Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repeated noninvasive stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reveals cumulative amplification of pleasant compared to unpleasant scene processing: A single subject pilot study

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a major hub of the reward system and has been shown to activate specifically in response to pleasant / rewarding stimuli. Previous studies demonstrate enhanced pleasant cue reactivity after single applications of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the vmPFC. Here we present a pilot case study in which we assess the cumulative impact of multiple consecutive vmPFC-tDCS sessions on the processing of visual emotional stimuli in an event-related MEG recording design. The results point to stable modulation of increased positivity biases (pleasant > unpleasant stimulus signal strength) after excitatory vmPFC stimulation and a reversed pattern (pleasant < unpleasant) after inhibitory stimulation across five consecutive tDCS sessions. Moreover, cumulative effects of these emotional bias modulations were observable for several source-localized spatio-temporal clusters, suggesting an increase in modulatory efficiency by repeated tDCS sessions. This pilot study provides evidence for improvements in the effectiveness and utility of a novel tDCS paradigm in the context of emotional processing.
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of photoreceptor tuning for prey capture in larval zebrafish

In the eye, the function of same-type photoreceptors must be regionally adjusted to process a highly asymmetrical natural visual world. Here we show that UV-cones in the larval zebrafish area temporalis are specifically tuned for UV-bright prey capture in their upper frontal visual field, which uses the signal from a single cone at a time. For this, UV-detection efficiency is regionally boosted 42-fold. Next, in vivo 2-photon imaging, transcriptomics and computational modelling reveal that these cones use an elevated baseline of synaptic calcium to facilitate the encoding of bright objects, which in turn results from expressional tuning of phototransduction genes. Finally, this signal is further accentuated at the level of glutamate release driving retinal networks. These regional differences tally with variations between peripheral and foveal cones in primates and hint at a common mechanistic origin. Together, our results highlight a rich mechanistic toolkit for the tuning of neurons.
Inversion of Large-scale ZTEM Data

Summary As the number of near surface deposits decreases, it becomes increasingly important to develop geophysical techniques to image at depth. Because of the penetration advantage of plane wave natural sources, these techniques are ideal to answer questions about the deep subsurface to the earth. A ZTEM survey is an airborne electromagnetic survey which records the vertical magnetic field that result from natural sources. The data are transfer functions that relate the local vertical field to orthogonal horizontal fields measured at a reference station on the ground. While the airborne nature of the survey means that large survey areas can be surveyed quickly and economically, the high number of cells required to discretize the entire survey area at reasonable resolution can make the computational costs of inverting the entire data set all at once prohibitively expensive. Here we present a workflow methodology that can be used to invert large natural source surveys by decomposing the large inverse problem into smaller more manageable problems before combining the tiles into a final inversion result. We use the procedure to invert synthetic ZTEM data for the Noranda mining camp as well as a field data example. Both of these data sets were far too large to solve on a single grid even with multiple processors at our disposal.
ANÁLISE DAS TEMPERATURAS INTERNAS E SUPERFICIAIS EM DIFERENTES REVESTIMENTOS URBANOS SOB AS COPAS DAS ESPÉCIES ARBÓREAS OITI (LICANIA TOMENTOSA) E MANGUEIRA (MANGIFERA INDICA) EM CUIABÁ - MT

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a temperatura interna e superficial em diferentes superfícies de revestimentos urbanos (solo, concreto e asfalto), sob as copas das espécies arbóreas oiti (Licania tomentosa) e mangueira (Mangifera indica), nos períodos quenteseco e quente-úmido de 2015 na cidade de Cuiabá-MT. Como referencial para comparação foi utilizado um local sem sombreamento com esses mesmos revestimentos. Foram coletados dados de temperatura interna e superficial dos revestimentos, temperatura e umidade relativa do ar nos três ambientes (oiti, mangueira e sem sombreamento) e em três diferentes horários: 8h, 14h e 20h. Os resultados indicam que os revestimentos sob a copa da espécie arbórea mangueira obtiveram os melhores desempenhos térmicos internos. O solo foi o material que obteve o melhor desempenho térmico internamente nos dois períodos e superficialmente no período quente-úmido. Portanto é notório a importância dos estudos desenvolvidos nas áreas urbanas sobre a mitigação da arborização em proporcionar melhor conforto térmico, principalmente em regiões de clima quente como Cuiabá-MT.
Do more placement officers lead to lower unemployment? Evidence from Germany

"In this paper we examine the effect of a pilot project of the German Federal Employment Agency, where in 14 German local employment offices the caseload (number of unemployed per caseworker) was significantly reduced. Since the participating local offices were not chosen at random, we have to take into account potential selection bias. Therefore, we rely on a combination of matching and a difference-in-differences estimator. We use two indicators of the offices' success (unemployment rate, growth of the number of SCIII clients). Our results indicate a positive effect of a lower caseload on both outcome variables. " (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Thermal Shock Resistance of SiCNW-SiC Coating for Carbon/Carbon Composites Fabricated by Successive Two-Step CVD Process

The oxidation protective SiC coating toughened by SiC nanowires was fabricated by two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process using MTS as precursor. First, a random-orientation SiC nanowires network was synthesized by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) on carbon/carbon (C/C) composites with Ni assistant. Second, the SiC nanowires network was infiltrated and enwrapped by SiC coating during low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process. The nanowires could effectively toughen the SiC coating by nanowire pullout, nanowire bridging, micro-crack deflection and good interaction between nanowire and matrix interface. The weight loss of SiCNW-SiC coated C/C composites was 2.38% after 25 times thermal cycling between 1773 K and room temperature, while SiC coated C/C composites was 9.50%. The result of the thermal shock showed that the SiCNW-SiC coating had better thermal shock resistance than SiC coating.
Quantitative predictions of phase distributions in a circular pipe

A model for the calculation of radial phase distributions in a vertical, circular tube is presented. Both the upflow and downflow of fully-developed bubble or droplet mixtures are considered. Energy dissipation is minimised by selecting proper places for flow disturbances. It is not minimised in order to determine the motion of individual fluid particles. With this minimisation concentration of bubbles or particles in central parts of explained. procedure a tube can the be The interaction of the relative velocity, induced by the buoyancy force, with the vorticity in the undisturbed liquid motion is seen to be counteracted by bubble diffusion, and to be responsible for differences in the trends of distribution profiles for upward and downward flows of bubbles or droplets. Calculated phase distribution profiles are in agreement with experimental observations. The model was applied to increase the accuracy of predictions of bubble plug flow pattern transitions. A small tube radius dependency has been found.
Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Sizes Required to Serve Different Levels of Demand

Automated vehicles (AVs) promise many benefits for future mobility. One of them is a reduction of the required total vehicle fleet size, especially if AVs are used predominantly as shared vehicles. This paper presents research on this potential reduction for the greater Zurich, Switzerland, region. Fleets of shared AVs serving a predefined demand were simulated with a simulation framework introduced in the paper. Scenarios combining levels of demand for AVs with levels of supply (i.e., AV fleet sizes) were created. An important contribution of this study is the use of travel demand at highly detailed spatial and temporal resolutions that goes beyond the simplifications used in previous studies on the topic. This detailed travel demand provides a more solid basis for the ongoing discussion about the future fleet size. It was found that for a given fleet performance target (here, the target was for 95% of all transport requests to be served within 5 min), the relationship between served demand and required fleet size was nonlinear and the ratio increased as demand increased. A scale effect was detected. This effect has the important implication that for different levels of demand the fleet is used more or less efficiently. This study also found that if waiting times of up to 10 min were accepted, a reduction of up to 90% of the total vehicle fleet could be possible even without active fleet management, like vehicle redistribution. Such effects require, however, that a large enough share of the car demand be served by AVs.
Dietary spectrum in Himalayan wolves: comparative analysis of prey choice in conspecifics across high‐elevation rangelands of Asia

The Himalayan wolf is one of the most basal among wolf lineages in the world today. It inhabits mostly the high elevations, northwards from the Himalayas (1500 – 5000 m) in the Asian region. We conducted a meta-analysis to understand the dietary habits of Himalayan wolves and wolves of the high rangelands of Asia from seven countries ( n = 22). We found 39 different prey items reported across the distribution of the Himalayan wolf from a total of 2331 scats (average of 105.95 (cid:1) 20.10 scats per study). Comparison of the relative frequency of occurrence of different prey species shows that domestic prey consumption (48.21 (cid:1) 5.61%) across the zones or continent was similar to wild prey consumption (42.94 (cid:1) 5.25%). Small wild prey species constituted approximately (24.53 (cid:1) 3.77%) of the total wolf diet. Wolves of the Asian Highlands consumed relatively more large prey (40.01 (cid:1) 5.42%) than small prey (25.19 (cid:1) 3.85%) or medium-sized prey (23.17 (cid:1) 3.78%). Wolves consumed a larger proportion of domestic (54.92 (cid:1) 5.94%) than wild prey (36.13 (cid:1) 6.12%) in areas that had regular livestock grazing and vice versa. East, west and central Himalayan and Central Asian wolves consumed mostly large wild and domestic prey. On the contrary, wolves in the Qinghai – Tibetan Plateau, Inner Mongolia and the Karakoram consumed a relatively higher proportion of smaller-sized prey and livestock. Overall, wolves utilized mostly domestic livestock and marmots (Ivlev ’ s index, 0.22 – 0.77). High localized utilization of Przewalski ’ s horse ( Equus ferus przewalkskii , 0.94) was recorded, whereas Goral ( N. goral ) and Pika ( Ochotona spp) were particularly underutilized ( (cid:3) 0.99 and (cid:3) 0.92) in wolf diet. A landscape or trans-boundary approach is advocated to restore natural large wild prey, for such a relic lineage species and reduce human-wolf con ﬂ icts.
A 3D Deep Learning System for Detecting Referable Glaucoma Using Full OCT Macular Cube Scans

Purpose The purpose of this study was to develop a 3D deep learning system from spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) macular cubes to differentiate between referable and nonreferable cases for glaucoma applied to real-world datasets to understand how this would affect the performance. Methods There were 2805 Cirrus optical coherence tomography (OCT) macula volumes (Macula protocol 512 × 128) of 1095 eyes from 586 patients at a single site that were used to train a fully 3D convolutional neural network (CNN). Referable glaucoma included true glaucoma, pre-perimetric glaucoma, and high-risk suspects, based on qualitative fundus photographs, visual fields, OCT reports, and clinical examinations, including intraocular pressure (IOP) and treatment history as the binary (two class) ground truth. The curated real-world dataset did not include eyes with retinal disease or nonglaucomatous optic neuropathies. The cubes were first homogenized using layer segmentation with the Orion Software (Voxeleron) to achieve standardization. The algorithm was tested on two separate external validation sets from different glaucoma studies, comprised of Cirrus macular cube scans of 505 and 336 eyes, respectively. Results The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve for the development dataset for distinguishing referable glaucoma was 0.88 for our CNN using homogenization, 0.82 without homogenization, and 0.81 for a CNN architecture from the existing literature. For the external validation datasets, which had different glaucoma definitions, the AUCs were 0.78 and 0.95, respectively. The performance of the model across myopia severity distribution has been assessed in the dataset from the United States and was found to have an AUC of 0.85, 0.92, and 0.95 in the severe, moderate, and mild myopia, respectively. Conclusions A 3D deep learning algorithm trained on macular OCT volumes without retinal disease to detect referable glaucoma performs better with retinal segmentation preprocessing and performs reasonably well across all levels of myopia. Translational Relevance Interpretation of OCT macula volumes based on normative data color distributions is highly influenced by population demographics and characteristics, such as refractive error, as well as the size of the normative database. Referable glaucoma, in this study, was chosen to include cases that should be seen by a specialist. This study is unique because it uses multimodal patient data for the glaucoma definition, and includes all severities of myopia as well as validates the algorithm with international data to understand generalizability potential.
Comparison of Power Influence Factors Shaping Loyalty Indonesian Domestic Airlines

Passenger perception of the quality of airline service LFA lower than the FSA for airline passengers pay the ticket realized with relatively cheaper rates. This study aimed to analyze the differences in causality between variables expected to affect the flight of customer loyalty. By using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) this paper examines the relationship causal constructs quality of service, price, and satisfaction, to the image as well as customer loyalty and LFA, FSA flight. The results indicate that there are differences in causality between customer loyalty models of FSA with LFA. The quality of service and price together create satisfaction and encourage the creation of a good image in the minds of passengers FSA and LFA. Quality of service has a greater influence on satisfaction than the price effect and the direct effect on the image quality of service is greater than its indirect effect through satisfaction. FSA found that customer satisfaction does not encourage loyalty, customer satisfaction LFA opposite effect on passenger loyalty. Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, Low Fair Airline, Full Service Airlines
Looking for Love. Construction of Gender in Self- narratives on datingireland.com

Syftet med denna artikel ar att granska hur genusskillnaden konstrueras i elektroniska kontaktannonser. Materialet ar hamtat fran en irlansk sajt och det bestar av 20 sjalvbeskrivningar, varav 10 ar skrivna av kvinnor och 10 av man i aldersgruppen 40–55. Materialet analyseras med hjalp av nio kategorier, som baserar sig pa Pirkko Muikku-Werners kategorisering av uppgifterna i kontaktannonser. Resultatet forstarker den traditionella uppfattningen att kvinnor mer an man tenderar att se sig i forhallande till andra manniskor. Samtidigt framhavs kvinnors agens: kvinnor konstruerar sig som aktiva, skickliga och sjalvstandiga manniskor. Daremot uttrycker sig man i fler kategorier an kvinnor, vilket tyder pa att maskulinitet, trots kvinnors okade mojligheter, fortfarande erbjuder ett bredare livsutrymme.
Climate Change in the Tropics: Ecological and Evolutionary Responses at Low Latitudes

Climate change is affecting every ecosystem on Earth. Though climate change is global in scope, literature reviews on the biotic impacts of climate change have focused on temperate and polar regions. Tropical species have distinct life histories and physiologies, and ecological communities are assembled differently across latitude. Thus, tropical species and communities may exhibit different responses to climate change compared with those in temperate and polar regions. What are the fingerprints of climate change in the tropics? This review summarizes the current state of knowledge on impacts of climate change in tropical regions and discusses research priorities to better understand the ways in which species and ecological communities are responding to climate change in the most biodiverse places on Earth.
The past, present, and future of coral heat stress studies

Abstract The global loss and degradation of coral reefs, as a result of intensified frequency and severity of bleaching events, is a major concern. Evidence of heat stress affecting corals through loss of symbionts and consequent coral bleaching was first reported in the 1930s. However, it was not until the 1998 major global bleaching event that the urgency for heat stress studies became internationally recognized. Current efforts focus not only on examining the consequences of heat stress on corals but also on finding strategies to potentially improve thermal tolerance and aid coral reefs survival in future climate scenarios. Although initial studies were limited in comparison with modern technological tools, they provided the foundation for many of today's research methods and hypotheses. Technological advancements are providing new research prospects at a rapid pace. Understanding how coral heat stress studies have evolved is important for the critical assessment of their progress. This review summarizes the development of the field to date and assesses avenues for future research.
Femtosecond transient absorption studies in cadmium selenide nanocrystal thin films prepared by chemical bath deposition method

Dynamics of photo-excited carrier relaxation processes in cadmium selenide nanocrystal thin films prepared by chemical bath deposition method have been studied by nondegenerate femtosecond transient pump-probe spectroscopy. The carriers were generated by exciting at 400 nm laser light and monitored by several other wavelengths. The induced absorption followed by a fast bleach recovery observed near and above the bandgap indicates that the photo-excited carriers (electrons) are first trapped by the available traps and then the trapped electrons absorb the probe light to show a delayed absorption process. The transient decay kinetics was found to be multiexponential in nature. The short time constant, <1 picosecond, was attributed to the trapping of electrons by the surface and/or deep traps and the long time constant, ≥20 picoseconds, was due to the recombination of the trapped carriers. A very little difference in the relaxation processes was observed in the samples prepared at bath temperatures from 25°C to 60°C.
Marketing and Pricing Dynamics in the Presence of Structural Breaks: The Hungarian Pork Market

The study of marketing margins and price transmission on various commodity markets has been a popular research topic of the past decades (see Meyer & Von Cramon-Taubadel, 2004, for a recent survey). However, with a few exception these studies focused on developed economies. This article examines this phenomena on the Hungarian pork market. The Johansen (maximum likelihood, 1988) or Engle and Granger (2-step, 1987) cointegration tests do not reject the no-cointegration null hypothesis between the Hungarian pork producer and retail price series. Therefore, we applied the Gregory and Hansen (1996) procedure with recursively estimated break points and Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) statistics and found that the prices are cointegrated with a structural break occurring in April 1996. Exogeneity tests reveal the causality running from producer to retail prices both in the long and short run. Homogeneity tests are rejected, suggesting a markup pricing strategy. Price transmission modeling suggests that price transmission on the Hungarian pork meat market is symmetric in the long run but asymmetric in the short run; that is, processors, wholesalers, or retailers might take temporary advantage should price changes occur.
Reviewing Interstitial Cystitis Models and Treatments: A Focus on the Urothelium

Context: Interstitial cystitis is a multifactorial chronic and debilitating disease which is commonly associated with pain localized in the bladder region, increased urinary frequency, urgency and nocturia. Due to the high prevalence of pain in the population affected more recently the condition is often referred to as interstitial cystitis / bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS). Evidence Acquisition: Although IC presents with many different symptoms, researchers have formulated three different theories, which are not mutually exclusive, to explain IC pathology: the first is related to the alteration of the proteoglycan and protein junction composition, structure and presence in the urothelium. The second is an immune induced IC resulting from an increased number of activated mast cells in the bladder internal layers, such as detrusor muscle (DM), and mucosa/submucosa. The third type, which is closely related to the second one, is due to a sensory nerve sensitization as an effect of neurotrophic factors molecule
HARMONIC ELIMINATION AND DC SOURCE EQUALIZATION IN THREE-PHASE ASYMMETRIC CASCADED MLI

In recent years, multilevel inverters are extensively employed in high power industrial applications. This paper focuses on asymmetric MultiLevel Inverter (MLI) with reduced number of DC sources. The performance of the inverter is improved by incorporating Selective Harmonic Elimination. The focus has been laid on the fifth and seventh order harmonics as they are responsible for the torque ripples in the case of induction motor drives. Also, the impact of change in magnitude of the DC sources on the harmonics is also analyzed and the results are validated. The multilevel inverter output with reduced Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is used to drive a resistive load . The simulation is carried out in MATLAB/Simulink.
Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

This study finds the relationship between FDI and other indicators of economic growth i.e. employment rate, exports and foreign reserves with GDP through Johansen cointegrration and VECM over the period of 1963-2014. Unit root was checked through ADF test and all variables are integrated at 1 st different. The results confirmed that an increase in FDI has positive impact on the economic growth of Pakistan both in the short and long run. Our results are likely to provide an opportunity to frame some policy implications. Hence the authorities should positively concentrate on maximum utilization of resources to increase FDI in order to increase GDP growth rate.