Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tilburg University Trust and discrimination in a segmented society

An experimental approach is used to study ethnic discrimination within the Israeli Jewish society. Our experiment indicates that the segmented structure of Israeli society manifests itself in a consistent pattern of mistrust. In a tmst game that we studied, money transferred to players of Eastem ethnic origin (Sephazdic Jew) was significantly less than that transferred to players of Western origin (Ashkenazic Jew). What is surprising is that this ethnic discrimination was entirely a male phenomenon. Women, in our experiment, transferred a similaz amount of money to their partners whether of Eastem or Westem background; at the same time, the distribution of transfers to Eastern women was similaz to that to Westem women. Thus, the ethnic discrimination identified in our experiment is only toward male players and by male players. Moreover, this systematic mistrust against men of Eastem origin is common not just among Western men but also among Eastem men themselves. Examination of whether trust is gender-dependent showed that Westem women are trusted less than Westem men while Eastem women aze tmsted more than Eastern men. The possibility of statistical discrimination was also examined, but no evidence for such an effect was found.
Modulation of flagellar rotation in surface-attached bacteria: A pathway for rapid surface-sensing after flagellar attachment

Attachment is a necessary first step in bacterial commitment to surface-associated behaviors that include colonization, biofilm formation, and host-directed virulence. The Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can initially attach to surfaces via its single polar flagellum. Although many bacteria quickly detach, some become irreversibly attached and express surface-associated structures, such as Type IV pili, and behaviors, including twitching motility and biofilm initiation. P. aeruginosa that lack the GTPase FlhF assemble a randomly placed flagellum that is motile; however, we observed that these mutant bacteria show defects in biofilm formation comparable to those seen for non-motile, aflagellate bacteria. This phenotype was associated with altered behavior of ΔflhF bacteria immediately following surface-attachment. Forward and reverse genetic screens led to the discovery that FlhF interacts with FimV to control flagellar rotation at a surface, and implicated cAMP signaling in this pathway. Although cAMP controls many transcriptional programs in P. aeruginosa, known targets of this second messenger were not required to modulate flagellar rotation in surface-attached bacteria. Instead, alterations in switching behavior of the motor appeared to result from direct or indirect effects of cAMP on switch complex proteins and/or the stators associated with them.
Alzheimer's Disease Progression in the 5×FAD Mouse Captured with a Multiplex Gene Expression Array.

BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable complex neurodegenerative condition with no new therapies licensed in the past 20 years. AD progression is characterized by the up- and downregulation of distinct biological processes that can be followed through the expression level changes of associated genes and gene networks. OBJECTIVE Our study aims to establish a multiplex gene expression tracking platform to follow disease progression in an animal model facilitating the study of treatment paradigms. METHODS We have established a multiplex platform covering 47 key genes related to immunological, neuronal, mitochondrial, and autophagy cell types and processes that capture disease progression in the 5×FAD mouse model. RESULTS We show that the immunological response is the most pronounced change in aged 5×FAD mice (8 months and above), and in agreement with early stage human disease samples, observe an initial downregulation of microglial genes in one-month-old animals. The less dramatic downregulation of neuronal and mitochondrial gene sets is also reported. CONCLUSION This study provides the basis for a quantitative multi-dimensional platform to follow AD progression and monitor the efficacy of treatments in an animal model.
Pathological factors evaluating prostate cancer

malignancies for men world wide. However, only a small fraction of prostate cancer cases are metastasizing and life-threatening. Even though the detection rate of prostate cancer has been steadily increased in the last two decades due to implementation of PSA screening, it is still not clear what factors govern its clinical outcomes. In this review, we will discuss several recent pathological advances that might contribute to the progression of prostate cancer. In addition, this review will cover a brief overview on conventional morphological evaluation of prostate cancer differentiation.
Nodules with nonspecific ultrasound pattern according to the 2015 American Thyroid Association malignancy risk stratification system

Abstract New sonographic patterns have been recommended by the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) to stratify nodules in terms of malignancy risk and help guide biopsy decision. This study aimed to compare the ultrasound part of the ATA guidelines and the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TIRADS-Na). In 2013 to 2016, 708 thyroid nodules in 505 patients were confirmed by postoperative histopathology. Hypoechogenicity, solidity, microcalcification, irregular margin, and a taller-than-wide shape were considered features suggesting malignancy. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value (PPV) were obtained for the TIRADS and ATA guidelines. Of the 708 nodules, 341(48.2%) and 367(51.8%) were benign and malignant, respectively. Based on the ultrasound 2015 ATA guidelines, 62 nodules had nonspecific pattern (both malignant and benign features); malignancy rates of nodules with very low, low, intermediate, and high suspicion, and nonspecific pattern were 0, 17.7%, 57.9%, 90.0%, and 69.4%, respectively (P < .001). Malignancy rates of categories 2/3/4/5 nodules by TIRADS were 0, 8.1%, 67.0%, and 90.1%, respectively (P < .001). Based on pathological results, the AUC, sensitivity, specificity, NPV, and PPV were 0.926, 96.7%, 81.5%, 84.9%, and 95.9% for TIRADS, and 0.920, 93.5%, 82.4%, 85.1%, and 92.1% for ATA patterns, respectively. The TIRADS was generally more efficient than the 2015 ATA guidelines, especially for nodules >2 cm in diameter or those with nonspecific pattern. The TIRADS show a relative superiority over the ultrasound 2015 ATA guidelines, especially for nodules with >2 cm diameter or nonspecific pattern.
Dynamics of Nitrogen Transformation and Removal in a Pilot High Rate Pond

The transformation and removal of nitrogen was studied in a pilot high rate pond with a surface area of 10.2 m2 and water depth of 60 cm. The pilot unit received wastewater from an existing field scale primary facultative pond at the University of Dar es Salaam. Wastewater samples were collected from the influent and effluent of high rate pond and were analyzed for physical-chemical parameters in the laboratory and in situ. An appropriate model complexity was selected, from which a conceptual model was then developed to model various processes in the system using STELLA 6.0. 1 software. The study demonstrated that dominant nitrogen transformation processes in HRP were nitrification and denitrification, which transformed 0.95 and 0.87 gN/m2·d, respectively. These were followed by mineralization (0.37 gN/m2·d), ammonia uptake by microorganisms (0.34 gN/m2·d), volatilization (0.30 gN/m2·d), sedimentation (0.24 gN/m2·d), and regeneration (0.15 gN/m2·d). Uptake of nitrate was not observed because of microorganisms preference for ammonia, which was abundant in the pond. The major nitrogen transformation mechanisms in high rate pond were denitrification, net sedimentation and volatilization, which accounted for 69.1%, 7.1% and 23.8% of the total permanent removal mechanisms of nitrogen in High Rate Pond.
Modeling of Hyperconcentrated Sediment-Laden Floods in Lower Yellow River

This paper presents a rapid forecast model for simulating hyperconcentrated sediment-laden floods in the Lower Yellow River. The model is a hybrid of a conventional one-dimensional mathematical model for unsteady sediment-laden flow and an artificial neural networks model for encapsulation of numerical results. The former provides detailed river flood routing information under typical scenarios, whereas the latter extracts modeling outputs from the former and establishes a station-specific model for efficient flood forecasting. Three typical floods that occurred in the Lower Yellow River in 1977, 1982, and 1996 are simulated. Not only the hybrid model predictions are found to be in close agreement with measured data, but also the computational speed is significantly enhanced. It is found that sediment transport is of significance with regard to the flooding behavior of hyperconcentrated flows. Therefore, the model presented herein is of particular use for rivers with high sediment concentration.
COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF MANAGERS'AND CONSTRUCTION WORKERS' PRODUCTIVITY FACTORS IN NIGERIAN BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Department of Building, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Uyo This study evaluated comparatively, the perceptions of Construction workers and Managers on the productivity factors in Nigerian Built Environment. The objectives include identification of factors, evaluation of perceptions of significant productivity factors and comparison of the perceptions of the stakeholders. Structured questionnaire served as the research instrument and the data were analysed using descriptive test, mean score and Mann-Whitney test. From the result, it was observed that some of the ten most significant factors affecting construction workers’ productivity are salary, motivation, material shortage, rework due to construction error and lack of proper tools, with mean scores of 4.75, 4.7, 4.6, 4.6 and 4.6 respectively. While some of the ten most significant factors affecting construction managers’ productivity are salary, material shortage, target for employees, rework due to construction error and inadequate site planning, with mean scores of 4.76, 4.53, 4.53, 4.45 and 4.43 respectively. MannWhitney U test result (p-value 0.312> 0.05 sig level) showed that there is no significant difference in the stakeholders’ overall perception. It was concluded that salary/monetary incentive is the most significant factor influencing the productivity of Nigerian construction workers and managers. It is recommended that project owners, consultants and contractors should use this approach to optimize the productivity of their workers and also organize sensitization and awareness programmes on non monetary productivity schemes for various categories of workers. This will bring re-orientation and change of mindset among construction workers and managers, translating into project cost savings and profitability.
Optogenetic Stimulation for Restoring Vision to Patients Suffering From Retinal Degenerative Diseases: Current Strategies and Future Directions

Optogenetic strategies for vision restoration involve photosensitizing surviving retinal neurons following retinal degeneration, using emerging optogenetic techniques. This approach opens the door to a minimally-invasive retinal vision restoration approach. Moreover, light stimulation has the potential to offer better spatial and temporal resolution than conventional retinal electrical prosthetics. Although proof-of-concept studies in animal models have demonstrated the possibility of restoring vision using optogenetic techniques, and initial clinical trials are underway, there are still hurdles to pass before such an approach restores naturalistic vision in humans. One limitation is the development of light stimulation devices to activate optogenetic channels in the retina. Here we review recent progress in the design and implementation of optogenetic stimulation devices and outline the corresponding technological challenges. Finally, while most work to date has focused on providing therapy to patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, we provide additional insights into strategies for applying optogenetic vision restoration to patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration.
Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes by Lifestyle Changes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a great challenge worldwide. The aim of this evidence synthesis was to summarize the available evidence in order to update the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) clinical practice guidelines for nutrition therapy. We conducted a systematic review and, where appropriate, meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) carried out in people with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (six studies) or dysmetabolism (one study) to answer the following questions: What is the evidence that T2D is preventable by lifestyle changes? What is the optimal diet (with a particular focus on diet quality) for prevention, and does the prevention of T2D result in a lower risk of late complications of T2D? The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was applied to assess the certainty of the trial evidence. Altogether seven RCTs (N = 4090) fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The diagnosis of incident diabetes was based on an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The overall risk reduction of T2D by the lifestyle interventions was 0.53 (95% CI 0.41; 0.67). Most of the trials aimed to reduce weight, increase physical activity, and apply a diet relatively low in saturated fat and high in fiber. The PREDIMED trial that did not meet eligibility criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis was used in the final assessment of diet quality. We conclude that T2D is preventable by changing lifestyle and the risk reduction is sustained for many years after the active intervention (high certainty of evidence). Healthy dietary changes based on the current recommendations and the Mediterranean dietary pattern can be recommended for the long-term prevention of diabetes. There is limited or insufficient data to show that prevention of T2D by lifestyle changes results in a lower risk of cardiovascular and microvascular complications.
A Bivariate Modelling of the Electricity Consumption-Financial Development Nexus for Ghana

The current study modelled the long run and short run links between financial developments and disaggregate energy consumption (electricity consumption) in Ghana for the period 1970 to 2011 using Autoregressive Distributed Lad Model (ARDL). The findings of the study on the cointegration test indicate significant evidence of cointegration between electricity consumption and financial development. The findings seem to suggest that financial development is a key explanatory variable in electricity consumption management in order to attain sustainable energy consumption and economic growth. The issues of structural breaks in unit root and direction of causality should be consider in future studies.
What Leads to Coordinated Attention in Parent-toddler Interactions? Children's Hearing Status Matters.

Coordinated attention between children and their parents plays an important role in their social, language, and cognitive development. The current study used head-mounted eye-trackers to investigate the effects of children's prelingual hearing loss on how they achieve coordinated attention with their hearing parents during free-flowing object play. We found that toddlers with hearing loss (age: 24 - 37 months) had similar overall gaze patterns (e.g., gaze length and proportion of face looking) as their normal hearing peers. In addition, children's hearing status did not affect how likely parents and children attended to the same object at the same time during play. However, when following parents' attention, children with hearing loss used both parents' gaze directions and hand actions as cues, while children with normal hearing mainly relied on parents' hand actions. The diversity of pathways leading to coordinated attention suggests the flexibility and robustness of developing systems in using multiple pathways to achieve the same functional end.
THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

Diagrams have been known to be an important tool in problem-solving. The usefulness of diagrams comes from the fact that humans can extract information contained in a diagram, make changes to the diagram if necessary, and interpret the results. ROUTER is a problem-solving system implementation that uses a "see-and-compute" approach to solve routing problems that arise in hierarchical integrated circuit layout design. ROUTER'S components include a high level reasoner which knows about the routing constraints, a simulated parallel processing "retina" to "look at" its diagram, and a diagram which can be modified by the high level reasoner. Detailed algorithms and estimation on algorithm complexity are presented. The results of simulation runs seem to suggest that diagrammatic representation of information can be effectively utilized by a computer problem-solving system.
Economic Growth across Countries

Growth rates vary enormously across countries over long periods of time. The reason for these variations is a central issue for economic policy, and cross-country empirical empirical work on this topic has been popular since early 1990s. The findings from cross-country panel regresions show that the differences in per capita growth rates relate systematically to set of quantificable explanatory variables. One effect is a conditional convergence term –the growth rate rise when the initial level of real per capita GDP is low relative to the starting amount of human capital in the forms of educational attainment and health and for given values of other variables that reflect policies and national characteristics. For given per capita GDP and human capital, growth depends positively on the rule of law and the investment ratio and negatively on the fertility rate, the ratio of government consumption to GDP, and the inflation rate. Growth increases with favorable movements in the terms of trade and with increased international openness, but the latter effect is
Two new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Liphistius Schiödte, 1849 (Mesothelae, Liphistiidae) from Myanmar

Abstract Two Liphistius species of the primitively segmented spider family Liphistiidae, collected from Loikaw (Kayah State) and Pinlaung (Shan State), Myanmar, are diagnosed and described as new to science based on their genital morphology: Liphistius hprusosp. nov. (♀), Liphistius pinlaungsp. nov. (♂♀).
Conceptual duct shape design for horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbines

In the present paper, conceptual duct shape design for kinetic energy extraction with hydrokinetic turbines is discussed. The goal is to nd a single-passage axisymmetric geometry that holds stable flow with maximum kinetic energy ux at duct throat. For nding the optimum duct shape, the fluid flow was numerically simulated in a wedge shaped space with Flow-Simulation Software. In a multi-stage conceptual design, tabulated con gurations were employed to study each geometrical characteristic separately. These include curvature of pro le camber, trailing edge shape, pro le tip shape, and duct exit cross sectional area. The revolved pro le of each duct consists of a well constrained composite curve with few degrees of freedom. The Sketcher environment of SolidWorks Software provides a feasible method of rebuilding constrained curves. Duct shape optimization was performed based on successive flow simulation and approximation of optimum geometric dimension at optimum flow condition. The drag coecients were compared with available experiments. Based on the numerical simulations with needle shaped leading edge, the duct throat velocity can be increased. Inversely, the flow blockage can reduce the kinetic energy flux at duct throat. The optimum duct shape has shown the greatest frictional drag coecient and the minimum flow separation.
Safety and Efficacy of a Novel Anterior Decompression Technique for Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament of the Cervical Spine.

INTRODUCTION Anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF) for cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is associated with a high incidence of surgery-related complications. A novel anterior decompression technique (vertebral body sliding osteotomy [VBSO]) has been developed to prevent such complications. This study attests the efficacy and safety of VBSO versus those of standard ACCF. METHODS Patients requiring surgery for cervical OPLL underwent VBSO (24 patients) or ACCF (38 patients). Operating time, estimated blood loss, neurologic outcomes, complications, and various radiographic parameters were investigated. RESULTS The VBSO group showed a shorter mean operating time and less estimated blood loss versus the ACCF group. Sixteen patients in the ACCF group experienced various complications, namely neurologic deficit (two patients), cerebrospinal fluid leakage (four patients), graft migration (three patients), and pseudarthrosis (seven patients). In the VBSO group, only pseudarthrosis was reported (two patients). CONCLUSIONS VBSO provides similar neurologic outcomes with a shorter operating time and less bleeding compared with ACCF. Surgeons do not need to directly manipulate the OPLL mass or dissect the interspace between the OPLL and dura mater. Therefore, this technique may decrease the incidence of surgery-related complications. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective comparative study.
Loneliness and Life Satisfaction Explained by Public-Space Use and Mobility Patterns

Previous research has shown that personal, neighborhood, and mobility characteristics could influence life satisfaction and loneliness of people and that exposure to public spaces, such as green spaces, may also affect the extent to which people feel lonely or satisfied with life. However, previous studies mainly focused on one of these effects, resulting in a lack of knowledge about the simultaneous effects of these characteristics on loneliness and life satisfaction. This study therefore aims to gain insights into how public-space use mediates the relations between personal, neighborhood, and mobility characteristics on the one hand and loneliness and life satisfaction on the other hand. Relationships were analyzed using a path analysis approach, based on a sample of 200 residents of three neighborhoods of the Dutch city ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The results showed that the influence of frequency of public-space use on life satisfaction and loneliness is limited. The effects of personal, neighborhood, and mobility characteristics on frequency of use of public space and on loneliness and life satisfaction were found to be significant. Age and activities of daily living (ADL) are significantly related to each other, and ADL was found to influence recreational and passive space use and loneliness and life satisfaction. Policymakers should, therefore, mainly focus on creating neighborhoods that are highly walkable and accessible, where green spaces and public-transport facilities are present, to promote physical activity among all residents.