. The rate of decrease takes a significant turn after a particular aggregate size. For a given interfacial resistance, enhancement ratio is mostly sensitive to vol%<4 and Rg/a <20. A good agreement is found between predicted and experimental data. In summary, the present work provides important information on the interval of aggregate sizes, particle concentrations and interfacial resistances that will be useful in manufacturing high thermal conductivity nanofluids. For future work, efforts are underway to refine the model by incorporating cluster evolution dynamics as a function of particle-scale properties.