Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward Monitoring Electrochemical Reactions with Dual-Wavelength SERS: Characterization of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) Neutral Radical Species and Covalent Tethering of R6G to Silver Nanoparticles

The combination of electrochemistry (EC) and single molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SMSERS) has recently proven to be a sensitive method to investigate electron transfer (ET) reactions at the single molecule level. SMSERS can both detect single redox-active molecules and potentially monitor both the oxidized (O) and reduced (R) forms of a one-electron ET reaction in a single experiment. Herein, we report progress toward complete monitoring of single ET reactions with EC-SMSERS. We first obtained the solution phase resonance Raman (RR) spectrum of the Rhodamine 6G (R6G) neutral radical (R) with thin-layer resonance Raman spectroelectrochemistry (EC-RRS). The experimental spectrum was then correlated with the spectrum calculated by density functional theory (DFT). We then describe our approach to address the problem of adsorbate (R) loss caused either by desorption or reaction of the neutral radical with trace water or oxygen during the EC-SMSERS experiment. We have investigated a covalent cro.
Secure cooperative spectrum sensing for Cognitive Radio networks

A key enabling functionality in implementing Cognitive Radio is to reliably detect the licensed users. In recent literature, cooperation among spectrum sensing terminals is suggested to offer reliable sensing performance. We consider the problem that the presence of malfunctioning or malicious sensing terminals will severely degrade the performance of cooperative spectrum sensing. In this paper, we extend the Weighted Sequential Probability Ratio Test (WSPRT) by replacing the binary local report with N-bits local report to achieve a better detection performance. Additionally, three types of reputation rating evaluation schemes are introduced: neutral, punitive and heavy punitive. Simulation results show that the extended WSPRT technique improves detection performance. Moreover, the extended WSPRT with heavy punitive scheme is shown to be the most robust against the malfunctioning or malicious sensing terminals.
Comparing the physiological cost of step-powered video gaming, sedentary video gaming, and self-paced ambulatory activity in university students

Objectives: Methods for converting inactive video gaming to active video gaming have gained popularity in recent years. This study compared the physiological cost of a new peripheral device that used steps to power video gaming in an interactive manner against sedentary video gaming and self-paced ambulatory activity of university students (aged 19-29 years). Methods: Nineteen adults (9 male, 10 female) performed six 10-minute activities, namely self-paced leisurely walking, self-paced brisk walking, self-paced jogging, two forms of sedentary video gaming, and step-powered video gaming. Activities were performed in a random order. Physiological cost during the activities was measured using Actiheart. Results: Energy expenditure during step-powered video gaming (388.8 kcal.h -1 ) was comparable to the energy expended during brisk walking (373.8 kcal.h -1 ), and elicited a higher energy cost than sedentary video gaming (124.1 kcal.h -1 ) but a lower energy cost than jogging (694.5 kcal.h -1 ). Conclusion : Overall, step-powered video gaming could be used as an entertaining and appealing tool to increase physical activity, though it should not be used as a complete substitute for traditional exercise, such as jogging.
Normalized Accurate Measurement of Longitudinal Brain Change

Purpose Quantitative measurement of change in brain size and shape (e.g., to estimate atrophy) is an important current area of research. New methods of change analysis attempt to improve robustness, accuracy, and extent of automation. A fully automated method has been developed that achieves high estimation accuracy. Method A fully automated method of longitudinal change analysis is presented here, which automatically segments brain from nonbrain in each image, registers the two brain images while using estimated skull images to constrain scaling and skew, and finally estimates brain surface motion by tracking surface points to subvoxel accuracy. Results and Conclusion The method described has been shown to be accurate (≈0.2% brain volume change error) and to achieve high robustness (no failures in several hundred analyses over a range of different data sets).
Analytical evaluation of transmit selection diversity for wireless channels with multiple receive antennas

We investigate the performance of a switched diversity scheme, where the transmitter selects one of the n/sub t/ available transmit antennas. The selected antenna is chosen in the basis of information feedback from the receiver. In the proposed scheme, vehicle movements cause a mismatch between the state of the channel perceived by the receiver and the actual propagation conditions. Hence, an analytical approach for the evaluation of the impact of mobile speed on the system performance is derived. Then, comparisons between switched diversity and space-time coding performance are given. Such results assess the validity of the considered switched diversity approach for low mobility-low complexity wireless systems.
The Process of Change in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for Depression: A Case Study for the New IPT Therapist

Abstract This case study involves a set of transcripts of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) sessions from the Christchurch Psychotherapy for Depression Study. The case study explores the techniques employed by the therapist for a depressed patient who has identified interpersonal disputes as the interpersonal area to focus on. The psychotherapeutic interventions utilized by the IPT therapist included: seeking information; exploring parallels in other relationships; exploring relationship patterns; exploring communication patterns; signalling what is significant; providing support, exploring affect; exploring options; problem—solving; drawing analogy; and challenging. The themes that emerged in the patient's response to IPT were: struggling, deconstructing, connecting, practicing and reconstructing.
An economic assessment of twin births in British dairy herds

The effect of twinning on the subsequent health, production and reproductive performance of dairy cattle was studied by analysing the data derived from 19,755 calvings which occurred during three years on 37 farms. The data formed part of the database of a veterinary practice operating the DAISY dairy cow recording scheme for its dairy farmer clients. The average twinning rate was 2.5 per cent. For first calf heifers the rate was 0.9 per cent, and the rate increased with increasing parity to over 5 per cent for cows calving for their sixth and subsequent lactations. Although they produced more milk than their contemporaries, twin-bearing cows suffered an increased incidence of retained placenta and vulval discharges and their calving to conception interval was extended by 33 days. Furthermore, 35 per cent of these cows were culled compared with 21 per cent of their contemporaries. The benefit of having more calves for sale was reduced owing to 15 per cent of them being born dead. It is calculated that producing twins resulted in an average loss of income of 74 pounds/cow, a deficit of 15 per cent compared with cows having single calves.
Learning curves versus problem difficulty: an analysis of the Knowledge Component picture for a given context

The Knowledge Component (KC) picture of learning has proven useful for constructing models of student learning in a number of subject areas. However, it is still unclear how well this picture generalizes to other contexts and subject areas. A corpus of 62,000 exercises for 10 textbooks on the Mastering platform has been tagged by content experts. In this report, I introduce a strategy for investigating the importance of a given set of KCs in describing student performance as the students solve problems. The strategy is to see how much of the student’s performance on an exercise is explained by the associated KC and how much it is predicted by a problemspecific difficulty parameter. To do this, I introduce a model that is a combination of the Rasch model and the learning curves from the KC picture. For this corpus and set of KC tags, a rather striking picture emerges: problem difficulty accounts for most of the student behavior while KC learning accounts for only a small portion of the student behavior. I hypothesize that these KC tags do not accurately capture the skills students are using while doing their homework. Author
Analysis of systems with saturation/deadzone via piecewise-quadratic Lyapunov functions

We study the global and regional stability and performance of saturated systems in a general feedback configuration. Problems to be considered include the estimation of the domain of attraction, the reachable set under a class of disturbances with bounded energy and the nonlinear L2 gain. Motivated by the Lure-Postnikov type Lyapunov function, we develop a piecewise quadratic function which effectively incorporates the structure of the saturation/deadzone nonlinearity. The global and regional analysis are established through an effective treatment of the algebraic loop containing exogenous inputs. The corresponding conditions for global stability and performance are derived as Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs), and the conditions for regional ones yield bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs). The BMI conditions cover the corresponding LMI conditions when the bounded energy of the disturbance goes to infinity. Numerical examples demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach and the great potential of the piecewise quadratic Lyapunov function.
Nutritional quality and storage stability of chikki prepared using pumpkin seed, flaxseed, oats and peanuts

A novel pumpkin seed chikki (PSC) and pumpkin chocolate chikki (PCC) with enhanced nutritional quality by incorporating flaxseed, oats and peanuts was studied. The ingredients of the chikki were pumpkin seed (25%), flaxseed (8.0%), oats (8.0%), peanut (9.0%) and jaggery (50%). The protein and fat contents were 12 and 15% in PSC and PCC and phosphorous was found to be 186 and 206 mg/100 gm, respectively. Equilibrium moisture content – Relative humidity studies showed the chikkis were non-hygroscopic in nature and hence can be stored at ambient temperature in polyethylene pouches. The fatty acid composition of the total lipid showed that chikkis were rich in oleic and linoleic acids with unsaturated fatty acids constituting 65 and 63% in PSC and PCC, respectively. The overall sensory quality determined on 9 point Hedonic scale indicated that PCC was the preferred one, with sensory score of 8.0 during three months storage at RT.
Nonparametric Multiple Change Point Analysis of the Global Financial Crisis

This paper presents an application of a recently developed approach by Matteson and James (2012) for the analysis of change points in a data set, namely major financial market indices converted to financial return series. The general problem concerns the inference of a change in the distribution of a set of time-ordered variables. The approach involves the nonparametric estimation of both the number of change points and the positions at which they occur. The approach is general and does not involve assumptions about the nature of the distributions involved or the type of change beyond the assumption of the existence of the absolute moment, for some 2 (0; 2). The estimation procedure is based on hierarchical clustering and the application of both divisive and agglomerative algorithms. The method is used to evaluate the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on the US, French, German, UK, Japanese and Chinese markets, as represented by the S&P500, CAC, DAX, FTSE All Share, Nikkei 225 and Shanghai A share Indices, respectively, from 2003 to 2013. The approach is used to explore the timing and number of change points in the datasets corresponding to the GFC and subsequent European Debt Crisis.
Predictors of Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors

The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of health risk behaviors of adolescents. A cross-sectional and descriptive design was used. A convenience sample of 436 undergraduate students was recruited from departments and faculties of Atatürk University. The researcher visited university departments 5 working days each week to conduct interviews with the students. The students were asked to complete a questionnaire in their classrooms. The data analysis used multivariate testing to identify predictors of health risk behaviors. The mean score on the health risk behavior scale indicated that the participants sometimes engaged in risky behaviors concerning diet, anger, stress, and disease prevention. The adolescents frequently engaged in risky behavior concerning medical compliance and beliefs about masculinity. Demographically, age, gender, income, and education level of demographic characteristics of the adolescents and, in terms of health status, health behaviors and the experience of a serious disease were significant predictors of adolescent health risk behaviors. In this study, some demographic characteristics were predictors for health risk behaviors, in general, of adolescents.
Captopril — A New Approach for Treatment of Male Subfertility?/Captopril — eine neue Behandlungsmethode zur Therapie der männlichen Subfertilität?

Experimental research as well as clinical administered over a period of 3 months. trials support the involvement of the kalSemen specimen were analyzed under likrein-kinin system in reproductive prostandardized conditions (WHO 1987) cesses. Since many years systemic application of the kininogenase kallikrein is a well established empirical therapy in cases with asthenozoospermia and / or oligozoospermia (Schill 1982). Polypeptids of the kinin type seem to directly influence sperm metabolism possibly by kinin receptors which are localized at the plasma membrane of spermatozoa (Miska et.al. in prep.). Additionally, an activation of Sertoli cell function and effects on spermatogenesis by modulating the paracrine regulation of the testes by kinins are suggested (Schill et.al. 1989). An alternative possiblity to increase kinin levels within male genital tract would be an inhibition of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (kininase 11). In order to investigate the effect of captopril (Lopirin, Squibb-von Heyden, West I I I I I : I 70 i !
Monte Carlo Simulations Methods in Pricing American Type Options

The aim of this paper is to present simulation methods for the pricing of American financial instruments. Three methods are presented. Each differs from the others in it’s approach to the problem and the method of finding a solution. We illustrate the variety of possible approaches that can be adopted when dealing with this complicated problem. The results of using these algorithms are compared with examples found in literature on the subject. We try to identify the factors that influence price estimators and provide some new results about the properties and distributions of those estimators. We show that even a simple variance reduction technique has a positive effect for these algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to present the effectiveness of a simulation method in pricing American options. This is contrary to the opinion often stated in articles and monographs that the simulation approach is not adequate for the task. We provide an overview and comparison of earlier methods proposed and follow this with an extended discussion. This paper sets the foundations for further research into use of these algorithms for multidimensional problems, where they may offer a substantial advantage over deterministic methods.
A longitudinal analysis of the relations among stress, depressive symptoms, leisure satisfaction, and endothelial function in caregivers.

OBJECTIVE Stress and depressive symptoms have been associated with impaired endothelial function as measured by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), possibly through repeated and heightened activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Behavioral correlates of depression, such as satisfaction with leisure activities (i.e., leisure satisfaction), may also be associated with endothelial function via their association with depressive symptoms. This study examined the longitudinal associations between stress, depressive symptoms, leisure satisfaction, and endothelial function as measured by FMD. METHOD Participants were 116 older Alzheimer's caregivers (M age = 74.3 ± 8.1; 68% women; 87% white) who underwent 3 yearly assessments of FMD, stress, depressive symptoms, and leisure satisfaction. Mixed-regression analyses were used to examine longitudinal relationships between constructs of interest. RESULTS A significant and positive association was found between leisure satisfaction and FMD (p = .050), whereas a negative relationship was found for stress (p = .017). Depressive symptoms were not associated with FMD (p = .432). Time (p < .001) and the number of years caregiving (p = .027) were also significant predictors of FMD, suggesting that FMD decreased over time and was worse the longer a participant had been a caregiver prior to study enrollment. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that behavioral correlates of depression (i.e., engagement in pleasurable activities) may be related to endothelial function in caregivers, and behavioral treatments for depression may be particularly useful in improving cardiovascular outcomes in caregivers.
Comparison of Models for Estimating Magnetic Core Losses in Electrical Machines Using the Finite-Element Method

This paper focuses on the modeling and prediction of core losses in nonoriented magnetic materials of electrical machines. The aim is to investigate the accuracy, efficiency, and stability of certain models, including the commonly used and the advanced ones, and to discuss their advantages and disadvantages when they are implemented in the finite-element method (FEM). It is shown in the paper that the traditional technique based on the loss separation theory can efficiently produce reasonable results in specific operation conditions but can, on the other hand, over- or underestimate the core losses in other circumstances. The advanced model based on solving the one-dimensional (1-D) Maxwell equations can give accurate results for the prediction of core losses in a lamination strip, but its accuracy, stability, and computational burden are put under scrutiny when it is applied to the prediction of core losses in an electrical machine. A third technique, referred to as the hybrid model, which captures the advantages of the traditional and advanced techniques and merges them into one, has been found to be the best compromise. The principal aim of the hybrid model is to avoid the numerical procedure of the 1-D Maxwell equations while maintaining relatively accurate predictions with a reasonable computational burden. A comparative investigation has been conducted for the three core-loss models that have been incorporated into the 2-D FEM analysis of a 37-kW induction motor on which experiments were carried out for comparisons.
A Case of Bilateral Aseptic Necrosis of the Femoral Head

Aseptic necrosis of the femoral head is a disease whose etiology is not completely elucidated and generally affects young adults aged between 30 and 50 years. In a significant number of patients bilateral disease occurs, which makes detection in its early stages constitute an important objective. We present the case of a male patient, aged 23 years, with the following risk factors: smoking and chronic alcohol consumption, who is diagnosed with aseptic necrosis of the left femoral head, ARCO stage IV, and in just six months after the diagnosis and hip arthroplasty, he suffers an injury which leads to the same diagnosis in the contralateral hip. We want to emphasize that for all patients with a high index of suspicion there should be an MRI examination, because the plane radiographs or CT are most often not relevant in detecting early signs of this condition. Diagnosis of aseptic necrosis of the femoral head in the early stages is a necessity in order to obtain an optimal result of conservative treatment.
A size sensitivity method for interactive MOS circuit sizing

A device size sensitivity method is proposed for metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) analog circuit sizing. The sensitivity computation issues are discussed in detail. It is pointed out that the dc sensitivity is important for the accuracy of size-referred ac sensitivity. Moreover, it is highlighted that a symbolic approach to ac sensitivity computation is advantageous for interactive sizing. Emphasis is placed on the behavioral intuition extractable from the ac sensitivity to device sizes. The basic principle developed in this work is believed useful for developing a semi-automatic and interactive analog sizing tool. An EKV model based design example shows how the proposed procedure can be used for interactive circuit sizing.
Efficient RGB Video Coding Using Adaptive Inter-Plane Residual Prediction

This paper presents an efficient video coding algorithm in the RGB color space. Currently most video coding algorithms are based on a decorrelated color space such as YCbCr which has reduced inter-color redundancy. For high fidelity video applications, however, it is essential to maintain the original signal fidelity. In pursuit of both high fidelity and coding efficiency, we propose an adaptive inter-plane residual prediction algorithm exploiting inter-color redundancy of the RGB signal. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can increase RGB video coding efficiency up to 0.9 dB, compared to the existing H.264/AVC High 4:4:4 Intra profile.
Asset pricing and macro factors in ASEAN5

This paper focuses on five equity markets in ASEAN (i.e. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines), henceforth the ASEAN5. Asset pricing for the ASEAN5 equity markets is the main focus of this paper. The multifactor asset pricing model that include the effects of market, size, value, momentum, three macro factors (unexpected GDP, unexpected total trade, unexpected market returns), and world excess returns is employed in testing the variation in size/book-to-market equity (size-BTME) and industry portfolio returns from the 1st quarter of 1990 to the 1st quarter of 2006 (q1:1990 – q1:2006). Our results suggest that macroeconomic variables appear to have little incremental effect on portfolio returns among the Asean5 equity markets.
Calmodulin‐Binding Proteins Within the Slow Phase of Axonal Transport in the Rabbit Vagus Nerve Per Ekstrom and Martin Kanje

Abstract: : Calmodulin‐binding proteins (CBPs) in the rabbit vagus nerve were studied by means of calmodulin‐Sepha‐rose affinity chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The soluble fraction (105g supernatant) of a nerve homogenate contained four CBPs with molecular weights of 44, 55, 91, and 93 kD, respectively. Slowly transported proteins were recovered in the vagus 3 days after injection of [35S]methionine into the nodose ganglion. Four labelled CBPs with molecular weights of 44, 55, 69, and 83 kD, respectively were found. The nodose ganglion con tained two labelled CBPs, 44 and 55 kD. The 55‐kD CBP was identified as tubulin after immunoblotting. In separate experiments it was also shown that bovine brain tubulin bound to the calmodulin column.