Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness of the Functioning of One's Own Limbs Mediated by the Insular Cortex?

Normally, we are aware of the current functions of our arms and legs. However, this self-evident status may change dramatically after brain damage. Some patients with “anosognosia” typically are convinced that their limbs function normally, although they have obvious motor defects after stroke. Such patients may experience their own paretic limbs as strange or as not belonging to them and may even attribute ownership to another person and try to push their paralyzed limb out of bed. These odd beliefs have been attributed to disturbances somewhere in the right hemisphere. Here, we use lesion mapping in 27 stroke patients to show that the right posterior insula is commonly damaged in patients with anosognosia for hemiplegia/hemiparesis but is significantly less involved in hemiplegic/hemiparetic patients without anosognosia. The function of the posterior insular cortex has been controversially discussed. Recent neuroimaging results in healthy subjects revealed specific involvement of this area in the subject's feeling of being versus not being involved in a movement. Our finding corresponds with this observation and suggests that the insular cortex is integral to self-awareness and to one's beliefs about the functioning of body parts.
The ascent of man: Theoretical and empirical evidence for blatant dehumanization.

Dehumanization is a central concept in the study of intergroup relations. Yet although theoretical and methodological advances in subtle, "everyday" dehumanization have progressed rapidly, blatant dehumanization remains understudied. The present research attempts to refocus theoretical and empirical attention on blatant dehumanization, examining when and why it provides explanatory power beyond subtle dehumanization. To accomplish this, we introduce and validate a blatant measure of dehumanization based on the popular depiction of evolutionary progress in the "Ascent of Man. " We compare blatant dehumanization to established conceptualizations of subtle and implicit dehumanization, including infrahumanization, perceptions of human nature and human uniqueness, and implicit associations between ingroup-outgroup and human-animal concepts. Across 7 studies conducted in 3 countries, we demonstrate that blatant dehumanization is (a) more strongly associated with individual differences in support for hierarchy than subtle or implicit dehumanization, (b) uniquely predictive of numerous consequential attitudes and behaviors toward multiple outgroup targets, (c) predictive above prejudice, and (d) reliable over time. Finally, we show that blatant-but not subtle-dehumanization spikes immediately after incidents of real intergroup violence and strongly predicts support for aggressive actions like torture and retaliatory violence (after the Boston Marathon bombings and Woolwich attacks in England). This research extends theory on the role of dehumanization in intergroup relations and intergroup conflict and provides an intuitive, validated empirical tool to reliably measure blatant dehumanization.
Calculation of Lightning-Induced Voltages on Overhead Multiconductor Systems

A computer program has been developed for numerically analyzing lightning- induced voltages on multiconductor lines. Thi. s program can be used to clarify the effects of lightning arresters and overhead ground wires on lightning-induced voltages, which has not before been possible, anid is potentiaLly of great uise in the lightning-resistant design of distribution lines. The results obtained with this numerical analysis program were compared to the results from an analog simulation using a 1:200 scale model, and found to be in good agreement, demonstrating the usefulness and validity of the program.
Social inequality in perceived oral health among Sri Lankan adolescents.

OBJECTIVES to assess socio-economic inequalities in two perceived oral health outcomes namely perceived oral health status and perceived oral impacts among adolescents in Sri Lanka. DESIGN A cross-sectional study where the data where collected by means of structured questionnaires to the children and their parents. PARTICIPANTS A total 1,225 15-year-old adolescents attending state, private and international schools in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka. RESULTS Inverse social gradients in perceived oral health status and perceived oral impacts were observed in relation to six socioeconomic indicators in the bivariate analyses. Adolescents from lower social positions had significantly reported more oral impacts and had rated their oral health as poor. But it was mainly the indicators of family material affluence that emerged as significant predictors of perceived oral health outcomes in the logistic regression analyses. CONCLUSION The study demonstrates the existence of significant social gradients in perceived oral health outcomes among adolescents from a developing country. Further studies to assess causes of social gradients in perceived oral health outcomes are recommended.
Voltage-Controlled Topotactic Phase Transition in Thin-Film SrCoOx Monitored by In Situ X-ray Diffraction.

Topotactic phase transition of functional oxides induced by changes in oxygen nonstoichiometry can largely alter multiple physical and chemical properties, including electrical conductivity, magnetic state, oxygen diffusivity, and electrocatalytic reactivity. For tuning these properties reversibly, feasible means to control oxygen nonstoichiometry-dependent phase transitions in functional oxides are needed. This paper describes the use of electrochemical potential to induce phase transition in strontium cobaltites, SrCoOx (SCO) between the brownmillerite (BM) phase, SrCoO₂. ₅, and the perovskite (P) phase, SrCoO₃₋δ. To monitor the structural evolution of SCO, in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed on an electrochemical cell having (001) oriented thin-film SrCoOx as the working electrode on a single crystal (001) yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte in air. In order to change the effective pO₂ in SCO and trigger the phase transition from BM to P, external electrical biases of up to 200 mV were applied across the SCO film. The phase transition from BM to P phase could be triggered at a bias as low as 30 mV, corresponding to an effective pO₂ of 1 atm at 500 °C. The phase transition was fully reversible and the epitaxial film quality was maintained after reversible phase transitions. These results demonstrate the use of electrical bias to obtain fast and easily accessible switching between different phases as well as distinct physical and chemical properties of functional oxides as exemplified here for SCO.
Inequality in earnings at the close of the twentieth century

▪ Abstract Median income in the United States has fallen and the distribution of income has grown markedly more unequal over the past three decades, reversing a general pattern of earnings growth and equalization dating back to 1929. Median trends were not the same for all groups—women's earnings generally increased—but the growth in earnings inequality has been experienced by all groups. Even white men employed full-time, year-round—traditionally the most privileged and secure group—could not escape wage stagnation and polarization. These patterns suggest research questions that go beyond conventional sociological interest in racial and gender wage gaps, refocusing attention on more general changes in labor market dynamics. The debates over the origins of the rise in US inequality cover a wide range of issues that can be roughly grouped into four categories: the changing demographics of the labor force, the impact of economic restructuring, the role of political context and institutions, and the dynamics.
Towards a Roadmap for the Research in Music Technology

In this article I give a personal view on what could be a roadmap for the research in Music Technology. I will describe the context of this research, the current state of the art, the challenges that lie ahead and I will conclude with some strategies to face those challenges. Given that to write a roadmap for a given discipline is a very challenging task that can only be the result of wide discussion within its research community with this article my only goal is to help start that discussion.
Loss of Cav1.3 Channels Reveals the Critical Role of L-Type and BK Channel Coupling in Pacemaking Mouse Adrenal Chromaffin Cells

We studied wild-type (WT) and Cav1.3−/− mouse chromaffin cells (MCCs) with the aim to determine the isoform of L-type Ca2+ channel (LTCC) and BK channels that underlie the pacemaker current controlling spontaneous firing. Most WT-MCCs (80%) were spontaneously active (1.5 Hz) and highly sensitive to nifedipine and BayK-8644 (1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-5-nitro-4-[2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-3-pyridinecarboxylic acid, methyl ester). Nifedipine blocked the firing, whereas BayK-8644 increased threefold the firing rate. The two dihydropyridines and the BK channel blocker paxilline altered the shape of action potentials (APs), suggesting close coupling of LTCCs to BK channels. WT-MCCs expressed equal fractions of functionally active Cav1.2 and Cav1.3 channels. Cav1.3 channel deficiency decreased the number of normally firing MCCs (30%; 2.0 Hz), suggesting a critical role of these channels on firing, which derived from their slow inactivation rate, sizeable activation at subthreshold potentials, and close coupling to fast inactivating BK channels as determined by using EGTA and BAPTA Ca2+ buffering. By means of the action potential clamp, in TTX-treated WT-MCCs, we found that the interpulse pacemaker current was always net inward and dominated by LTCCs. Fast inactivating and non-inactivating BK currents sustained mainly the afterhyperpolarization of the short APs (2–3 ms) and only partially the pacemaker current during the long interspike (300–500 ms). Deletion of Cav1.3 channels reduced drastically the inward Ca2+ current and the corresponding Ca2+-activated BK current during spikes. Our data highlight the role of Cav1.3, and to a minor degree of Cav1.2, as subthreshold pacemaker channels in MCCs and open new interesting features about their role in the control of firing and catecholamine secretion at rest and during sustained stimulations matching acute stress.
Spatial correspondence between onsets and offsets of stimuli and responses

The Simon effect denotes faster responses when the task-irrelevant stimulus position corresponds to response position than when it does not. A common explanation is that a spatial stimulus code is formed automatically and activates a spatially corresponding response code. Previous research on stimulus–response (S–R) compatibility has focused on the ability to initiate movements to stimulus onsets. The present study investigates spatial-compatibility effects (i.e., the Simon effect) in the ability to initiate and to terminate actions both to stimulus onsets and to stimulus offsets. There were four major results. Firstly, offset stimuli produced normal Simon effects suggesting that stimulus offsets can automatically produce spatial codes. Secondly, onset stimuli produced larger Simon effects than offset stimuli, which is consistent with the attention-shift account of spatial coding. Thirdly, Simon effects were also observed in action termination. Fourthly, Simon effects in action initiation and in action termination were of similar size.
Effect of intensive functional electrical stimulation therapy on upper-limb motor recovery after stroke: case study of a patient with chronic stroke.

PURPOSE Motivated by a prior successful randomized controlled trial showing that functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapy can restore voluntary arm and hand function in people with severe stroke, this study was designed to examine neuromuscular changes in the upper limb following intensive FES therapy, consisting of task-specific upper-limb movements with a combination of preprogrammed FES and manual assisted motion. METHODS The patient was a 22-year-old woman who had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke 2 years earlier. FES therapy was administered for 1 hour twice daily for 12 weeks, for a total of 108 treatment sessions. RESULTS While maximal voluntary contraction level of the upper-limb muscles did not show significant improvement, the ability to initiate and stop the muscle contraction voluntarily was regained in several upper-limb muscles (approx. 5%-15% of the maximum voluntary contraction of the same muscle in the less-affected arm). A reduction in arm spasticity was also observed, as indicated by the reduction of H-reflex in the wrist flexor muscle (82.1% to 45.0% in Hmax/Mmax) and decreased Modified Ashworth Scale scores (from 3 to 2 for the hand and 4 to 3 for the arm). Coordination between shoulder and elbow joints during the circle-drawing test improved considerably over the course of FES therapy: the patient was unable to draw a circle at all at baseline but was able to do so proficiently at discharge. CONCLUSION Improvements in upper-limb function observed in people with severe stroke following intensive FES therapy can be attributed to (a) regained ability to voluntarily contract muscles of the affected arm, (b) reduced spasticity and improved muscle tone in the same muscles, and (c) increased range of motion of all joints.
Equalization and clock recovery for a 2.5-10Gb/s 2-PAM/4-PAM backplane transceiver cell

A backplane transceiver uses a folded 5-tap TX equalizer and 5-tap RX equalizer to counteract losses and reflections. A flexible 2-PAM/4-PAM CDR uses select transitions for receive clock recovery. BER better than 10/sup -15/ at 10 Gb/s and power <60 mW/Gb are measured values for a 16" backplane with two high speed connectors.
On the Computational Complexity of the Forcing Chromatic Number

We consider vertex colorings of graphs in which adjacent vertices have distinct colors. A graph is $s$-chromatic if it is colorable in $s$ colors and any coloring of it uses at least $s$ colors. The forcing chromatic number $F_{\chi}(G)$ of an $s$-chromatic graph $G$ is the smallest number of vertices which must be colored so that, with the restriction that $s$ colors are used, every remaining vertex has its color determined uniquely. We estimate the computational complexity of $\force G$ relating it to the complexity class US introduced by Blass and Gurevich [Inform. Control, 55 (1982), pp. 80-88]. We prove that recognizing whether $F_{\chi}(G)\le2$ is US-hard with respect to polynomial-time many-one reductions. Moreover, this problem is coNP-hard even under the promises that $F_{\chi}(G)\le3$ and $G$ is 3-chromatic. On the other hand, recognizing whether $F_{\chi}(G)\le k$, for each constant $k$, is reducible to a problem in US via a disjunctive truth-table reduction. Similar results are obtained also for forcing variants of the clique and the domination numbers of a graph.
A study of life time management of Power Transformers at E. ON’s Öresundsverket, Malmö

The objective of this master thesis is to review the present and future condition of generator step up power transformers at the combined heat and power plant Oresundsverket, in Malmo. The objective of this work was to prolong the lifetime of power transformers at Oresundsverket. The thermal properties of power transformer are been taking into consideration for their life time assessment. The most suitable thermal model was chosen which can prolong life to these transformers in the future. Electrical, mechanical and chemical properties of power transformers were taking in account for evaluation. The comparisons were made between different calculated models to find the most suitable thermal model for transformers.
Legal and Policy Environments: An Institutional Perspective of Global E-Commerce Adoption

Grounding on institutional theory and e-commerce adoption literature, this study conducts a cross-country analysis, assessing the impact and effect of legal and government environments on global e-commerce adoption in 2003 and 2007, respectively. The study utilizes a set of secondary data from the Economist Intelligence Unit's global e-readiness rankings. The results indicate that at the starting stage of e-commerce, the legal and policy environment was a powerful facilitator for e-commerce adoption. As e-commerce becomes more prevalent recently, the supportive government policy can still foster e-commerce adoption, but the effect of legal environment turns to negligible. The study discusses extensively the e-commerce policy and its impact on e-commerce adoption. It is one of the first cross-country studies on the institutional environment for e-commerce and the research findings have policy implications for global e-commerce development.
Quality Management in the midst of chaos : the case for strategic management in the international office

Abstract Management of an international relations or international programmes office differs from that of other university offices in that it adds the need to deal with multicultural factors such as differences in language, culture, customs, university structure, procedures, grading systems, legal systems, value systems and non‐verbal means of communication. These factors require the International Relations Manager to have a wide‐based cultural background (which implies extensive reading, travel and work with international partners) as well as enormous diplomatic tact and flexibility. The external pressures on the university's international office are examined and specific strategic planning objectives, as they apply to this office in a European context, are suggested. Quality management techniques are explored. These can be implemented to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the international office.
Early solid food diet and eczema in childhood: a 10‐year longitudinal study

The relationship between early solid feeding in the first four months and risks of eczema in childhood was examined in a birth cohort of 1265 children studied to the age of 10 years. The major findings of this analysis were: 1) children exposed to a diverse solid food diet during their first four months had risks of eczema in early childhood which were about 1.6 times those of children who were not introduced to solid food by age four months. These associations persisted when a range of confounding factors (including family history of atopic disease, infant milk diet (breast/bottle) and family social background factors) were taken into account. 2) Similar associations between early infant diet and risks of chronic and recurrent eczema up to the age of ten years were also found. It was estimated that after adjustment for confounding factors, children exposed to an early diverse solid food diet had risks of eczema which were over 2.5 times those of children not introduced to solid feeding. These results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that early exposure to a diverse solid food diet may increase risks of eczema in children who are susceptible to this condition.
Psychological success and the boundaryless career

The boundaryless career could be a bane or boon to people's experience of psychological success. This paper describes the contours of the boundaryless career and then looks at how workers will have to deal with aging over several career cycles, integrate diverse experiences into their identities, and come to terms with new types of employer-employee relationships. This introduces the idea of finding psychological success in one's life work, encompassing not only a job and an organization, but also work as a spouse, parent, community member, and as a self-developer.
Resolvin D1 Improves the Resolution of Inflammation via Activating NF-κB p50/p50–Mediated Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe illness characterized by uncontrolled inflammation. The resolution of inflammation is a tightly regulated event controlled by endogenous mediators, such as resolvin D1 (RvD1). Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been reported to promote inflammation, along with PGE2, in the initiation of inflammation, as well as in prompting resolution, with PGD2 acting in the later phase of inflammation. Our previous work demonstrated that RvD1 enhanced COX-2 and PGD2 expression to resolve inflammation. In this study, we investigated mechanisms underlying the effect of RvD1 in modulating proresolving COX-2 expression. In a self-limited ARDS model, an LPS challenge induced the biphasic activation of COX-2, and RvD1 promoted COX-2 expression during the resolution phase. However, it was significantly blocked by treatment of a NF-κB inhibitor. In pulmonary fibroblasts, NF-κB p50/p50 was shown to be responsible for the proresolving activity of COX-2. Additionally, RvD1 potently promoted p50 homodimer nuclear translocation and robustly triggered DNA-binding activity, upregulating COX-2 expression via lipoxin A4 receptor/formyl peptide receptor 2. Finally, the absence of p50 in knockout mice prevented RvD1 from promoting COX-2 and PGD2 expression and resulted in excessive pulmonary inflammation. In conclusion, RvD1 expedites the resolution of inflammation through activation of lipoxin A4 receptor/formyl peptide receptor 2 receptor and NF-κB p50/p50–COX-2 signaling pathways, indicating that RvD1 might have therapeutic potential in the management of ARDS.
Antiarrhythmic drugs: from mechanisms to clinical practice

All drugs currently marketed for the treatment of arrhythmias were developed in the absence of knowledge of the specific molecules the drugs target to achieve their therapeutic and adverse effects. Nevertheless, combining the characterisation of drug effects in vitro and in whole animal models with medicinal chemistry approaches to modify existing molecules has led to new compounds with related pharmacologic actions derived from older drugs (for example, procainamide begat flecainide). It has thus been natural to group drugs with common mechanisms of action. This approach can be useful for the clinician to the extent it allows prediction of a patient's response to a given drug. One widely used scheme is that popularised by Vaughan Williams in which drugs are subdivided into four broad “classes”. 1 The Vaughan Williams classification has been criticised because many drugs fall into multiple classes (table1): quinidine both blocks sodium channels and prolongs action potentials (class I + III), while amiodarone blocks sodium channels, exerts antiadrenergic actions, prolongs action potentials and QT intervals by blocking potassium channels, and blocks calcium channels (classes I + II + III + IV, respectively). 2 3 Moreover, both compounds exert other important pharmacologic actions, such as inhibition of specific pathways of drug elimination (both), α blockade with vasodilation (quinidine), and interaction with nuclear thyroid hormone receptors (amiodarone). These actions probably contribute to some of the effects observed during treatment with these compounds. View this table: Table 1 Antiarrhythmic drugs exert a multiplicity of electrophysiologic actions A virtue of the Vaughan Williams' approach to classification is that drugs of a common “class” frequently exhibit similar toxicities, notably proarrhythmia. This likely reflects the fact, discussed below and elsewhere in this series, that while the mechanisms whereby drugs suppress arrhythmias are incompletely defined and likely highly variable from patient to patient, the mechanisms underlying proarrhythmia are better …