Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect

Abstract Background Childhood maltreatment is robustly associated with increased risk of poor mental health outcome and changes in brain function. The authors investigated whether childhood experience of abuse (e.g. physical, emotional and sexual abuse) and neglect (physical and emotional deprivation) was differentially associated with neural reactivity to threat. Methods Participants were drawn from an existing study and allocated to one of four groups based on self-report of childhood maltreatment experience: individuals with childhood abuse experiences (n = 70); individuals with childhood neglect experiences (n = 87); individuals with combined experience of childhood abuse and neglect (n = 50); and non-maltreated individuals (n = 207) propensity score matched (PSM) on gender, age, IQ, psychopathology and SES. Neural reactivity to facial cues signalling threat was compared across groups, allowing the differential effects associated with particular forms of maltreatment experience to be isolated. Results Brain imaging analyses indicated that while childhood abuse was associated with heightened localised threat reactivity in ventral amygdala, experiences of neglect were associated with heightened reactivity in a distributed cortical fronto-parietal network supporting complex social and cognitive processing as well as in the dorsal amygdala. Unexpectedly, combined experiences of abuse and neglect were associated with hypo-activation in several higher-order cortical regions as well as the amygdala. Conclusions Different forms of childhood maltreatment exert differential effects in neural threat reactivity: while the effects of abuse are more focal, the effects of neglect and combined experiences of abuse are more distributed. These findings are relevant for understanding the range of psychiatric outcomes following childhood maltreatment and have implications for intervention.
The effects of lifting straps in maximum strength, number of repetitions and muscle activation during lat pull-down

ABSTRACT The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of using lifting straps on the lat pull-down exercise on maximal strength, number of repetitions, and muscle activation. Twelve resistance-trained men participated (age 27 ± 4 years, body mass 84 ± 10 kg, height 177 ± 6 cm, resistance training experience 6.6 ± 2.4 years). All participants performed the 1RM tests and training protocols either with the lifting straps (WS) or without (WOS). Exercise sessions for both conditions (WS and WOS) consisted of 3 sets to concentric failure with a load of 70% of one repetition maximum (1RM) and rest intervals of 60 s. For the 1RM test, no difference was observed between WS and WOS conditions (96.5 ± 12.7 kg and 96.6 ± 11.9 kg, respectively). There were no differences between the WS and WOS conditions in the number of repetitions per set, total repetitions and latissimus dorsi muscle activation. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrate that the use of lifting straps in the lat pull-down exercise by resistance-trained individuals does not promote beneficial effect in the 1RM value, the number of repetitions performed with 70% of 1RM, and muscle activation.
Eastern Mediterranean Sea circulation inferred from the conditions of S1 sapropel deposition

Abstract. Holocene eastern Mediterranean Sea sediments contain an organic-rich sapropel S1 layer that was formed in oxygen-depleted waters. The spatial distribution of this layer revealed that during S1 deposition, deep waters were anoxic below a depth of 1800 m. However, whether this boundary permanently existed from the early to the mid-Holocene has not been examined yet. To answer this question, a multi-proxy approach was applied to a core retrieved close to the 1800 m boundary (at 1780 m). We measured the bulk sediment elemental composition, the stable isotopic composition of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber and the abundance of benthic foraminifera since the last deglaciation. The result indicates that authigenic U and Mo accumulation began around 13–12 cal ka BP, in concert with surface water freshening estimated from the G. ruber δ18O record. The onset of bottom and pore water oxygen depletion occurred prior to S1 deposition inferred from barium enrichment. In the middle of the S1 deposition period, reduced authigenic V, Fe and As contents and the Br/Cl ratio indicated short-term bottom-water re-oxygenation. A sharp Mn peak and maximal abundance for benthic foraminifera marked a total recovery for circulation at approximately 7 cal ka BP. Based on our results and existing data, we suggest that S1 formation within the upper 1780 m of the eastern Mediterranean Sea was preconditioned by reduced ventilation, resulting from excess freshwater inputs due to insolation changes under deglacial conditions that initiated between 15 and 12 cal ka BP within the upper 1780 m. Short-term re-oxygenation in the Levantine Basin is estimated to have affected bottom water at least as deep as 1780 m in response to cooling and/or the reduction of freshwater inputs. We tentatively propose that complete ventilation recovery at the S1 termination was depth-dependent, with earlier oxygenation within the upper 1780 m. Our results provide new constraints on vertical water column structure in the eastern Mediterranean Sea since the last deglaciation.
Insufficient exercise intensity for clinical benefit? Monitoring and quantification of a community-based Phase III cardiac rehabilitation programme: A United Kingdom perspective

Background In recent years, criticism of the percentage range approach for individualised exercise prescription has intensified and we were concerned that sub-optimal exercise dose (especially intensity) may be in part responsible for the variability in the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes in the United Kingdom (UK). The aim was to investigate the fidelity of a structured Phase III CR programme, by monitoring and quantifying exercise training intensity. Design Observational study. Methods The programme comprised 16 sessions over 8 weeks, where patients undertook an interval, circuit training approach within national guidelines for exercise prescription (40–70% heart rate reserve [HRR]). All patients wore an Apple Watch (Series 0 or 2, Watch OS2.0.1, Apple Inc., California, USA). We compared the mean % heart rate reserve (%HRR) achieved during the cardiovascular training component (%HRR-CV) of a circuit-based programme, with the %HRR during the active recovery phases (%HRR-AR) in a randomly selected cohort of patients attending standard CR. We then compared the mean %HRR-CV achieved with the minimal exercise intensity threshold during supervised exercise (40% HRR) recommended by national governing bodies. Results Thirty cardiac patients (83% male; mean age [SD] 67 [10] years; BMI 28.3 [4.6] kg∙m-2) were recruited. We captured 332 individual training sessions. The mean %HRR-CV and %HRR-AR were 37 (10) %, and 31 (13) %, respectively. There was weak evidence to support the alternative hypothesis of a difference between the %HRR-CV and 40% HRR. There was very strong evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis that the mean %HRR-AR was lower than the mean %HRR-CV, median standardised effect size 1.1 (95%CI: 0.563 to 1.669), with a moderate to large effect. Conclusion Mean exercise training intensity was below the lower limit of the minimal training intensity guidelines for a Phase III CR programme. These findings may be in part responsible for previous reports highlighting the significant variability in effectiveness of UK CR services and poor CRF improvements observed from several prior investigations.
Blood urea nitrogen variation upon admission and at discharge in patients with heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes for hospitalization and mortality. After first admission with acute decompensated HF, some patients are in high risk for short‐term and long‐term mortality. These patients should be identified, closely followed up, and treated. It has been observed that blood urea nitrogen (BUN) on admission is a predictive marker for short‐term mortality. Recently, it has been shown that higher BUN levels on discharge are also a bad prognostic predictor. However, the prognostic value of BUN alteration during hospital stay was not investigated; therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of BUN variation during hospitalization on mortality.
SCU: A GPU Stream Compaction Unit for Graph Processing

Graph processing algorithms are key in many emerging applications in areas such as machine learning and data analytics. Although the processing of large scale graphs exhibits a high degree of parallelism, the memory access pattern tend to be highly irregular, leading to poor GPGPU efficiency due to memory divergence. To ameliorate this issue, GPGPU applications perform a stream compaction operation each iteration of the algorithm to extract the subset of active nodes/edges, so subsequent steps work on compacted dataset. We show that GPGPU architectures are inefficient for stream compaction, and propose to offload this task to a programmable Stream Compaction Unit (SCU) tailored to the requirements of this kernel. The SCU is a small unit tightly integrated in the GPU that efficiently gathers the active nodes/edges into a compacted array in memory. Applications can make use of it through a simple API. The remaining steps of the graph-based algorithm are executed on the GPU cores taking benefit of the large amount of parallelism in the GPU, but they operate on the SCU-prepared data and achieve larger memory coalescing and, hence, much higher efficiency. Besides, the SCU performs filtering of repeated and already visited nodes during the compaction process, significantly reducing GPGPU workload, and writes the compacted nodes/edges in an order that improves memory coalescing by reducing memory divergence. We evaluate the performance of a state-of-the-art GPGPU architecture extended with our SCU for a wide variety of applications. Results show that for high-performance and for low-power GPU systems the SCU achieves speedups of 1.37x and 2.32x, 84.7% and 69% energy savings, and an area increase of 3.3% and 4.1% respectively.
Region-specific and activity-dependent regulation of SVZ neurogenesis and recovery after stroke

Significance Recovery after stroke involves remodeling in brain tissue adjacent to the stroke site. In this remodeling, neurogenesis after stroke involves the formation of new neurons. The role of neurogenesis in stroke recovery and the role of brain and behavioral activity in this process remain undefined. Using orthogonal transgenic mouse tracing and rabies virus approaches, we demonstrate that brain regions unexpectedly compete for new neurons after stroke and that the behavioral or cellular activity establishes this competition. These new neurons synaptically integrate into cortex, and this integration is necessary for poststroke recovery. Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. Neurogenesis after stroke is associated with repair; however, the mechanisms regulating poststroke neurogenesis and its functional effect remain unclear. Here, we investigate multiple mechanistic routes of induced neurogenesis in the poststroke brain, using both a forelimb overuse manipulation that models a clinical neurorehabilitation paradigm, as well as local manipulation of cellular activity in the peri-infarct cortex. Increased activity in the forelimb peri-infarct cortex via either modulation drives increased subventricular zone (SVZ) progenitor proliferation, migration, and neuronal maturation in peri-infarct cortex. This effect is sensitive to competition from neighboring brain regions. By using orthogonal tract tracing and rabies virus approaches in transgenic SVZ-lineage-tracing mice, SVZ-derived neurons synaptically integrate into the peri-infarct cortex; these effects are enhanced with forelimb overuse. Synaptic transmission from these newborn SVZ-derived neurons is critical for spontaneous recovery after stroke, as tetanus neurotoxin silencing specifically of the SVZ-derived neurons disrupts the formation of these synaptic connections and hinders functional recovery after stroke. SVZ-derived neurogenesis after stroke is activity-dependent, region-specific, and sensitive to modulation, and the synaptic connections formed by these newborn cells are functionally critical for poststroke recovery.
Healing of dynamic concrete cracks using acrylate-endcapped polymer precursors

The occurrence of cracks in concrete is inevitable due to its limited tensile strength. Up to now, several approaches have been used to design concrete with self-healing properties. Depending on the type of damage, different healing agents can be used. In case of dynamic cracks in structures exposed to cyclic loads, elastic healing materials can be used to cope with the crack opening and closing movement. In this study, we aimed at determining the most suitable polymer backbone to be applied for the healing of dynamic cracks. For this purpose, different polymeric precursors including siloxane- (PDMS), polypropylene glycol/urethane- (PPG), epoxy- and polyester-based (PE) have been evaluated. The healing capacity was evaluated by determining the regain in water tightness of the healed cracks using water flow tests. The strain capacity of the polymers was assessed after widening of the healed cracks in a stepwise fashion. Comparison of the sealing properties before and after each stepwise elongation shows that a strain of at least 50% could be achieved for epoxy and PDMS-based healing agents. For polyester and PPG-based precursors failure occurred due to polymer detachment. The effect of high alkalinity on the degradation of the polymerized healing agents has been also evaluated with the PPG-based precursor showing the best performance in terms of degradation. and PE the highest mass loss percentage after incubation in concrete pore solution.
Effect of Stocking Density on Growth and Survival of Sub-Adult Tench (Tinca tinca Linnaeus 1758)

Three hundred and fifty-nine (359) sub-adult tench were allocated to twelve tanks to investigate the effect of stocking density on survival and growth. The experimental population consisted of two weight groups (small = 11.27-11.36 g and large = 15.38-15.44 g) and two initial stocking densities (1.4 kg/m 3 and 2.5 kg/m 3 ). The experiment lasted seven months (217 days). The total lack of deformities in the caudal peduncle in all groups and the low incidence of mortality indicate that sub-adult tench cultured in a water recirculation system perform well when stocked at a relatively high stocking density (2.5 kg/m 3 ) and fed 1.0% of their body weight per day. By the end of the experiment, the weight of the best-performing groups increased 83-90% and confirmed the hypothesis that high densities favor the growth and survival of sub-adult tench reared in artificial tanks in a water recirculation system. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed online open-access journal at
On regular simplex subdivision in Branch-and-Bound algorithms for blending problems

One of the aspects of Branch-and-Bound (B&B) algorithms is the use of an effective rejection (also called pruning) tests. Blending problems have the unit simplex as search space. The aim of this article is to study division schemes that generate new B&B sub-problems. The division scheme aims to increase the success of rejection tests and to decrease the number of vertex and simplex evaluations. In this way a division scheme improves the performance of the algorithm. (3) show that a simplex can be rejected if it is covered by infeasibility spheres centered at its vertices. In general, a regular simplex has more chance to be covered than an irregular one due to the equal distance between its vertices. Unfortunately, regular division without overlapping is not known for d-simplices, with d > 2. This work shows empirically the advantages of a regular partition in blending problems. Therefore, it is important to solve issues associated to overlap in regular division. Some strategies are described.
A Study on the Media Consumers' Behavior Related to Online Communications: Behavioral Economics Perspective

This research investigates the media consumers’ behavior with behavioral economics perspective, especially regarding TV content viewers’ behavior; how do online communications influence TV viewers’ decision when choosing a new TV content among options. We focus on quantity and attribute of comments or reactions on the online news articles. We analyze that online communications data, which were generated before the first broadcast, affect the TV content consumers’ choice for a new TV series. Here we identify a predicted utility, experienced utility and distinction bias in TV media consumption to find the effectiveness of the first viewing choice on whole TV series’ episodes. To avoid the crucial influence by exogenous factors, such as season and social issue, the test was done with specific conditions. This research found that the total number of reactions to the comments by itself positively affects the audiences’ decision-making behavior for a new TV content choice. This influence was regardless of favor/ non-flavor reactions. This study contributes to the literature on media economics and management by exploring the media content users’ consuming behavior and making a first step for finding an important influencer on the media content consumption.
Considering the spleen in sickle cell disease

ABSTRACT Introduction: In human physiology, the spleen is generally neglected, and its role is considered anecdotal. In sickle cell disease, splenic dysfunction is the main cause of life-threatening complications, particularly in early childhood with the risk of pneumococcal overwhelming sepsis and acute splenic sequestration crisis, notably. During the course of the disease, the spleen functionally declines and anatomically disappears, albeit with great individual variability depending on modulating genetic and environmental factors. Areas covered: The present review aims to provide an overview of spleen structure and function in order to highlight its role in sickling disorders. The clinical features of spleen damage in sickle cell disease, as well as complications and short- and long-term consequences, are reviewed, along with the main therapeutic options. Expert opinion: Management of acute splenic sequestration recurrence and timing of splenectomy in children with sickling disorders are two main areas in which clinical studies are needed.
Quantiles of the Realized Stock-Bond Correlation and Links to the Macroeconomy

This paper adopts quantile regressions to scrutinize the realized stock–bond correlation based upon high frequency returns. The paper provides in-sample and out-of-sample analysis and considers factors constructed from a large number of macro-finance predictors well-known from the return predictability literature. Strong in-sample predictability is obtained from the factor quantile model. Out-of-sample the quantile factor model outperforms benchmark models.
Using Mock Recall Data to Measure Continuous Quality Improvement

Continuous quality improvement is essential to firms who wish to function within a global business environment. Strategic quality improvement is often facilitated through a formalized quality management system (West & Cianfrani, 2004). Quality management systems have been used for many years in industries such as manufacturing and health care to improve efficiencies and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction (Deming, 2000; Bowersox et al., 2007), but their use in processing industries such as food and agriculture is a more recent trend (Hurburgh & Lawrence, 2003). These systems provide a way for firms to focus on customer requirements and tighten their supply chains by clearly defining and controlling their operations and processes (West & Cianfrani, 2004). Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering | Systems Engineering
A constructivist method for teaching concentration calculations to pharmacy students

Concentration calculations are recognised as a general weakness in pharmacy undergraduate students, yet this is a crucial skill for a practising pharmacist. A constructivist environment encourages students to use their prior knowledge for better understanding of theories including mathematical concepts. This study compares the use of a constructivist environment to teach concentration calculations to a traditional, lecture-based course. The constructivist method used team work to develop competence and understanding of a series of relevant questions and measured individual and group understanding. Student competence following this constructivist course was similar to competence following a traditional lecture-based course. However, students indicated that they preferred learning within the constructivist environment compared to traditional lectures.
Combination of SCX fractionation and charge-reversal derivatization facilitates the identification of non-tryptic peptides in C-terminomics.

The proteome wide, mass spectrometry based identification of protein C-termini is hampered by factors such as poor ionization efficiencies, low yielding labeling strategies or the need for enrichment procedures. We present a bottom-up proteomics workflow to identify protein C-termini utilizing a combination of strong cation exchange chromatography, on-solid phase charge-reversal derivatization and LC-MS/MS analysis. Charge-reversal improved both MS and MS/MS spectra quality of peptides carrying non-basic C-terminal residues, allowing the identification of a high number of non-canonical C-termini not identified in non-derivatized samples. Further, we could show that C-terminal 18O labeling introduced during proteolytic processing of the samples is not suitable to distinguish internal from C-terminal peptides. The presented workflow enables the simultaneous identification of proteins by internal peptides and additionally provides data for the C- and N-terminome. Applying the developed workflow for the analysis of a S. cerevisiae proteome allowed the identification of 734 protein C-termini in three independent biological replicates, and additional 789 candidate C-termini identified in two or one of three biological replicates, respectively. The developed analytical workflow allowed us to chart the nature of the yeast C-terminome in unprecedented depth and provides an alternative methodology to assess C-terminal proteolytic protein processing.
GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF OSTRICHES (Struthio camelus) IN INDIA

Ostrich (Struthio camelus) farming is a new upcoming venture in India. Ostrich farming was started in India during 2000 with the sole objective of studying its adaptability and commercial viability. Experience revealed that rearing, feeding and nutrition of ostriches were quite different from other poultry species. Out of 68 chicks hatched, the survival percentage was 58.8% up to the age of 18 months. Chick mortality below 3 months of age was one of the most critical phase of rearing. The live body weight was 3.78 ± 0.17 kg at 1 month of age with a feed conversion of 1.67 and 118.21 ± 2.81 kg at 18 months with a feed conversion ratio of 7.50. The average daily body weight (ADG) gain during the period was 220g.
The Impact of Online Advertising on Tunisian Consumers' Purchase Intention

The impact of online advertising on consumer behavior has been little studied and research on the topic reached mixed results. Our study focuses on the determinants of online advertising and the role of the mediating variable “attitude towards online advertising” in the relationship between perceived advertising value and consumer purchase intent. The results show that online advertising value depends positively on its informativeness, credibility and entertainment value. They also indicate that credibility and online advertising value affect consumers’ attitude towards this type of advertising. Finally, we show that attitude plays a mediating role between perceived advertising value and purchase intent.