Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association between Internet Addiction and Psychosocial Variables

The past decade has seen plenty of studies focusing on Internet use and Internet addiction. This is because the Internet provides information about variety of topics all over world and is easily accessed. Arguments concerning the association between excessive use and Internet addiction are ongoing. There is not yet a clear, consensus definition of Internet addiction. In this chapter, we discuss previous research and implications for future studies regarding Internet addiction and its most studied psychosocial variables: depression, loneliness, social anxiety, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and social support.
Long-range segregation phenomena in shape-selected bimetallic nanoparticles: chemical state effects.

A study of the morphological and chemical stability of shape-selected octahedral Pt0.5Ni0. 5 nanoparticles (NPs) supported on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is presented. Ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) and in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were used to monitor the mobility of Pt0.5Ni0. 5 NPs and to study long-range atomic segregation and alloy formation phenomena under vacuum, H2, and O2 environments. The chemical state of the NPs was found to play a pivotal role in their surface composition after different thermal treatments. In particular, for these ex situ synthesized NPs, Ni segregation to the NP surface was observed in all environments as long as PtOx species were present. In the presence of oxygen, an enhanced Ni surface segregation was observed at all temperatures. In contrast, in hydrogen and vacuum, the Ni outward segregation occurs only at low temperature (<200-270 °C), while PtOx species are still present. At higher temperatures, the reduction of the Pt oxide species results in Pt diffusion toward the NP surface and the formation of a Ni-Pt alloy. A consistent correlation between the NP surface composition and its electrocatalytic CO oxidation activity was established.
Ironic Mental Processes in Sport: Implications for Sport Psychologists

The theory of ironic processes of mental control (Wegner, 1994) is reviewed in the context of typical issues confronted by sport psychology professionals. The theory maintains that mental control is achieved through the interaction of an operating process directed toward achieving thoughts, emotions, and actions that are consistent with particular goal states, and a monitoring process for identifying inconsistencies with the goal state, insuring that any threat to the operating process is recognized and handled accordingly. Moreover, mental control normally functions at a satisfactory level, but under conditions of cognitive load, the likelihood of effective self-regulation is reduced. Given the load-inducing circumstances of sport and exercise participation, reasons for the occasional failure of mental control in these settings are offered. Traditional and current sport psychology issues and interventions are interpreted considering the theory of ironic processes, with specific reference to imagery, self.
Modeling of the knowledge-based 'intelligent system'-environment interaction: description application to human-machine interaction and system-theoretic aspects leading to a new type of autonomous systems

The modeling of human-machine-interaction (HMI) may help to transfer understanding of human control and to apply the developed modeling technique to autonomous technical systems such as mobile robots. The task of this new kind of intelligent control is to respond autonomously to complex situations primarily specified in words. The paper describes the modeling technique. When modeling HMI AI-like terms are used such as situation, operator etc. to define the system to be considered. The modeling methodology is suitable for modeling human acting, planning, learning and also describing human errors and is able to design an advanced autonomous system.
Evidence of Cumulative Attraction in Multidestination Recreational Trip Decisions

Most destination demand models in the tourism and outdoor recreation literature are predicated on the assumption that when travelers leave home, they go to a single destina tion. This assumption is often fallacious, since many pleasure trips involve visits to mul tiple destinations. This study provides evidence of multiple destinations offering cumula tive attractions within a single trip. Multidestination travel is conceptualized as a constrained choice process in which individuals evaluate travel alternatives as bundles of attributes. Using a multistage sampling technique, each subject was given a unique set of six treat ment scenarios composed of three pairs of multidestination trips and asked to rate the likeli hood of going on each trip. Three destination attributes, each with two different levels, were used to characterize the destinations: tourism services and facilities, settings for relax ation and sport, and distance between the primary and secondary destinations. Conjoint analysis techniques indicated that preference for a destination was enhanced by inclusion of a combination of destinations.
3 Societal Context : Infrastructures and Population Pressure – a “ Trilemma ” of Sustainability

The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of energy, telecommunications, transportation, and financial infrastructures pose new challenges for secure, reliable management and operation. No single entity has complete control of these multi-scale, distributed, highly interactive networks, or the ability to evaluate, monitor, and manage in real time. In addition, the conventional mathematical methodologies that underpin today's modeling, simulation, and control paradigm are unable to handle their complexity and interconnectedness. Complex interactive networks are omnipresent and critical to economic and social well-being. Many of our nation’s critical infrastructures are complex networked systems, including:
The Perceived Needs and Availability of Eye Care Services for Older Adults in Long-term Care Facilities

Background The objective was to evaluate the eye care services offered to older residents living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Methods A questionnaire targeting residents aged ≥65 years was sent to all LTCFs in Quebec. Questions related to the institution’s characteristics, demographic data related to residents, oculovisual health of residents and barriers to eye care, eye care services offered within and outside the institution, and degree of satisfaction regarding the eye care services offered to residents. Results 196/428 (45.8%) LTCFs completed the questionnaire. Participating LTCFs had an average of 97.0 ± 5.1 residents with a mean age of 82.8 ± 3.0 yrs and 69% women. Eye care services were mostly offered outside the institution, on a “per request” basis. The main barriers to eye care were the perception that residents could not cooperate and the lack of eye care professionals. Most LTCFs were satisfied with the eye care services offered to residents. Conclusions The fact that the LTCFs were satisfied with the eye care services offered to their residents, although it was neither provided on a regular basis nor to all residents, suggests that eye care professionals should take a proactive educational role for improving services to older institutionalized adults.
The TLR4 Agonist Monophosphoryl Lipid A Drives Broad Resistance to Infection via Dynamic Reprogramming of Macrophage Metabolism

Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) is a clinically used TLR4 agonist that has been found to drive nonspecific resistance to infection for up to 2 wk. However, the molecular mechanisms conferring protection are not well understood. In this study, we found that MPLA prompts resistance to infection, in part, by inducing a sustained and dynamic metabolic program in macrophages that supports improved pathogen clearance. Mice treated with MPLA had enhanced resistance to infection with Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans that was associated with augmented microbial clearance and organ protection. Tissue macrophages, which exhibited augmented phagocytosis and respiratory burst after MPLA treatment, were required for the beneficial effects of MPLA. Further analysis of the macrophage phenotype revealed that early TLR4-driven aerobic glycolysis was later coupled with mitochondrial biogenesis, enhanced malate shuttling, and increased mitochondrial ATP production. This metabolic program was initiated by overlapping and redundant contributions of MyD88- and TRIF-dependent signaling pathways as well as downstream mTOR activation. Blockade of mTOR signaling inhibited the development of the metabolic and functional macrophage phenotype and ablated MPLA-induced resistance to infection in vivo. Our findings reveal that MPLA drives macrophage metabolic reprogramming that evolves over a period of days to support a macrophage phenotype highly effective at mediating microbe clearance and that this results in nonspecific resistance to infection.
A meander coupled line wideband power divider with open stubs andDGS for mobile application

A novel meander coupled line power divider for wide band operation from 0.5 GHz to 2.5 GHz with reduced size for mobile application is proposed in this paper. The wide band operation of the coupled line power divider is obtained using open stubs and defected ground structures. The folding of the coupled line reduces the size of the power divider. The proposed power divider has 65% of size reduction in comparison with the existing power divider. All the S-parameters such as return loss, insertion loss, and isolation at different ports are simulated and measured. Bandwidth of 2 GHz is obtained. Both the simulated and measured results agree with each other. Hence it is useful for mobile phone application up to 4G.
A century of sea level data and the UK's 2013/14 storm surges: an assessment of extremes and clustering using the Newlyn tide gauge record

Abstract. For the UK's longest and most complete sea level record (Newlyn), we assess extreme high waters and their temporal clustering; prompted by the 2013/2014 winter of storms and flooding. These are set into context against this almost 100-year record. We define annual periods for which storm activity and high sea levels can be compared on a year-by-year basis. Amongst the storms and high tides which affected Newlyn, the recent winter produced the largest recorded high water level (3 February 2014) and five other high water events above a 1 in 1-year return period. The large magnitude of tide and mean sea level, and the close inter-event spacings (of large return period high waters), suggests that the 2013/2014 extreme high water level "season" can be considered the most extreme on record. However, storm and sea level events may be classified in different ways. For example, in the context of sea level rise (which we calculate linearly as 1.81 ± 0.1 mm yr−1 from records between 1915 to 2014), a lower probability combination of surge and tide occurred on 29 January 1948, whilst the 1995/1996 storm surge season saw the most high waters of g the 1 in 1-year return period. We provide a basic categorisation of the four types of extreme high water level cluster, ranging from consecutive tidal cycles to multiple years. The assessment is extended to other UK sites (with shorter sea level records and different tide-surge characteristics), which suggests 2013/2014 was particularly unusual. Further work will assess clustering mechanisms and flood system "memory".
Changes in epidermal dielectric properties due to skin cancer across the band 1 to 50 GHz

An accurate non-invasive electromagnetic skin imaging system requires a precise dermal tissue characterization. Studies related to microwave and millimeter-wave imaging techniques indicate a significant difference in the dielectric properties between healthy and malignant tissues. Malignant tissues tend to have higher water content compared to healthy tissues. Therefore, the dielectric properties of cancerous tissues can be expressed as a function of healthy tissue characteristics and their respective water content. In this work, a formula is derived to calculate the dielectric properties of human skin melanoma (MM) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) tissues from the properties of healthy skin tissues. The derived formula indicates a significant (20%) difference at 10 GHz between MM and healthy tissues, whereas the difference is 11% for BCC. This substantial difference indicates the possibility of using electromagnetic technique's for non-invasive skin cancer detection.
An improved GM-PHD tracker with track management for multiple target tracking

The probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter is a promising tool for tracking the time-varying number of targets in real time. The Gaussian mixture PHD filter is an analytic solution to the PHD filter for linear Gaussian multi-target models. By using Gaussian component labels in GM-PHD filter, the identities of individual target can be obtained. However, the labeling GM-PHD filter cannot correctly discriminate tracks of individual targets when targets are moving closely to each other. To solve this problem, an improved GM-PHD tracker is proposed, which is able to identify and manage the track of individual target effectively. First, a detection-guided dynamic reweight scheme is employed in the GM-PHD filter to alleviate the weight error of closely spaced targets. Then, a novel track management scheme is introduced to form and maintain the tracks of individual targets. The simulation results demonstrate the better performance of the proposed algorithm in comparison with the labeling GM-PHD filter.
Chicken HOXA3 Gene: Its Expression Pattern and Role in Branchial Nerve Precursor Cell Migration

In vertebrates, the proximal and distal sensory ganglia of the branchial nerves are derived from neural crest cells (NCCs) and placodes, respectively. We previously reported that in Hoxa3 knockout mouse embryos, NCCs and placode-derived cells of the glossopharyngeal nerve were defective in their migration. In this report, to determine the cell-type origin for this Hoxa3 knockout phenotype, we blocked the expression of the gene with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MO) specifically in either NCCs/neural tube or placodal cells of chicken embryos. Our results showed that HOXA3 function was required for the migration of the epibranchial placode-derived cells and that HOXA3 regulated this cell migration in both NCCs/neural tube and placodal cells. We also report that the expression pattern of chicken HOXA3 was slightly different from that of mouse Hoxa3.
Distances and ages of NGC 6397, NGC 6752 and 47 Tuc

New improved distances and absolute ages for the Galactic globular clusters NGC 6397, NGC 6752, and 47 Tuc are obtained using the Main Sequence Fitting Method. We derived accurate estimates of reddening and metal abundance for these three clusters using a strictly dierential procedure, where the Johnson B V and Stromgren b y colours and UVES high resolution spectra of turn-o stars and early subgiants belonging to the clusters were compared to similar data for field subdwarfs with accurate parallaxes measured by Hipparcos. The use of a reddening free temperature indicator (the profile of H) allowed us to reduce the error bars in reddening determinations to about 0.005 mag, and in metal abundances to 0.04 dex, in the scales defined by the local subdwarfs. Error bars in distances are then reduced to about 0.07 mag for each cluster, yielding ages with typical random errors of about 1 Gyr. We find that NGC 6397 and NGC 6752 have ages of 13:9 1:1 and 13:8 1: 1G yr respectively, when standard isochrones without microscopic diusion are used, while 47 Tuc is probably about 2.6 Gyr younger, in agreement with results obtained by other techniques sensitive to relative ages. If we use models that include the eects of sedimentation due to microscopic diusion in agreement with our observations of NGC 6397, and take into account various sources of possible systematic errors with a statistical approach, we conclude that the age of the oldest globular clusters in the Galaxy is 13:4 0:8 0:6 Gyr, where the first error bar accounts for random eects, and the second one for systematic errors. This age estimate is fully compatible with the very recent results from WMAP, and indicates that the oldest Galactic globular clusters formed within the first 1.7 Gyr after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of z 2:5, in a standardCDM model. The epoch of formation of the (inner halo) globular clusters lasted about 2.6 Gyr, ending at a time corresponding to a redshift of z 1:3. On the other hand, our new age estimate once combined with values of H0 given by WMAP and by the HST Key Project, provides a robust upper limit at 95% level of confidence of M < 0:57, independently of type Ia SNe, and strongly supports the need for a dark energy. The new cluster distances lead to new estimates of the horizontal branch luminosity, that may be used to derive the zero point of the relation between the horizontal branch absolute magnitude and metallicity: we obtain MV (HB)= (0:22 0:05)((Fe=H)+ 1:5)+ (0:56 0:07). This zero point is 0.03 mag shorter than obtained by Carretta et al. (2000) and within the error bar it agrees with, but it is more precise than most of the previous individual determinations of the RR Lyrae absolute magnitude. When combined with the apparent average luminosity of the RR Lyrae stars in the LMC by Clementini et al. (2003), this zero point provides a new estimate of the distance modulus to the LMC: (m M)0= 18:50 0:09.
The 3 D noise mapping for Pearl River New Town of Guangzhou

Noise mapping has been recognised as a useful tool for city noise planning and management but 2D noise maps have limitations on determining and visualizing noise impact in urban areas. For more in-depth study of the urban road traffic noise distribution on the façade of the buildings, the main goal of this study is to develop a 3D noise map for the Pearl River New Town of Guangzhou. To achieve this goal, Greenberg’s traffic flow model was used and combined with the GPS data that collected by floating cars to obtain the traffic flow data for the calculation of traffic noise emission. And then, the geographical data were automatically extracted from GIS to provide the geographical information to calculate the traffic noise attenuation. Finally, using the 3D traffic noise predict model, the 3D noise map of the Pearl River New Town was created.
On Creative Cognition

Creative cognition is one inherent aspect of human cognition. From the perspective of cognition target, creative cognition aims at new problems and issues. From the angle of the subject, only those who are endowed with creative capability, i.e. creative subjects, could undertake creative activities. Creative cognition is a unique cognitive activity in terms of which human beings explore the unknown fields, with the property of creativity, thus differing from the normal, routine ways of thinking.
A 512kb 8T SRAM Macro Operating Down to 0.57 V With an AC-Coupled Sense Amplifier and Embedded Data-Retention-Voltage Sensor in 45 nm SOI CMOS

An 8T SRAM fabricated in 45 nm SOI CMOS exhibits voltage scalable operation from 1.2V down to 0.57V with access times from 400 ps to 3.4 ns. Timing variation and the challenge of low voltage operation are addressed with an AC-coupled sense amplifier. An area efficient data path is achieved with a regenerative global bitline scheme. Finally, a data retention voltage sensor has been developed to predict the mismatch-limited minimum standby voltage without corrupting the contents of the memory.
Fast-transient, low-THD geometric control of boost-derived active rectifiers

The control design of boost-derived active rectifiers searches to achieve fast dynamic performance on the DC bus voltage and low total harmonic distortion at the input current. Due to the nature of the topology, attempts to increase the bandwidth of the voltage loop can cause distortion in the input current. As a result, the voltage control loop usually shows sluggish dynamics. Several linear, PWM-based control approaches have tackled this issue in the past improving the dynamic performance to a limited extent. On the other hand, boundary controllers provide excellent performances at the expense of high implementation complexity and input current distortion. This work proposes a PWM-based geometric voltage compensator to achieve fast dynamic performance while the input current distortion is maintained low. The average nature of the technique makes the implementation straightforward and compatible with existing current control methods. The analysis is performed in a normalized geometric domain providing generality and theoretical insight into the topology's behaviour. The theoretical findings are supported by simulation and experimental results highlighting the direct contribution into the applied field.
Optical spectroscopy of sodium silicate glasses prepared with nano- and micro-sized iron oxide particles

Wet chemical analysis and UV-VIS spectroscopy methods were used to determine the oxidation state of iron in Na 2 O·2SiO 2 glasses, containing 0.3 mol% of Fe 2 O 3 . The oxidation state of iron in the sodium silicate glasses was varied by changing the size of iron oxide particles used for preparation of glass batches and the melting temperature. In sodium silicate glasses iron commonly exists as an equilibrium mixture of ferrous ions, Fe 2+ , and ferric ions Fe 3+ . The increase of the melting temperature led to the transformation of ferric ions to ferrous ions. It was also shown that in the glasses prepared from nano-sized iron oxide particles the Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ equilibrium ratio is lower (i.e. smaller amount of ferrous ions were formed) comparing to that in the glasses prepared from micro-sized iron oxide particles.
Spontaneous Giving under Structural Inequality: Intuition Promotes Cooperation in Asymmetric Social Dilemmas

The present research investigates the role of intuitive mental processing on cooperation in experimental games involving structural inequality. Results from an experiment using conceptual priming to induce intuitive mental processing provide the first evidence that cooperation is promoted by intuition in an asymmetric context that distributes the gains from cooperation unequally among a group. Therefore, the results extend our understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of human cooperation by demonstrating the robustness of intuitive cooperation in games involving structural inequality regarding asymmetric gains from cooperation. Additionally, the results provide the first successful conceptual replication of the intuition-cooperation link using conceptual priming, therefore also contributing to the debate about the validity of previous research in other contexts. Taken together, the present research contributes to the literature on psychological and institutional mechanisms that promote cooperation.