Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of behavioural activation treatment for anxiety (BATA) when delivered In-person and via videoconferencing

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a form of psychotherapy, is the most empirically supported treatment for anxiety, but new research into psychological treatments for anxiety is warranted because clinical improvement is not achieved by between 20% and 80% of the clinical population receiving CBT or other empirically supported psychological treatments. One recently developed approach is Behavioural Activation Therapy for Anxiety (BATA), first reported in 2009 by Turner and Leach who identified that Behavioural Activation (BA), though recognised as an effective treatment for depression, had rarely been applied to anxiety despite functional similarities. BATA has been written as a structured protocol, based on setting goals and scheduling activities, that brings clients into contact with naturally occurring sources of positive reinforcement for “clinically healthier”, socially-valid behaviours. This study included nine single case recipients of BATA ranging in age from 19 to 52 years old who met DSM-IV criteria for a non-trauma anxiety condition, assigned to one of three groups according to residence and type of delivery: Metropolitan In-Person, Metropolitan Videoconferencing, and Regional/Remote Videoconferencing. In each case, following a baseline period, BATA was applied in 12 weekly, 60-minute individual therapy sessions. Treatment outcomes were evaluated using A-B-C phase change analysis with repeated measures. Eight out of nine participants showed significant reduction in self-reported anxiety symptoms. A corresponding significant decrease in anxiety symptoms overall across all the participant groups was shown by an omnibus/global analysis, replicating the original Turner and Leach findings that featured an older group of participants. No differences were found between the Metropolitan and Regional/Remote groups or between the Metropolitan and Videoconferencing groups which provided evidence that BATA can be delivered as effectively by videoconferencing as when delivered face-to-face in-person.
Working Paper Series Explicating the Design of Cost Systems

working papers are produced by the Bradford University School of Management and are to be circulated for discussion purposes only. Their contents should be considered to be preliminary. The papers are expected to be published in due course, in a revised form and should not be quoted without the author's permission. ABSTRACT This paper reports the findings of a postal questionnaire survey that examines the extent to which potential explanatory factors influence the level of sophistication of product costing cost system design choices in UK companies. It is argued that because previous surveys have sought to classify costing systems by two discrete alternatives, either traditional or ABC systems, they do not adequately capture the diversity of practices that exist. The distinguishing feature of this paper is that it adopts a broader perspective and examines cost system design choices that vary along a continuum ranging from very simplistic to highly sophisticated costing systems. The findings are presented based on several different approaches that can be adopted for classifying and measuring the level of cost system sophistication.
Vitamin D Supplementation Protects against Bone Loss Associated with Chronic Alcohol Administration in Female Mice

Chronic alcohol abuse results in decreased bone mineral density (BMD), which can lead to increased fracture risk. In contrast, low levels of alcohol have been associated with increased BMD in epidemiological studies. Alcohol's toxic skeletal effects have been suggested to involve impaired vitamin D/calcium homeostasis. Therefore, dietary vitamin D supplementation may be beneficial in reducing bone loss associated with chronic alcohol consumption. Six-week-old female C57BL/6J mice were pair-fed ethanol (EtOH)-containing liquid diets (10 or 36% total calories) for 78 days. EtOH exposure at 10% calories had no effects on any measured bone or serum parameter. EtOH consumption at 36% of calories reduced BMD and bone strength (P < 0.05), decreased osteoblastogenesis, increased osteoclastogenesis, suppressed 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] serum concentrations (P < 0.05), and increased apoptosis in bone cells compared with pair-fed controls. In a second study, female mice were pair-fed 30% EtOH diets with or without dietary supplementation with vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol; VitD) for 40 days. VitD supplementation in the EtOH diet protected against cortical bone loss, normalized alcohol-induced hypocalcaemia, and suppressed EtOH-induced expression of receptor of nuclear factor-κB ligand mRNA in bone. In vitro, pretreatment of 1,25(OH)2D3 in osteoblastic cells inhibited EtOH-induced apoptosis. In EtOH/VitD mice circulating 1,25(OH)2D3 was lower compared with mice receiving EtOH alone (P < 0.05), suggesting increased sensitivity to feedback control of VitD metabolism in the kidney. These findings suggest dietary VitD supplementation may prevent skeletal toxicity in chronic drinkers by normalizing calcium homeostasis, preventing apoptosis, and suppressing EtOH-induced increases in bone resorption.
Sec‐dependent membrane protein biogenesis: SecYEG, preprotein hydrophobicity and translocation kinetics control the stop‐transfer function

Preprotein translocase catalyzes membrane protein integration as well as complete translocation. Membrane proteins must interrupt their translocation and be laterally released from the translocase into the lipid bilayer. We have analyzed the translocation arrest and lateral release activities of Escherichia coli preprotein translocase with an in vitro reaction and the preprotein proOmpA carrying a synthetic stop‐transfer sequence. Membrane protein integration is catalytic, occurs with kinetics similar to those of proOmpA itself and only requires the functions of SecYEG and SecA. Though a strongly hydrophobic segment will direct the protein to leave the translocase and enter the lipid bilayer, a protein with a segment of intermediate hydrophobicity partitions equally between the translocated and membrane‐integrated states. Analysis of the effects of PMF, varied ATP concentrations or synthetic translocation arrest show that the stop‐translocation efficiency of a mildly hydrophobic segment depends on the translocation kinetics. In contrast, the lateral partitioning from translocase to lipids depends solely on temperature and does not require SecA ATP hydrolysis or SecA membrane cycling. Thus translocation arrest is controlled by the SecYEG translocase activity while lateral release and membrane integration are directed by the hydrophobicity of the segment itself. Our results suggest that a greater hydrophobicity is required for efficient translocation arrest than for lateral release into the membrane.
Electrical Transmission at the Nexus between Smooth Muscle Cells

The hypothesis that nexuses between cells are responsible for the core conductor properties of tissues was tested using smooth muscle preparations from the taenia coli of guinea pigs. Action potentials recorded from small diameter preparations across a sucrose gap change from monophasic to diphasic when a shunt resistor is connected across the gap. This indicates that transmission between smooth muscle cells is electrical, because the resistor only allows current to flow. Nexal fusion of cell membranes occurs especially where one cell sends a large bulbous projection into a neighbor. Hypertonic solutions rupture the nexuses between smooth muscle cells. Hypertonicity also increases the resistance of a bundle across the sucrose gap and blocks propagation of action potentials. Thus the structural and functional changes in smooth muscle due to hypertonicity correlate with the hypothesis.
Convergence of a semidiscrete scheme for a forward-backward parabolic equation

We study the convergence of a semidiscrete scheme for: the forward-backward parabolic equation u(t) = (W '(u(x)))(x) with periodic boundary conditions in one space dimension, where W is a standard double-well potential. We characterize the equation satisfied by the limit of the discretized solutions as the grid size goes to zero. Using an approximation argument, we show that it is possible to flow initial data (u) over bar having regions where (u) over barx falls within the concave region {W '' in its unstable region. Our result can be viewed as a characterization, among all Young measure solutions of the equation, of the much smaller subset of those solutions which can be obtained as limit of the semidiscrete scheme.
Sympathetic Activity Controls Fat-Induced Oleoylethanolamide Signaling in Small Intestine

Ingestion of dietary fat stimulates production of the small-intestinal satiety factors oleoylethanolamide (OEA) and N-palmitoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (NPPE), which reduce food intake through a combination of local (OEA) and systemic (NPPE) actions. Previous studies have shown that sympathetic innervation of the gut is necessary for duodenal infusions of fat to induce satiety, suggesting that sympathetic activity may engage small-intestinal satiety signals such as OEA and NPPE. In the present study, we show that surgical resection of the sympathetic celiac-superior mesenteric ganglion complex, which sends projections to the upper gut, abolishes feeding-induced OEA production in rat small-intestinal cells. These effects are accounted for by suppression of OEA biosynthesis, and are mimicked by administration of the selective β2-adrenergic receptor antagonist ICI-118,551. We further show that sympathetic ganglionectomy or pharmacological blockade of β2-adrenergic receptors prevents NPPE release into the circulation. In addition, sympathetic ganglionectomy increases meal frequency and lowers satiety ratio, and these effects are corrected by pharmacological administration of OEA. The results suggest that sympathetic activity controls fat-induced satiety by enabling the coordinated production of local (OEA) and systemic (NPPE) satiety signals in the small intestine.
Resident physician’s knowledge and attitudes toward biostatistics and research methods concepts

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of resident physicians toward biostatistics and research methodology concepts. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study between November 2014 and October 2014 at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all participants. The response rate was 90%. Results: One hundred sixty-two resident completed the questionnaire. Most residents were well-informed in basic concepts, such as, “P” values, study power, and case control studies; more than half had confidence in interpreting the results of scientific papers. Conversely, more than 67% of the residents were not knowledgeable on more sophisticated terms in biostatistics. Residents with previous training in evidence-based medicine (EBM) (p=0.05) and non-specialist residents (p=0.003) were more likely to have better knowledge scores. Females (p=0.003), and those with previous training in biostatistics and epidemiology had positive attitude toward biostatistics (p<0.001 in both cases). Residents who read medical journals scored lower than those who never read journals (p=0.001). Conclusion: Prior courses in EBM, as well as male gender were associated with knowledge scores. Reinforcing training after graduation from medical school with special focus on integrating biostatistics with epidemiology and research methods is needed.
Objective Imprecise Probabilistic Information, Second Order Beliefs and Ambiguity Aversion: an Axiomatization

We axiomatize a model of decision under objective ambiguity described by multiple probability distributions. The decision maker forms a subjective (non necessarily additive) belief about the likelihood of probability distributions and computes the average expected utility of a given act with respect to this second order belief. We show that ambiguity aversion like the one revealed by the Ellsberg paradox requires that second order beliefs be nonadditive. Some properties of the model are examined.
On symplectic leaves and integrable systems in standard complex semisimple Poisson-Lie groups

We provide an explicit description of symplectic leaves of a simply connected connected semisimple complex Lie group equipped with the standard Poisson-Lie structure. This sharpens previously known descriptions of the symplectic leaves as connected components of certain varieties. Our main tool is the machinery of twisted generalized minors. They also allow us to present several quasi-commuting coordinate systems on every symplectic leaf. As a consequence, we construct new completely integrable systems on some special symplectic leaves.
Network performance of mixed traffic on high speed downlink packet access and dedicated channels in WCDMA [cellular radio]

Downlink throughput results are presented for cases where the available cell transmission resources are shared between high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) and dedicated channel users. It is shown that the total cell throughput can be increased by 69% by allocating only 5 high speed downlink shared channel codes and 7 W for HSDPA transmission, compared to a scenario without HSDPA enabled. These results are obtained for a macro cellular scenario with best effort packet traffic. It is demonstrated that part of this throughput increase originates from a better utilization of available cell transmit power when HSDPA is introduced, since reservation of less power control headroom is required.
Microchemical and microstructural comparison of high performance Nb/sub 3/Al composites

We have performed a comparison of the microstructures of state of the art Nb/sub 3/Al composites processed using both ordinary RHQT (rapid-heating, quenching and transformation) and TRUQ (transformation-heat-based up-quenching) routes. Cross-sections were examined in the as-quenched, untransformed, and final size strands including Cu-clad strand. Both grain size and microchemistry were examined using a high resolution FESEM in BEI mode, using low accelerating voltage for grain orientation contrast and high voltage for atomic number contrast. The grain size is relatively large in these composites with a Feret diameter of 1300 nm for the TRUQ processed strand (compared with 70 to 160 nm for Nb/sub 3/Sn composites). In the untransformed strand electron backscatter indicated residual chemical inhomogeneity associated with the jelly-roll precursor. In the final strands the variations were much less but longitudinal cross-sections revealed the residual chemical inhomogeneity extending along the strand length. In both the ordinary and TRUQ (Cu and Cu-clad) processed strands a 1 /spl mu/m thick 2-phase reaction layer was revealed on the outside surface of the outer filaments that had an average composition of 10% Al and 90% Nb. D.C. Magnetization measurements at 12 K indicated a 1 T improvement in irreversibility field, H/sup */, for the TRUQ strand compared with ordinary RHQT strands.
Nested PCR Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in Cattle from Peri-Urban Localities in Gauteng Province, South Africa

ABSTRACT Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina are tick-borne hemoparasites causing babesiosis in cattle worldwide. This study was aimed at providing information about the occurrence and geographical distribution of B. bovis and B. bigemina species in cattle from Gauteng province, South Africa. A total of 268 blood samples collected from apparently healthy animals in 14 different peri-urban localities were tested using previously established nested PCR assays for the detection of B. bovis and B. bigemina species-specific genes encoding rhoptry-associated protein 1 (RAP-1) and SpeI-AvaI restriction fragment, respectively. Nested PCR assays revealed that the overall prevalence was 35.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]=± 5.73) and 76.1% (95% CI=± 5.11) for B. bovis and B. bigemina, respectively. PCR results were corroborated by sequencing amplicons of randomly selected samples. The neighbor-joining trees were constructed to study the phylogenetic relationship between B. bovis and B. bigemina sequences of randomly selected isolates. Analysis of phylogram inferred with B. bovis RAP-1 sequences indicated a close relationship between our isolates and GenBank strains. On the other hand, a tree constructed with B. bigemina gp45 sequences revealed a high degree of polymorphism among the B. bigemina isolates investigated in this study. Taken together, the results presented in this work indicate the high incidence of Babesia parasites in cattle from previously uncharacterised peri-urban areas of the Gauteng province. These findings suggest that effective preventative and control measures are essential to curtail the spread of Babesia infections among cattle populations in Gauteng.
Serum Angiopoietin-Like Protein 2 Concentrations Are Independently Associated with Heart Failure

Objective Angiopoietin-like protein 2 (ANGPTL2), which is mainly expressed from adipose tissue, is demonstrated to be involved in obesity, metabolic syndrome, and atherosclerosis. Because several adipocytokines are known to be associated with heart failure (HF), here we investigated the association of ANGPTL2 and HF in Taiwanese subjects. Methods and Results A total of 170 symptomatic HF patients and 130 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled from clinic. The echocardiography was analyzed in each patient, and stress myocardial perfusion study was performed for clinical suspicion of coronary artery disease. Detailed demographic information, medications, and biochemical data were recorded. Circulating adipocytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), adiponectin, adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) and ANGPTL2, were analyzed. Compared with the control group subjects, serum ANGPTL2 concentrations were significantly higher in HF group patients. In correlation analyses, ANGPTL2 level was positively correlated to creatinine, fasting glucose, triglyceride, hsCRP, TNF-α, NT-proBNP and A-FABP levels, and negatively correlated with HDL-C and left ventricular ejection fraction. In multiple regression analysis, A-FABP, hsCRP, and HDL-C levels remained as independent predictors for ANGPTL2 level. To determine the association between serum ANGPTL2 concentrations and HF, multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed with subjects divided into tertiles by ANGPTL2 levels. For the subjects with ANGPTL2 levels in the highest tertile, their risk of HF was about 2.97 fold (95% CI = 1.24–7.08, P = 0.01) higher than those in the lowest tertile. Conclusion Our results demonstrate a higher circulating ANGPTL2 level in patients with HF, and the upregulating ANGPTL2 levels might be associated with metabolic derangements and inflammation.
Comparison of Several Classifiers for Emotion Recognition from Noisy Mandarin Speech

Automatic recognition of emotions in speech aims at building classifiers for classifying emotions in test emotional speech. This paper presents an emotion recognition system to compare several classifiers from clean and noisy speech. Five emotions, including anger, happiness, sadness, neutral and boredom, from Mandarin emotional speech are investigated. The classifiers studied include KNN WCAP GMM HMM and W-DKNN. Feature selection with KNN was also included to compress acoustic features before classifying the emotional states of clean and noisy speech. Experimental results show that the proposed W-DKNN outperformed at every SNR speech among the three KNN-based classifiers and achieved highest accuracy from clean speech to 20dB noisy speech when compared with all the classifiers.
International Family Planning Perspectives Needs and Preferences regarding Sex Education among Chinese College Students:a Preliminary Study

Sex education in China dates back many centuries. In fact, the oldest existing books on sexuality were published in China, in around 200 B.C. 1 Some books explicitly described human sexual response and sexual techniques, some provided information on how to prevent sexual dys-function and others offered information on how to adjust one's level of sexual activity to maintain longevity. 2 Gradually , however, sexual attitudes began to change in the 12th century during the Song Dynasty. 3 The government began to closely control people's sexual lives and to restrict sexual expression; eventually, sexual conservatism became so pervasive that any communication about sexual-ity was considered taboo. 4 This very conservative attitude toward sexuality began to change after the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China. In the 1950s, the government began to recognize the importance of sex education, and it published several books on sexuality targeted at the general public. 5 Societal change, however, came slowly. Attitudes in the adult population remained conservative, 6 but views and behaviors among youth began changing rapidly. After the government adopted the Reform and Open Policy of 1978, Western values and beliefs about sexuality flooded into China. With changes in social ideology and in the traditional extended family structure, reduced social control and an information boom, youth became increasingly interested in sexual expression and many became involved in high-risk sexual behaviors. 7 In the late 1970s, in response to concerns related to the country's large population and high birthrate, the government established its one-child policy, under which married couples typically were limited to a single child. * 8 Because the policy implicitly required couples to use effective birth control methods, it provided further rationale for supporting comprehensive sex education. Three additional factors supported implementing sex education for Chi-nese youth: a lack of knowledge about sexuality among youth; 9 a documented desire of youth to receive sex education ; 10 and concern that youth were receiving mixed messages about sex, some of which might encourage risky sexual behavior and sex crimes. 11 CONTEXT: College students are more likely than other student populations to be sexually active.To improve sex education in China among this group,educators must know college students'needs and their preferences for receiving information on sexuality. METHODS: In 2002,students at a large Chinese university completed surveys about their history of school-based sex education and their other sources of information on sexuality.The survey also explored students'preferences …
Thermal Response Test - Current Status and World-Wide Application

To design borehole heat exchangers (BHE) for Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) or Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES), the knowledge of underground thermal properties is paramount. In small plants (residential houses), these parameters usually are estimated. However, for larger plants (commercial GSHP or UTES) the thermal conductivity should be measured on site. A useful tool to do so is a thermal response test, carried out on a BHE in a pilot borehole (later to be part of the borehole field). For a thermal response test, basically a defined heat load is put into the hole and the resulting temperature changes of the circulating fluid are measured. Since late 1990s, this technology became more and more popular, and today is used routinely in many countries for the design of larger plants with BHEs, allowing sizing of the boreholes based upon reliable underground data. The paper includes a short description of the basic concept and the theory behind the thermal response test, looks at the history of its development, and emphasizes on the worldwide experience with this technology.