Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planning Decrements in Healthy Aging: Mediation Effects of Fluid Reasoning and Working Memory Capacity.

OBJECTIVES Although age-related differences in planning ability are well known, their cognitive foundations remain a matter of contention. To elucidate the specific processes underlying planning decrements in older age, the relative contributions of fluid reasoning, working memory (WM) capacity, and processing speed to accuracy on the Tower of London (TOL) planning task were investigated. METHOD Mediation analyses were used to relate overall and search depth-related TOL accuracy from older (N = 106; 60-89 years) and younger adults (N = 69; 18-54 years) to age and measures of fluid reasoning, WM capacity, and speed. RESULTS For overall planning, fluid abilities mediated the effects of age, WM capacity, and speed in older adults. By contrast, fluid abilities and WM capacity mediated each other in younger adults. For planning accuracy under low demands on the depth of search, WM capacity was specifically important in older age, whereas younger adults recruited both WM capacity and fluid reasoning. Under high search-depth-demands, fluid abilities underlay the cognitive operations critical for resolving move interdependencies in both age groups. DISCUSSION Fluid abilities and WM capacity undergo significant changes from younger to older age in their unique contribution to planning, which might represent a mechanism whereby planning decrements in older age are brought about.
A SURVEY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR AMONG CITIZENS OF URMIA, WEST AZERBAIJAN, IRAN

Nowadays, the environmental issues and challenges, particularly "energy consumption behavior" has been the focus of attention for policy makers and scholars in the fields of sociology, environment study, management and so on. The change in the people's behavior towards the naturalist dimensions can be considered as one of the ways to avoid the damage to the environment and destruction of nature (Quimbita, 2005:1). Based on the theory of Reasoned Action of Fishbin and Ajzen (1975), it is assumed that there is a systematic model between the people's approach towards a certain issue and the related behavior towards that issue. On the other hand, scholars in the field of environment study such as Borden and Schettino (1979), Schahn and Holzer(1990), Kaiser et al (1999), and Bayard and Jolly (2006) believe that there is a relationship between environmental knowledge and significant environmental behavior. Considering the significance of the issues stated above, the present article attempts to shed light on energy consumption behavior and its possible correlation with environmental attitudes and environmental knowledge among the citizens of Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran. The research method is survey and the main tool for collecting data was questionnaire. Dunlop's NEP scale was used for measuring environmental attitudes and Salehi's Items was employed for measuring environmental knowledge. Statistical sample was consisting of 383 citizens who were selected using cluster sampling method. The results show: 1) the participants owned positive environmental attitude, 2) there was a statistically significant relationship between the environmental attitude and environmental behavior (energy consumption) of the participants, and 3) there was not any statistically significant relationships between environmental knowledge – either systematic knowledge or behavioral knowledge – and environmental behavior of the participants
Association of Genetically Determined Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 2 Activity with Diabetic Complications in Relation to Alcohol Consumption in Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: The Fukuoka Diabetes Registry

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) detoxifies aldehyde produced during ethanol metabolism and oxidative stress. A genetic defect in this enzyme is common in East Asians and determines alcohol consumption behaviors. We investigated the impact of genetically determined ALDH2 activity on diabetic microvascular and macrovascular complications in relation to drinking habits in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. An ALDH2 single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs671) was genotyped in 4,400 patients. Additionally, the relationship of clinical characteristics with ALDH2 activity (ALDH2 *1/*1 active enzyme activity vs. *1/*2 or *2/*2 inactive enzyme activity) and drinking habits (lifetime abstainers vs. former or current drinkers) was investigated cross-sectionally (n = 691 in *1/*1 abstainers, n = 1,315 in abstainers with *2, n = 1,711 in *1/*1 drinkers, n = 683 in drinkers with *2). The multiple logistic regression analysis for diabetic complications was adjusted for age, sex, current smoking habits, leisure-time physical activity, depressive symptoms, diabetes duration, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c, insulin use, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors use. Albuminuria prevalence was significantly lower in the drinkers with *2 than that of other groups (odds ratio [95% confidence interval (CI)]: *1/*1 abstainers as the referent, 0.94 [0.76–1.16] in abstainers with *2, 1.00 [0.80–1.26] in *1/*1 drinkers, 0.71 [0.54–0.93] in drinkers with *2). Retinal photocoagulation prevalence was also lower in drinkers with ALDH2 *2 than that of other groups. In contrast, myocardial infarction was significantly increased in ALDH2 *2 carriers compared with that in ALDH2 *1/*1 abstainers (odds ratio [95% CI]: *1/*1 abstainers as the referent, 2.63 [1.28–6.13] in abstainers with *2, 1.89 [0.89–4.51] in *1/*1 drinkers, 2.35 [1.06–5.79] in drinkers with *2). In summary, patients with type 2 diabetes and ALDH2 *2 displayed a lower microvascular complication prevalence associated with alcohol consumption but a higher macrovascular complication prevalence irrespective of alcohol consumption.
On local invariants of pure three-qubit states

We study invariants of three-qubit states under local unitary transformations, i.e. functions on the space of entanglement types, which is known to have dimension six. We show that there is no set of six algebraically independent polynomial invariants of degree ≤ 6, and find such a set with maximum degree eight. We describe an intrinsic definition of a canonical state on each orbit, and discuss the (non-polynomial) invariants associated with it.
Optimized Envelope Tracking Operation of Doherty Power Amplifier for High Efficiency Over an Extended Dynamic Range

This paper presents an optimized envelope tracking (ET) operation of a Doherty amplifier. Compared to the general ET/envelope elimination and restoration transmitter, it has an advantage of the extended dynamic range of 6 dB for the load modulation of a Doherty amplifier. Moreover, by modulating the supply voltage of the carrier amplifier, while that of the peaking amplifier is fixed, the supply modulator provides just half of the current for the same power amplifier output power. It results in a reduced chip size and the crest factor of the supply modulating signal is reduced by 6 dB, enhancing the efficiency of the supply modulator. The designed ET transmitter consisting of the Doherty amplifier and the supply modulator are fabricated in 2- mum HBT and 0.13-mum CMOS processes, respectively. It presents the efficiency improvement over the broad output power region. Especially at the 16-dB backed-off power level, more than 23% of power-added efficiency (PAE) is achieved. For WiBro application, it shows the PAE of 38.6% at an output power of 24.22 dBm with a gain of 24.62 dB. The error vector magnitude is 3.64%.
The Cellular, Developmental and Population-Genetic Determinants of Mutation-Rate Evolution

Although the matter has been subject to considerable theoretical study, there are numerous open questions regarding the mechanisms driving the mutation rate in various phylogenetic lineages. Most notably, empirical evidence indicates that mutation rates are elevated in multicellular species relative to unicellular eukaryotes and prokaryotes, even on a per-cell division basis, despite the need for the avoidance of somatic damage and the accumulation of germline mutations. Here it is suggested that multicellularity discourages selection against weak mutator alleles for reasons associated with both the cellular and the population-genetic environments, thereby magnifying the vulnerability to somatic mutations (cancer) and increasing the risk of extinction from the accumulation of germline mutations. Moreover, contrary to common belief, a cost of fidelity need not be invoked to explain the lower bound to observed mutation rates, which instead may simply be set by the inability of selection to advance very weakly advantageous antimutator alleles in finite populations.
Dietary determinants of lung‐cancer risk: Results from a case‐control study in Yunnan province, China

The relation between diet and lung cancer was studied among male residents of a mining community in Yunnan Province. After obtaining food frequency data from subjects or proxies, we compared diets of 428 cases, aged 35–74 years, and 1,011 age‐matched controls. Cases tended to consume slightly more rice, but less protein‐rich foods (i.e., bean curd, meat, eggs) and vegetables than did controls. The relative risks of lung cancer across increasing quartiles of meat (i.e., pork) consumption, for example, were 1.00, 0.67, 0.72 and 0.46 (p for trend <0.01). The relative risks of lung cancer across increasing quartiles of consumption of dark‐green, leafy vegetables were 1.00, 0.62, 0.52 and 0.41 (p for trend <0.01). Although specific dietary constituent(s) responsible for the protective effect of vegetable consumption could not be identified, carotenoids other than β‐carotene, or compounds in cruciferous or Allium vegetables, are possibilities.
The Structure of the Homunculus. I. Shape and Latitude Dependence from H2 and [Fe II] Velocity Maps of η Carinae

High-resolution long-slit spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on Gemini South provide our most accurate probe of the three-dimensional structure of the Homunculus Nebula around η Carinae. The new near-infrared spectra dramatically confirm the double-shell structure inferred previously from thermal dust emission, resolving the nebula into a very thin outer shell seen in H2 and a warmer, thicker inner layer seen in [Fe II]. The remarkably thin and uniform H 2 skin hints that the most important mass loss during the 19th century eruption had a very short duration of ≲5 yr. H2 emission traces the majority of the more than 10 M☉ of material in the nebula and has an average density of order nH ≳ 106.5 cm-3. This emission, in turn, yields our first definitive picture of the exact shape of the nebula, plus a distance of 2350 ± 50 pc and an inclination angle of ~41°. The distribution of the H2 emission provides the first measure of the latitude dependence of the speed, mass loss, and kinetic energy associated with η Car's 19th century explosion. Almost 75% of the total mass and more than 90% of the kinetic energy in the ejecta were released at high latitudes between 45° and the polar axis. This rules out a model for the bipolar shape in which an otherwise spherical explosion was pinched at the waist by a circumstellar torus. Instead, most of the mass appears to have been directed poleward by the explosion itself. H2 emission also provides our first reliable picture of the critical innermost waist of the Homunculus, yielding clues to the observed morphology of the core and the more extended equatorial debris.
Special issue – Hearing, aging and cognitive disorders Resting state network changes in aging and cognitive decline

Abstract Identifying the neural mechanisms related to aging in the lifespan represents a fundamental goal for clinical neuroscience. Here, we review recent advances in understanding the effects of aging on spontaneous brain activity and behavior. A large body of neuroimaging studies shows that spontaneous brain activity is intrinsically organized in large-scale resting-state networks (RSNs) associated with different cognitive functions such as memory, attention, language, and executive control. Furthermore, recent lines of evidence indicate that aging affects the patterns of correlated brain activity (functional connectivity) within and across RSNs. A common observation is that elderly individuals exhibit decreased functional connectivity within specific RSNs such as the default mode, dorsal attention and executive-control networks. Moreover, aging is associated with increased inter-network functional connectivity between RSNs, i.e. reduction of segregation between functional systems. Finally, some studies show that changes in functional connectivity are behaviorally relevant, i.e. they are correlated with a decline in cognitive abilities, mainly in memory and executive control functions. These findings strongly suggest that robust changes in RSNs occur in aging; hence investigations of spontaneous brain activity may shed light into brain processes related to aging or serve as a sensitive biomarker of cognitive decline and response to therapy.
A Learning-Capacity Framework: Knowledge Reconfiguration and Knowledge Orientation

This paper proposes a framework for understanding the process of learning capacity building at firm level. Drawing upon the literature on organizational learning, knowledge management, absorptive capacity and dynamic capability, the framework offers a window that enables observation of how organizations integrate and diffuse knowledge into their routines. Moreover, building from an evolutionary perspective it traces the relationship between the learning and the technological trajectories along the firm’s life cycle.The framework assumes that learning occurs through actions, which involve not only the cognition of individuals but also collective meaning, with the intention to change behaviours – and therefore routines – through a process of ‘sensemaking’. These intentions represented through events are defined here as ‘learning schemes’. Defining the learning schemes (through learning events) as the units within which knowledge integration and learning can be observed brings about a discussion which refers to the organization as a social structure of shared perspectives in which actions are a response to the organizational context but are based on individual interpretation, and it is the individuals who finally search for new interpretative systems.
ClassifyDroid: Large scale Android applications classification using semi-supervised Multinomial Naive Bayes

Rapid advances in mobile internet have enabled mobile applications to enter the era of `Big Data' (large datasets). Classification on large scale Android applications has attracted great interest from both researchers and practitioners. However, most existing approaches are supervised learning method which needs lots of labeled data. Their use in practice is often limited due to lack of labeled data, large scale Android applications, or high manual label cost. In this paper, we present a novel large scale Android applications classification tool using semi-supervised Multinomial Naive Bayes (SMNB) algorithm, called ClassifyDroid. Our proposed model exploits SMNB algorithm widely used in text document analysis. The approach is based on the analysis of characteristic application program interface (API), which can be seen as equivalents to the words and keywords in a text document. Namely, each application is characterized as a vector according to the characteristic API in it, with the associated frequencies. We evaluated ClassifyDroid on 15590 samples chosen from mobile market (MM) App Store. Our experiments show that ClassifyDroid is both accurate and practical, which has a better classification result than MNB algorithm when the dataset contains little labeled applications and lots of unlabeled applications.
Channel estimation, synchronisation and contention resolution in wireless communication networks

In the past decade, the number of wireless communications users is increasing at an unprecedented rate. However, limited radio resources must accommodate the increasing number of users. Hence, the efficient use of radio spectrum is a critical issue that needs to be addressed. In order to improve the spectral efficiency for the wireless communication networks, we investigate two promising technologies, the relaying and the multiple access schemes. In the physical (PHY) layer of the open systems interconnect (OSI) model, the relaying schemes are capable to improve the transmission reliability and expand transmission coverage via cooperative communications by using relay nodes. Hence, the two-way relay network (TWRN), a cooperative communications network, is investigated in the first part of the thesis. In the media access control (MAC) layer of the OSI model, the multiple access schemes are able to schedule multiple transmissions by efficiently allocating limited radio resources. As a result, the contention-based multiple access schemes for contention resolution are explored in the second part of the thesis. In order to achieve the optimal decoding at the destination node, one of the challenges is the estimation of the time-varying channel impairments. In the first part of the thesis, the channel estimation for the two-way relay networks (TWRNs) is investigated. Firstly, the channel estimation issue is considered under the assumption of the perfect synchronisation. Then, the channel estimation is conducted, by relaxing the assumption of perfect synchronisation. Assum-
Impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy on onset of Mycobacterium avium complex infection and cytomegalovirus disease in patients with AIDS

ObjectivesTo assess the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the onset of first disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection and first cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease episode in HIV-infected at-risk patients. MethodsThe incidence of the two infections occurring in at-risk patients was calculated for two periods (January 1995–June 1996 and July 1996–December 1997) using the database of the HIV-infected patients followed in the Infectious Diseases Department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. HAART was progressively introduced in late June 1996 in France. ResultsA total of 91 first disseminated MAC infections and 124 first CMV disease episodes were recorded. The incidence of first disseminated MAC infections fell from 13.4 per 100 person–years in the first 18-month period to 2.6 per 100 person–years in the second 18-month period. Similarly, the incidence of first CMV disease episodes fell from 20.9 to 3.5 per 100 person–years. Fourteen patients on HAART developed a first MAC infection, 12 (85.7%) within 2 months of starting HAART. Nineteen patients on HAART had a first CMV disease episode, 10 (52.6%) within 2 months of starting HAART. ConclusionsHAART led to a five-fold decrease in the incidence of first disseminated MAC infections and a six-fold decrease in first CMV disease episodes, although patients remain vulnerable to both diseases for approximately 2 months after starting HAART.
Quantitation of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in a competitive nested polymerase chain reaction.

AIM: To quantify Toxoplasma gondii DNA using a specially constructed artificial template as competitor in a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). METHODS: The diagnostic assay was a nested PCR employing four primers that amplify part of the single copy gene for the P30 major surface antigen in T gondii. An artificial competitor containing the four primer binding sites was made first by creating a 216 bp deletion in the native 914 bp full length PCR product using restriction enzyme digestion, ligation of selected digestion fragments, and cloning the ligation product into an E coli plasmid vector for production. Competitive nested PCR using three different quantities of T gondii genomic DNA with four corresponding 10-fold dilutions of the artificial competitor was then performed, and the results visualised with agarose gel electrophoresis. A standard curve was drawn by plotting the T gondii to competitor ratio readings against log10 of the competitor readings. RESULTS: The band intensities on agarose gel showed quantitative amplification in competitive nested PCR. The amount of competitor required to achieve equal molar amounts of PCR products is calculated by reading off the value of the competitor where the T gondii to competitor ratio equals 1 on the standard curves. CONCLUSIONS: Competitive PCR is possible with a nested assay, and quantitative amplification is well preserved. The use of an artificial competitor containing the same primer binding sites as the target enables the absolute amount of T gondii DNA in unknown samples to be estimated. In addition, the competitor simultaneously serves as a control for detecting false negative results of failed reactions in individual assay runs.
Genomic basis for stimulated respiration by plants growing under elevated carbon dioxide

Photosynthetic and respiratory exchanges of CO2 by plants with the atmosphere are significantly larger than anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and these fluxes will change as growing conditions are altered by climate change. Understanding feedbacks in CO2 exchange is important to predicting future atmospheric [CO2] and climate change. At the tissue and plant scale, respiration is a key determinant of growth and yield. Although the stimulation of C3 photosynthesis by growth at elevated [CO2] can be predicted with confidence, the nature of changes in respiration is less certain. This is largely because the mechanism of the respiratory response is insufficiently understood. Molecular, biochemical and physiological changes in the carbon metabolism of soybean in a free-air CO2 enrichment experiment were investigated over 2 growing seasons. Growth of soybean at elevated [CO2] (550 μmol·mol−1) under field conditions stimulated the rate of nighttime respiration by 37%. Greater respiratory capacity was driven by greater abundance of transcripts encoding enzymes throughout the respiratory pathway, which would be needed for the greater number of mitochondria that have been observed in the leaves of plants grown at elevated [CO2]. Greater respiratory quotient and leaf carbohydrate content at elevated [CO2] indicate that stimulated respiration was supported by the additional carbohydrate available from enhanced photosynthesis at elevated [CO2]. If this response is consistent across many species, the future stimulation of net primary productivity could be reduced significantly. Greater foliar respiration at elevated [CO2] will reduce plant carbon balance, but could facilitate greater yields through enhanced photoassimilate export to sink tissues.