Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online advertisement: how are visual strategies affected by the distance and the animation of banners?

Most of studies about online advertisements have indicated that they have a negative impact on users' cognitive processes, especially when they include colorful or animated banners and when they are close to the text to be read. In the present study we assessed the effects of two advertisements features—distance from the text and the animation—on visual strategies during a word-search task and a reading-for-comprehension task using Web-like pages. We hypothesized that the closer the advertisement was to the target text, the more cognitive processing difficulties it would cause. We also hypothesized that (1) animated banners would be more disruptive than static advertisements and (2) banners would have more effect on word-search performance than reading-for-comprehension performance. We used an automatic classifier to assess variations in use of Scanning and Reading visual strategies during task performance. The results showed that the effect of dynamic and static advertisements on visual strategies varies according to the task. Fixation duration indicated that the closest advertisements slowed down information processing but there was no difference between the intermediate (40 pixel) and far (80 pixel) distance conditions. Our findings suggest that advertisements have a negative impact on users' performance mostly when a lots of cognitive resources are required as for reading-for-comprehension.
Formulation, characterization and physicochemical evaluation of potassium citrate effervescent tablets.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to design and formulation of potassium citrate effervescent tablet for reduction of calcium oxalate and urate kidney stones in patients suffering from kidney stones. METHODS In this study, 13 formulations were prepared from potassium citrate and effervescent base in different concentration. The flowability of powders and granules was studied. Then effervescent tablets were prepared by direct compression, fusion and wet granulation methods. The prepared tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, effervescent time, pH, content uniformity. To amend taste of formulations, different flavoring agents were used and then panel test was done by using Latin Square method by 30 volunteers. RESULTS Formulations obtained from direct compression and fusion methods had good flow but low hardness. Wet granulation improves flowability and other physicochemical properties such as acceptable hardness, effervescence time ≤3 minutes, pH<6, friability < 1%, water percentage < 0.5% and accurate content uniformity. In panel test, both of combination flavors; (orange - lemon) and (strawberry - raspberry) had good acceptability. CONCLUSION The prepared tablets by wet granulation method using PVP solution had more tablet hardness. It is a reproducible process and suitable to produce granules that are compressed into effervescent tablets due to larger agglomerates.
Rumadai: A plug-in to record and replay client-side events of web sites with dynamic content

Reproducing user events when testing web pages is challenging because of the dynamic nature of the web content and potential dependency on third party content providers. We present Rumadai, a Visual Studio plug-in, that helps web programmers test web pages by recording and replaying clientside events. Rumadai injects code into web pages to be deployed at servers. The injected code, written in JavaScript, records user events as well as client-side dynamic content requests (e.g. via Ajax or Jsonp) and their responses. Recorded events and responses are then sent to a remote database via HTTP POST. Web page developers can query the saved client data, again using Rumadai seamlessly from Visual Studio, to replay all or a subset of events on a browser.
Sexism, homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Italian pre-service teachers: the role of socio-demographic features

Abstract Although recent research has highlighted that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youths represent a resilient population, they still suffer from social stigma and oppression, being potentially at additional risk of developing negative mental health outcomes. One of the main environments where violence and harassment against this population are present is the school. Within school contexts, the impact that teachers can have on the educational experiences of LGBT youths seems to be a crucial point. This paper explored sexist, homophobic and transphobic attitudes among 438 pre-service teachers in relation to specific socio-demographic features. Results indicated that being male, heterosexual, conservative and currently religious were positively associated with sexist, homophobic, and transphobic attitudes and feelings, and having a LGBT friend was negatively associated with homophobic and transphobic attitudes and feelings. These results suggest the need to introduce specific training on the deconstruction of gender and sexual stereotypes and prejudices, to provide teachers with efficient tools to address diversity in the classrooms and to implement inclusive school policies. Suggestions for the implementation of good practices are provided.
Mirror symmetry, D-branes and counting holomorphic discs

We consider a class of special Lagrangian subspaces of Calabi-Yau manifolds and identify their mirrors, using the recent derivation of mirror symmetry, as certain holomorphic varieties of the mirror geometry. This transforms the counting of holomorphic disc instantons ending on the Lagrangian submanifold to the classical Abel-Jacobi map on the mirror. We recover some results already anticipated as well as obtain some highly non-trivial new predictions.
Noise characterization for a BOD electrochemical sensor

In this paper the noise characterization for a three-electrode electrochemical amperometric sensor is presented. The sensor is used for the determination of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in water and it is based on a ferricyanide-mediated approch. The micro and meso-electrodes were manufactured using microfabrication technologies. The experimental setup used allows to measure the voltage noise between a reference electrode and a working electrode; the current noise is determined through the voltage noise and the interface impedance of the working electrode.
Reducing Rework in Design by Comparing Structural Complexity using a multi domain matrix

Complexity in design causes iteration which can be value-adding or wasteful. Wasteful iteration, called rework, may stem from inefficient information flow in design. This paper focuses on the structural complexity of information flow, and on the identification of root causes of the resulting rework. We propose that one can identify root causes for rework in the design phase of a project by (1) making actual information flow transparent and by (2) comparing actual information flow to planned information flow. After identifying misalignments between actualand planned information flow, one can find their root causes, and then address those causes in order to reduce rework in design. We use a Multi Domain Matrix to deduce actual (‘As is’) and planned (‘Should’) information flow and then apply the Delta-Design Structure Matrix to compare the structures of the ‘Should-’ with the ‘As is’ perspective. The proposed hypotheses, “Comparing structural complexity between the ‘Should-’ and the ‘As is’ perspective helps to identify misalignments” and “Reduction of misalignments between actualand planned information flow reduces rework in design” were tested during the detailed design phase of a project. The Multi Domain Matrix and Design Structure Matrix were successfully applied: comparison of structural complexity aided in making actual information flow transparent and in reducing rework.
Mitbestimmung bei Investitionsentscheidungen : Fallstudien in deutschen multinationalen Konzernen

Multinationale Konzerne befinden sich als Teilnehmer auf dem internationalen Arbeitsmarkt in einer begunstigten Position, da sie zu weltweiten grenzuberschrei tenden Kapitalinvestitionen in der Lage sind. Aufgrund dieser transnationalen Mobi litat verfugen sie uber eine breite Palette an moglichen Investitionsalternativen. Eine mogliche Investitionsstrategie wird Regime Shopping genannt: Unternehmen bevor zugen Lander, in denen die Arbeitskosten niedrig und die Gewerkschaften schwach sind, um den Profit und den unternehmerischen Entscheidungsspielraum zu maximie ren. Dieser Beitrag analysiert, welche Implikationen die Strategie des Regime Shop pingfur die institutionalisierte Mitbestimmung auf Betriebsebene hat. Datengrundla ge sind qualitative Interviews mit Vertretern des Strategischen Managements, der Personalabteilung sowie der Arbeitnehmer\'ertretung in je zwei deutschen Automo bilund Chemiekonzernen. Verglichen mit fruheren Zeiten hat die Vertretungswirk samkeit der Betriebsratsarbeit abgenommen. Insgesamt wird der Einfluss der Arbeit nehmervertretung auf globale Standortentscheidungen soweit sie nicht den eigenen Standort betreffen als eher gering und von Arbeitnehmervertretern als unzurei chend eingestuft, aber bis jetzt ist die institutionelle Basis der nationalen Mitbestim mung nicht erodiert. Co-determination in investment decisions: case studies in German multinationals
A Discretization Algorithm Based on Cultural Immune Algorithm

Now more and more researchers pay attention to discretization of the continuous attributes. A hybrid evolutionary system based on immune algorithm and cultural algorithm is proposed for discretization which combines the strengths of evolutionary computing, social computing in this paper. It uses the cultural algorithm framework in which the immune algorithm embedded. Immune algorithm discretizes the continuous data and the cultural algorithm constitutes the commonly accepted beliefs to guide and speed up the search. In addition, a new diversity operator is put forward in order to maintain the diversity of population. Finally, experiments are conducted for extensive performance testing of the new method on several publicly available data sets. The results show that the algorithm has higher convergence speed and less classification errors than many previously known discretization methods.
maskSLIC: Regional Superpixel Generation with Application to Local Pathology Characterisation in Medical Images

Supervoxel methods such as Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) are an effective technique for partitioning an image or volume into locally similar regions, and are a common building block for the development of detection, segmentation and analysis methods. We introduce maskSLIC an extension of SLIC to create supervoxels within regions-of-interest, and demonstrate,on examples from 2-dimensions to 4-dimensions, that maskSLIC overcomes issues that affect SLIC within an irregular mask. We highlight the benefits of this method through examples, and show that it is able to better represent underlying tumour subregions and achieves significantly better results than SLIC on the BRATS 2013 brain tumour challenge data (p=0.001) - outperforming SLIC on 18/20 scans. Finally, we show an application of this method for the analysis of functional tumour subregions and demonstrate that it is more effective than voxel clustering.
On the Capacity Optimization for MIMO Ad Hoc Networks

Maximizing the system mutual information for MIMO ad hoc networks is considered in this paper. We first give a brief overview of the non-linear optimization methods and systematically we compare their performances. Then we propose a fast and distributed algorithm based on the quasi Newton methods to give a lower bound of the system capacity of MIMO ad hoc networks. Our proposed algorithm solves the maximization problem while diminishing the amount of information in the feedback links needed in the cooperative optimization. Finally, an extensive set of simulations shows that our algorithm enjoys a provable convergence and presents the highest convergence rate.
Power-Efficient Ultra-Wideband Waveform Design Considering Radio Channel Effects

This paper presents a power-efficient mask-constrained ultra-wideband (UWB) waveform design with radio channel effects taken into consideration. Based on a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, we develop a convex optimization model with respect to the autocorrelation of the filter coefficients to optimize the transmitted signal power spectrum, subject to a regulatory emission mask. To improve power efficiency, effects of transmitter radio frequency (RF) components are included in the optimization of the transmitter-output waveform, and radio propagation effects are considered for optimizing at the receiver. Optimum coefficients of the FIR filter are obtained through spectral factorization of their autocorrelations. Simulation results show that the proposed method is able to maximize the transmitted UWB signal power under mask constraints set by regulatory authorities, while mitigating the power loss caused by channel attenuations.
Plastic and Stable Electrophysiological Properties of Adult Avian Forebrain Song-Control Neurons across Changing Breeding Conditions

Steroid sex hormones drive changes in the nervous system and behavior in many animal taxa, but integrating the former with the latter remains challenging. One useful model system for meeting this challenge is seasonally breeding songbirds. In these species, plasma testosterone levels rise and fall across the seasons, altering song behavior and causing dramatic growth and regression of the song-control system, a discrete set of nuclei that control song behavior. Whereas the cellular mechanisms underlying changes in nucleus volume have been studied as a model for neural growth and degeneration, it is unknown whether these changes in neural structure are accompanied by changes in electrophysiological properties other than spontaneous firing rate. Here we test the hypothesis that passive and active neuronal properties in the forebrain song-control nuclei HVC and RA change across breeding conditions. We exposed adult male Gambel's white-crowned sparrows to either short-day photoperiod or long-day photoperiod and systemic testosterone to simulate nonbreeding and breeding conditions, respectively. We made whole-cell recordings from RA and HVC neurons in acute brain slices. We found that RA projection neuron membrane time constant, capacitance, and evoked and spontaneous firing rates were all increased in the breeding condition; the measured electrophysiological properties of HVC interneurons and projection neurons were stable across breeding conditions. This combination of plastic and stable intrinsic properties could directly impact the song-control system's motor control across seasons, underlying changes in song stereotypy. These results provide a valuable framework for integrating how steroid hormones modulate cellular physiology to change behavior.
Greater Strength Drives Difference in Power between Sexes in the Conventional Deadlift Exercise

Limited research exists comparing sex differences in muscular power. The primary purpose of this research was to determine if differences exist in power and velocity in the conventional deadlift (CDL). A secondary purpose was to examine the relationship among power, velocity, strength, and fat free mass (FFM). Eighteen strength trained athletes with ≥1 year CDL experience (women: n = 9, 29 ± 2 years, 162.3 ± 1.8 cm, 62 ± 2.4 kg, 23.3 ± 3.2 % body fat (%BF); men: n = 9, 29 ± 3 years, 175.6 ± 1.8 cm, 85.5 ± 1.4 kg, 14.8 ± 2.4 %BF), and ≥1.5 one repetition maximum (1-RM) CDL: body mass (BM) ratio (women: 1.6 ± 0.1 1-RM CDL: BM; men: 2.3 ± 0.1 1-RM CDL: BM), performed baseline (body composition, 1-RM CDL) and experimental sessions, in which velocity and power were measured at 30%, 60%, and 90% 1-RM. Repeated measures ANOVA and bivariate correlations were conducted. Men produced higher absolute average and peak power across all loads, but higher average velocity at only 30% 1-RM. When normalized to FFM, men produced higher peak and average power; however, women produced higher peak and average velocities across all loads. FFM and 1-RM were correlated with power. Greater power observed in men is driven by larger muscle mass, which contributes to greater strength.
Has Water Quality Improved ? : Use of a Spreadsheet for Statistical Analysis of Paired Watershed , Upstream / Downstream and Before / After Monitoring Designs

1 Prepared for the Sixth National Nonpoint-Source Monitoring Workshop, September 21-24, 1998, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 2 It is assumed that the reader has had some experience with a spreadsheet, and an introductory course in statistics, or some statistical experience. 3 While directions refer specifically to Excel version 7.0 commands, other spreadsheets have similar capabilities. 4 Excel does not have non-parametric data analysis tools. Spooner, 1993) comprises two watersheds of similar location and land use (control and treatment) and two time periods of study (calibration and treatment). Typically, one sampling station is positioned at the outlet of each watershed. During the calibration period (typically at least two years), land use at both control and treatment sites should remain the same. The goal is to establish a relationship between the watersheds. At the end of the calibration period, best management practices (BMPs) are implemented at the treatment site. The project then proceeds into the treatment period (usually at least 2 years). Again, the goal is to establish a relationship between control and treatment watersheds. The relationships are compared to see if a change has occurred due to BMP implementation.
Fast identification of control signaling aided by please-decode-blindly (PDB) messages

Blind decoding of control information is used in some wireless multiple access systems such as LTE to achieve adaptive modulation and coding, as well as to address the multiple access problem on the control channel. Blind decoding incurs high computational complexity in mobile terminals. In this paper, we describe a scheme to reduce the computational complexity associated with the blind decoding. The main idea is to broadcast a “please-decode-blindly” message to all terminals that are eligible for scheduling, to instruct a subset of the terminals to perform the blind search. We propose two schemes to implement our idea and we investigate their performances via system simulations.
Prevalence of depressed mood versus anhedonia in older persons: implications for clinical practice

ABSTRACT Precision medicine approaches to depression argue for the assessment of individual client profiles of the two major diagnostic criteria of depressed mood and anhedonia. To explore this suggestion, 1,513 males and 1,348 females aged between 55 and 87 years from Newcastle, Australia, completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CESD). Total CESD score and the two sets of scores gradually increased with age; females had significantly higher scores on total CESD and the two subsets of scores. Anhedonia showed greater prevalence than depressed mood and also increased from age 70 years, whereas depressed mood remained fairly stable until age 80 years. Treatment efficacy for depression may benefit from consideration of individual client profiles on these two aspects of depression.
Bartering Books to Beers: A Recommender System for Exchange Platforms

Bartering is a timeless practice that is becoming increasingly popular on the Web. Recommending trades for an online bartering platform shares many similarities with traditional approaches to recommendation, in particular the need to model the preferences of users and the properties of the items they consume. However, there are several aspects that make bartering problems interesting and challenging, specifically the fact that users are both suppliers and consumers, and that the trading environment is highly dynamic. Thus, a successful model of bartering requires us to understand not just users' preferences, but also the social dynamics of who trades with whom, and the temporal dynamics of when trades occur. We propose new models for bartering-based recommendation, for which we introduce three novel datasets from online bartering platforms. Surprisingly, we find that existing methods (based on matching algorithms) perform poorly on real-world platforms, as they rely on idealized assumptions that are not supported by real bartering data. We develop approaches based on Matrix Factorization in order to model the reciprocal interest between users and each other's items. We also find that the social ties between members have a strong influence, as does the time at which they trade, therefore we extend our model to be socially- and temporally-aware. We evaluate our approach on trades covering books, video games, and beers, where we obtain promising empirical performance compared to existing techniques.
Emerging Role of Spinal Cord TRPV1 in Pain Exacerbation

TRPV1 is well known as a sensor ion channel that transduces a potentially harmful environment into electrical depolarization of the peripheral terminal of the nociceptive primary afferents. Although TRPV1 is also expressed in central regions of the nervous system, its roles in the area remain unclear. A series of recent reports on the spinal cord synapses have provided evidence that TRPV1 plays an important role in synaptic transmission in the pain pathway. Particularly, in pathologic pain states, TRPV1 in the central terminal of sensory neurons and interneurons is suggested to commonly contribute to pain exacerbation. These observations may lead to insights regarding novel synaptic mechanisms revealing veiled roles of spinal cord TRPV1 and may offer another opportunity to modulate pathological pain by controlling TRPV1. In this review, we introduce historical perspectives of this view and details of the recent promising results. We also focus on extended issues and unsolved problems to fully understand the role of TRPV1 in pathological pain. Together with recent findings, further efforts for fine analysis of TRPV1's plastic roles in pain synapses at different levels in the central nervous system will promote a better understanding of pathologic pain mechanisms and assist in developing novel analgesic strategies.
A novel, conformation‐specific allosteric inhibitor of the tachykinin NK2 receptor (NK2R) with functionally selective properties

The orthosteric agonist neurokinin A (NKA) interacts with the tachykinin NK2 receptors (NK2Rs) via an apparent sequential binding process, which stabilizes the receptor in at least two different active conformations (A1L and A2L). The A1L conformation exhibits fast NKA dissociation kinetics and triggers intracellular calcium elevation;the A2L conformation exhibits slow NKA dissociation kinetics and triggers cAMP production. The new compound LPI805 is a partial and noncompetitive inhibitor of NKA binding to NK2Rs. Analysis of NKA dissociation in the presence of LPI805 suggests that LPI805 decreases the number of NKA‐NK2R complexes in A2L conformation while increasing those in the A1L conformation. Analysis of signaling pathways of NK2Rs shows that LPI805 dramatically inhibits the NKA‐induced cAMP response while slightly enhancing the NKA‐induced calcium response. Analysis of NKA association kinetics reveals that LPI805 promotes strong and specific destabilization of the NKA‐NK2R complexes in the A2L conformation whereas access of NKA to the A1L conformations is unchanged. Thus, to our knowledge, LPI805 is the first example of a conformation‐specific allosteric antagonist of a G‐protein‐coupled receptor. This work establishes the use of allosteric modulators in order to promote functional selectivity on certain agonist‐receptor interactions. –Maillet E. L. , Pellegrini, N. , Valant, C. , Bucher, B. , Hibert, M. , Bourguignon J‐J., Galzi J‐L. A novel, conformation‐specific allosteric inhibitor of the tachykinin NK2 receptor (NK2R) with functionally selective properties. FASEB J. 21, 2124–2134 (2007)