Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial memory and integration processes in congenital blindness

The paper tests the hypothesis that difficulties met by the blind in spatial processing are due to the simultaneous treatment of independent spatial representations. Results showed that lack of vision does not impede the ability to process and transform mental images; however, blind people are significantly poorer in the recall of more than a single spatial pattern at a time than in the recall of the corresponding material integrated into a single pattern. It is concluded that the simultaneous maintenance of different spatial information is affected by congenital blindness, while cognitive processes that may involve sequential manipulation are not.
The Big Brother in the Single Parent Family: Family, Friend, or Counselor?

This study examined perceptions of ideal and actual function in the "big brother" role amongst big.brothers, single-parent mothers, social workers and a control group. In the ideal perspective, sinele-went mothers and social workers valued the family substitute aspect bf the big brother role as sigruf~cantly more import& than did bie brothers. Perceotions of actual function wihin JTOUDS showed that big brothers perc&ved themselves as doing less cou&eling activity and somewhat more family substitute activity than their professed role ideals. It was suggested that the single-parent mothers' sigruficantly stronger role ideal for family substitute activity may be related to less counseling activity in big brothers. Implications of these findings for program effectiveness and future research are discussed.
The influence of absolute cardiovascular risk, patient utilities, and costs on the decision to treat hypertension: a Markov decision analysis

Objective To estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of blood pressure-lowering treatment over a lifetime. Design Markov decision analysis model comparing treatment and non-treatment of hypertension. Participants Hypothetical cohorts for 20 different strata of sex, age (30–79 years, in 10-year age bands), and cardiovascular risk (low and high risk). Main outcome measures Life expectancy, and incremental cost : effectiveness ratios for treatment and non-treatment strategies. Results In terms of life expectancy, blood pressure treatment increased life expectancy in all age, sex, and risk strata, by between 1.6 and 10.3%, compared with a policy of non-treatment. In terms of cost-effectiveness, treatment was more effective, but also cost more than non-treatment for all age, sex, and risk strata except the oldest high-risk men and women. Incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) among low-risk groups ranged from £1030 to £3304. Cost-effectiveness results for low-risk individuals were sensitive to the utility of receiving antihypertensive treatment. Treatment of high-risk individuals was highly cost-effective, such that it was the dominant strategy in the oldest age group, and resulted in incremental costs per QALY ranging from £34 to £265 in younger age groups. Conclusions Policy decisions about which patients to treat depend on whether a life-expectancy or cost-effectiveness perspective is taken. Treatment increases life expectancy in all strata of age, sex, and cardiovascular risk. However, younger individuals stand to gain proportionately more from blood pressure treatment than do the elderly. In terms of cost-effectiveness, patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease are a highly cost-effective group to treat. In patients at lower risk of cardiovascular disease, consideration should be given to issues of patient preference and cost.
Performences of Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control and Neuro-Fuzzy Control Based on DPC for Grid Connected DFIG with Fixed Switching Frequency

 Abstract —In this paper, type-2 fuzzy logic control (T2FLC) and neuro-fuzzy control (NFC) for a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based on direct power control (DPC) with a fixed switching frequency is proposed for wind generation application. First, a mathematical model of the doubly-fed induction generator implemented in d-q reference frame is achieved. Then, a DPC algorithm approach for controlling active and reactive power of DFIG via fixed switching frequency is incorporated using PID. The performance of T2FLC and NFC, which is based on the DPC algorithm, are investigated and compared to those obtained from the PID controller. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that the NFC is more robust, superior dynamic performance for wind power generation system applications.
Preservation of Striatal Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Function Correlates with the Antianxiety Effects of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase Inhibition

The endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) plays a crucial role in emotional control, and inhibition of its degradation by the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) has a potent antianxiety effect. The mechanism by which the magnification of AEA activity reduces anxiety is still largely undetermined. By using FAAH mutant mice and both intraperitoneal and intracerebroventricular administration of the FAAH inhibitor (3′-(aminocarbonyl)[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl)-cyclohexylcarbamate (URB597), we found that enhanced AEA signaling reversed, via central cannabinoid CB1 receptors (CB1Rs), the anxious phenotype of mice exposed to social defeat stress. This behavioral effect was associated with preserved activity of CB1Rs regulating GABA transmission in the striatum, whereas these receptors were dramatically down-regulated by stress in control animals. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis was not involved in the antistress effects of FAAH inhibition, although the HPA axis is a biological target of endogenous AEA. We also provided some physiological indications that striatal CB1Rs regulating GABA synapses are not the receptor targets of FAAH inhibition, which rather resulted in the stimulation of striatal CB1Rs regulating glutamate transmission. Collectively, our findings suggest that preservation of cannabinoid CB1 receptor function within the striatum is a possible synaptic correlate of the antianxiety effects of FAAH inhibition.
Differential effects of neonatal endotoxemia on heart and kidney carnitine palmitoyl transferase I.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE The heart and kidney are both affected in sepsis-related multiple organ failure. Both utilize fatty acid substrates during the neonatal period, and impairment of oxidative metabolism during sepsis could lead to bioenergetic failure. The enzyme carnitine palmitoyl transferase I (CPT I) is important in the control of fat oxidation in the neonatal period. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of sepsis on neonatal cardiac and renal CPT I. METHODS Suckling rats received 300 microgram/kg lipopolysaccharide intraperitoneally. Mitochondria were isolated from the heart and kidney after 2 hours. CPT I and II activity were measured radiochemically. Protein levels of M- and L- isoforms of CPT I, both of which are present in heart, were determined by Western blotting. RESULTS CPT I activity was decreased significantly in the heart but not in the kidney by endotoxemia, whereas CPT II activity was the same in each organ. To investigate the mechanism of this decrease, we carried out Western blotting of the CPT I isoforms in heart mitochondria. Neither M- nor L- isoform was decreased in amount. To determine whether free-radical attack could directly inhibit CPT I activity, control heart mitochondria were incubated with free-radical generating systems. Although hydrogen peroxide had no effect on CPT I activity, the reactive oxygen species nitric oxide, superoxide, and peroxynitrite, all of which are generated in the heart during sepsis, significantly inhibited CPT I activity. CONCLUSIONS The activity of CPT I, a rate-controlling step of fat oxidation, is significantly impaired in heart but not in kidney during neonatal sepsis. This may be caused by direct attack by free radicals, suggesting that antioxidant strategies could be of use in preventing sepsis-related cardiac damage.
Blind Facial Image Quality Enhancement Using Non-Rigid Semantic Patches

We propose a new way to solve a very general blind inverse problem of multiple simultaneous degradations, such as blur, resolution reduction, noise, and contrast changes, without explicitly estimating the degradation. The proposed concept is based on combining semantic non-rigid patches, problem-specific high-quality prior data, and non-rigid registration tools. We show how a significant quality enhancement can be achieved, both visually and quantitatively, in the case of facial images. The method is demonstrated on the problem of cellular photography quality enhancement of dark facial images for different identities, expressions, and poses, and is compared with the state-of-the-art denoising, deblurring, super-resolution, and color-correction methods.
An Improved Proportionate Delayless Multiband-Structured Subband Adaptive Feedback Canceller for Digital Hearing Aids

Acoustic feedback cancellation is one of the challenging tasks in the design of a behind the ear digital hearing aid. This feedback cancellation is usually achieved by using an adaptive filter. The finite correlation between the desired microphone input signal and the input signal to the loudspeaker results in a biased estimation of the adaptive filter, which may produce disturbances in the hearing aid. Prediction error method (PEM) has been used in literature to reduce the bias effects. The convergence of a PEM-based feedback canceller can be improved by implementing the adaptive filter in the subband domain. However, a direct subband implementation results in aliasing issues, band-edge problems, and introduces a delay due to analysis and synthesis filters. In order to reduce the aliasing and delay issues, a delayless subband implementation of a PEM-based feedback canceller is designed in this paper. A delayless multiband-structured subband implementation of the feedback canceller is also attempted to further reduce the aliasing and band-edge effects. This implementation aims at having all the subbands collectively updating the fullband adaptive filter, without the need for a subband to fullband weight conversion and offers improved feedback cancellation at reduced computational load in comparison with a delayless subband implementation of a PEM-based feedback canceller. In addition, an attempt has been made to further improve the convergence behavior by using an improved proportionate learning scheme. The improved convergence offered by the proposed scheme is evident from the simulation study. The improvement has been further quantified using a perceptual evaluation of speech quality and the proposed approach has been shown to provide enhanced speech quality.
Quality Management, Environmental Management and Firm Performance: A Review of Empirical Studies and Issues of Integration

Quality management (QM) and environmental management (EM) are two business practices that may affect firm performance. These practices are being increasingly introduced into firms, which often use them jointly owing to their similarities. As a result of these similarities, their integration has become a popular topic of research and practice. In the field of integration, the highest level of integration may be achieved by means of a single, full QM-EM system (QEM) in which QM and EM lose their independence. It is therefore desirable to identify dimensions from which to assess these management practices and their effects on performance. The aim of this paper is to carry out a literature review in order to propose and analyse dimensions for QM, EM, QEM and firm performance, as well as models of cause-effect relationships between these variables. The topics reviewed are the following: (1) the QM and EM dimensions; (2) the empirical studies about QM-performance and EM-performance links; and (3) issues of integration. The review suggests that the large body of QM research may inform EM and QEM. This is so because research on the QM side is more advanced and developed than that on the EM side.
PLASMA ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY IN THE PRETERM NEONATE

ABSTRACT. Kovar, I. and Mayne, P. (Departments of Child Health and Chemical Pathology, Westminster Medical School and Hospital, London, England). Plasma alkaline phosphatase activity in the preterm neonate. Acta Paediatr Scand, 70:501,. –Rickets was diagnosed clinically and confirmed radiologically in a preterm infant at 12 weeks of age, who despite therapy with vitamin D died. Four preterm infants who were subsequently admitted to the nursery had their biochemistry followed serially as controls. All infants demonstrated a marked increase and then subsequent decrease in plasma alkaline phosphatase activity; the peak value occurring near to what should have been gestationally term. The plasma alkaline phosphatase was of bony origin. Rickets was confirmed radiologically in only one of these four infants. Rising and markedly elevated plasma alkaline phosphatase activity appears to be common in this group of infants and may represent a physiological increase in osteoblastic activity and increasing bone mineralisation in what would have been the infants' 3rd trimester of pregnancy and immediate newborn period.
Emotion in online distance language learning : learners' appraisal of regret and pride in synchronous audiographic conferencing

In the last few decades, the study of emotions has been considered essential to our understanding of social and human mental lives, as they mediate between what is personally important and the outer world of people, objects and happenings (Oatley & Jenkins, 1996). Despite assumptions that success and failure in language learning are partly determined by learners’ ability to regulate their emotions, there is no research in second language acquisition (SLA) on everyday emotions other than anxiety. Thus, we move away from linguists’ broad conception of affect into the more particular understanding of emotion by emotion theorists, as incorporating phenomenological experiences, cognitive appraisal and some form of coping. Appraisal theory claims that emotions are elicited by evaluations of events and situations in relation to a person’s goals, needs or concerns (Roseman & Smith, 2001). Roseman’s appraisal model proposes seven appraisals of an event that influence emotions: unexpectedness, situational state, motivational state, probability, agency, control potential and problem type (Roseman, 2001). We administered a questionnaire to a large number of distance language learners, and interviewed a sample of respondents to find out about the emotions they felt when using a synchronous audiographic conferencing tool for oral interaction, and also their appraisal of instances of regret and pride, following Roseman’s model. Our analysis revealed that learners overall feel positive emotions more often than negative emotions, and that women report feeling more than men. We found a stable pattern of appraisal for both regret and pride along certain dimensions such as situational state, but varied particularly concerning agency. Our findings suggest that negative emotions should not be ostracised from the process of language learning, and that language learners need to develop an awareness of the origin of their emotions (positive and negative), including self, others and the context of interaction.
24-Hour variation in gene expression of redox pathway enzymes in rat hypothalamus: effect of melatonin treatment

Abstract The 24-h changes in medial basal hypothalamic (MBH) gene expression of redox pathway enzymes nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-1 and NOS-2, heme oxygenase (HO)-1 and HO-2, Cu/Zn- and Mn-superoxide dismutases (SOD) and catalase were examined in adult male Wistar rats kept under an alternating regimen of light/dark. Half of the animals received melatonin (∼60 μg/day) in the drinking water. After 1 month, rats were killed at six different time intervals, throughout a 24-h cycle. MBH mRNA levels were measured by real-time PCR analysis. In controls, gene expression of NOS-2 and HO-2 peaked at the early light phase while that of HO-1 showed a maximum at the middle of the dark phase. None of MBH mRNAs encoding NOS-1, Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD and catalase exhibited significant 24-h variations in control rats. Melatonin administration decreased significantly mRNAs for NOS-1, NOS-2, HO-1 and HO-2 as well as changed their 24-h profile. Melatonin augmented gene expression of the antioxidant enzymes Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD or catalase at certain time intervals only. The results are compatible with the view that the principal indirect (i.e. gene expression of redox pathway enzymes) effect of melatonin on redox pathway in the hypothalamus is mainly exerted via down-regulation of pro-oxidant enzyme mRNAs.
The Adolescent Diversion Project

Abstract The Adolescent Diversion Project (ADP) is an ecological program that seeks to promote family and community support and divert youth from further potentially labeling contact with the juvenile justice system. This manuscript reviews results from three phases of research that test program efficacy, compare intervention components, and examine staffing models. The model involves trained paraprofessionals who utilize behavioral contracting and community advocacy to help families of delinquent youth. Results are then presented from the fourth phase, the current study that replicates the model and presents an empirical test of the underlying conceptual framework derived from social-interactionist/ labeling theory. Again, ADP is found to result in less official delinquency than the “warn and release” or juvenile justice processing conditions. Perceived negative labeling is related to increased delinquency while perceived awareness of youth activities without labeling is related to reduced delinquency. The results highlight the importance of the family, community, and juvenile justice contexts and their reactions to juvenile delinquency.
Spermatogonial stem‐cell renewal in the mouse

Type A spermatogonia in the mouse can be separated into five successive classes on the basis of nuclear morphology and stage of the cycle in which they occur. Enumeration of all types throughout the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium reveals that the As spermatogonia are the stem cells. They divide throughout the cycle and, especially at stages IX to I, form chains of cells which then give rise to spermatogonia A1 at stages II–VIII. The A1 cells divide in IX to form the A2, which divide in XI to form A3, and the A3 cells divide in I to form the class A4 spermatogonia. Spermatogonia A4 give rise only to the In type; there is no evidence for the formation of either As or A1 from A4 spermatogonia. Repeated injections of 3H‐thymidine and tracing the history of labeled cells to 15 days after labeling supported the conclusion obtained from morphological and numerical data that As spermatogonia are the stem cells of the testis.
Identification of a costimulatory molecule rapidly induced by CD40L as CD44H

The interaction between CD40 ligand and CD40 is critical for activation of T and B cells in vivo. We have recently demonstrated that this interaction rapidly induces a novel costimulatory activity distinct from B7 and independent of CD28. To study the molecular basis of the costimulatory activity, we have produced a novel monoclonal antibody, TM-1, that binds an 85-kilodalton costimulatory molecule rapidly induced by CD40L. Expression cloning reveals that TM-1 binds CD44H. CD44H expressed on Chinese hamster ovary cells has potent costimulatory activity for clonal expansion of T cells isolated from both wild-type mice and these with a targeted mutation of CD28. Thus, CD44H costimulates T cell proliferation by a CD28-independent mechanism. These results revealed that CD44H is a costimulatory molecule rapidly induced by CD40L.
Thermal adaptation and clinal mitochondrial DNA variation of European anchovy

Natural populations of widely distributed organisms often exhibit genetic clinal variation over their geographical ranges. The European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus, illustrates this by displaying a two-clade mitochondrial structure clinally arranged along the eastern Atlantic. One clade has low frequencies at higher latitudes, whereas the other has an anti-tropical distribution, with frequencies decreasing towards the tropics. The distribution pattern of these clades has been explained as a consequence of secondary contact after an ancient geographical isolation. However, it is not unlikely that selection acts on mitochondria whose genes are involved in relevant oxidative phosphorylation processes. In this study, we performed selection tests on a fragment of 1044 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene using 455 individuals from 18 locations. We also tested correlations of six environmental features: temperature, salinity, apparent oxygen utilization and nutrient concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and silicate, on a compilation of mitochondrial clade frequencies from 66 sampling sites comprising 2776 specimens from previously published studies. Positive selection in a single codon was detected predominantly (99%) in the anti-tropical clade and temperature was the most relevant environmental predictor, contributing with 59% of the variance in the geographical distribution of clade frequencies. These findings strongly suggest that temperature is shaping the contemporary distribution of mitochondrial DNA clade frequencies in the European anchovy.
Effects of combined pre- and post-natal protein deprivation on the myenteric plexus of the esophagus of weanling rats: a histochemical, quantitative and ultrastructural study.

AIM To evaluate the effects of protein deprivation on the myenteric plexus of the esophagus of weanling rats. METHODS Pregnant female Wistar rats were divided into 2 groups: nourished (N), receiving normal diet, and undernourished (D), receiving a protein-deprived diet, which continued after birth. At twenty-one days of age, 13 esophagi from each group were submitted to light microscopy and morphometrical analysis employing the NADH diaphorase, NADPH diaphorase and acetylcholinesterase techniques. Three other esophagi from each group were evaluated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). RESULTS In both the NADH- and the NADPH-reactive mounts, the neurons of the N mounts were more intensely stained, while in the D esophagi only the larger neurons were reactive. Many myenteric neurons of N were intensely reactive for AChE activity but only a few neurons of D exhibited these aspects. Ultrastructural analysis revealed that the granular reticulum of N showed large numbers of ribosomes aligned on the outer surface of its regularly arranged membrane while the ribosomes of D were disposed in clusters. The chromatin was more homogeneously scattered inside the neuron nucleus of N as well as the granular component of the nucleolus was evidently more developed in this group. Statistically significant differences between N and D groups were detected in the total estimated number of neurons stained by the NADPH technique. CONCLUSION The morphological and quantitative data shows that feeding with protein-deprived diet in 21-d old rats induces a delay in the development of the myenteric neurons of the esophagus.