Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Computational Modeling Approach on Three-Digit Number Processing

Recent findings indicate that the constituting digits of multi-digit numbers are processed, decomposed into units, tens, and so on, rather than integrated into one entity. This is suggested by interfering effects of unit digit processing on two-digit number comparison. In the present study, we extended the computational model for two-digit number magnitude comparison of Moeller, Huber, Nuerk, and Willmes (2011a) to the case of three-digit number comparison (e.g., 371_826). In a second step, we evaluated how hundred-decade and hundred-unit compatibility effects were moderated by varying the percentage of within-hundred (e.g., 539_582) and within-hundred-and-decade filler items (e.g., 483_489). From the results we predict that numerical distance as well as compatibility effects should indeed be modulated by the relevance of tens and units in three-digit number magnitude comparison: While in particular the hundred distance effect should decrease, we predict hundred-decade and hundred-unit compatibility effects to increase with the relevance of tens and units.
Thalidomide and immunomodulatory drugs in the treatment of cancer

Thalidomide has antiangiogenic and immunomodulatory properties and has recently been used in the management of human malignancies. Multiple studies have confirmed its activity in multiple myeloma, alone or combined with dexamethasone and/or chemotherapy as first- or second-line treatment. In addition, it may reduce the need for transfusions in patients with myelofibrosis or myelodysplastic syndromes. The activity of thalidomide in solid tumours is less prominent. The most promising results have been reported in Kaposi’s sarcoma, malignant melanoma and prostate cancer, especially when it is combined with chemotherapy. Recently, thalidomide analogues (immunomodulatory drugs), with higher immunomodulatory activity and different toxicity profile, have been developed. They have already shown promising activity in multiple myeloma and are currently being evaluated in clinical studies.
Architecture as a Material Correlate of Mobility Strategies: Some Implications for Archeological Interpretation

Human mobility strategies condition the purposes for which architectural features are built and the durations of their occupation. A cross-cultural study indicates that occupation duration statistically predicts the effort invested in dwellings (as indi cated by the kinds of materials used in construction). Mobility does not predict the numberof different kinds of structures ordwellings used by a group. Human mobility does not significantly predict floor areas or wall heights of dwellings.
An unusual primary sigma factor in the Bacteroidetes phylum

The presence of housekeeping gene promoters with a unique consensus sequence in Bacteroides fragilis, previously described by Bayley et al. (2000, FEMS Microbiol Lett 193: 149–154), suggested the existence of a particular primary sigma factor. The single rpoD‐like gene observed in the B. fragilis genome, and similarly in those of other members of the Bacteroidetes phylum, was found to be essential. It encodes a protein, σABfr, of only 32.7 kDa that is produced with equal abundance during all phases of growth and was concluded to be the primary sigma factor. σABfr and its orthologues in the Bacteroidetes are unusual primary sigma factors in that they lack region 1.1, have a unique signature made up of 29 strictly identical amino acids and are the only RpoD factors that cluster with the RpoS factors. Although binding to the Escherichia coli core RNA polymerase, σABfr does not support transcription initiation from any promoter when it is part of the heterologous holoenzyme, while in the reconstituted homologous holoenzyme it does so only from typical B. fragilis, including rrs, promoters but not from the lacUV5 or RNA I promoters.
Policing Terrorism: The Response of Local Police Agencies to Homeland Security Concerns

Policing has always been responsive to social and attitudinal shifts in society. Beginning with the shift to modern policing, systems of policing have changed in important ways in a relatively short period of time. Most recently, scholars, practitioners, and elected officials have called for a new paradigm shift in policing. In response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 some have called upon the police to take a more active stance in counter terrorism initiatives and move toward a homeland security model of policing, a system that emphasizes intelligence gathering, covert investigations, information sharing, and immigration enforcement. The findings from this study suggest that local police departments operationalize homeland security priorities to varying degrees. Data from this study revealed that the police agencies under study did not make attempts to move toward a homeland security focus. While none of the agencies completely disregarded homeland security efforts, the majority of agencies continued to conduct business as usual. What did change was the level of cooperation with federal agencies and information sharing. This change was fostered, in major part, by the increased participation in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force program. In the final part of the analysis, police officer perceptions concerning the ability of community policing to adequately respond to the threat of terrorism are explored.
Acute hepatitis C without and with schistosomiasis: correlation with hepatitis C-specific CD4(+) T-cell and cytokine response.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Immune responses during the first few months of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection seem crucial for viral control, but the relationship of these responses to natural history is poorly characterized. METHODS This prospective study investigated the HCV-specific CD4(+) and cytokine responses in patients with acute HCV hepatitis with or without Schistosoma mansoni coinfection, a parasitic infection with T helper (Th) 2 immune bias. HCV-specific CD4(+) proliferative responses and cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were correlated with liver biopsy results at 6 months and at the end of follow-up. RESULTS Whereas 5 of 15 patients with HCV alone recovered from acute HCV, all (17 of 17) patients with S. mansoni coinfection progressed to histologically proven chronic hepatitis. Coinfected patients had either absent or transient weak HCV-specific CD4(+) responses with Th0/Th2 cytokine production. The magnitude of the HCV-specific CD4(+) response at week 12 was inversely correlated with the fibrosis progression rate in chronically infected patients. CONCLUSIONS Patients with acute hepatitis C and schistosomiasis coinfection cannot clear viremia and show rapid progression once chronic infection is established. This rapid progression is associated with a strong Th2 response in peripheral immune responses, suggesting that early development of vigorous Th1 responses not only facilitates clearance but delays disease progression.
Surviving Critical Illness: New Insights From Mixed-Methods Research

Current advanced medical technology allows survival of critical illness. However, the patient's psychological response to survival is relatively unexplored. Interviews with 32 older adult survivors, using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Experience after Treatment in Intensive Care (ETIC-7) scale, Miller's Q-sort, and social work clinical wisdom, yielded unique and unexpected research results. Four response types were identified: avoiding, depressed, denial, and coping. Psychological agency during illness was found to be important. Participants did not reveal posttraumatic stress disorder–related phenomena predicted in previous literature but instead experienced posttraumatic growth. Hallucinatory experiences during illness were not traumatic, whereas social support emerged as a complicated concept. Participants unexpectedly revealed that childhood trauma was an important factor. Implications for clinical social work practice and research are outlined following the discussion of findings.
Correlates of Mentoring in Organizations: The Mentor's Perspective

This study examined mentoring relationships in organizations from the perspective of mentors. A model which included personal and situational antecedents of mentoring was developed, based on previous research findings. Data were obtained by questionnaire from 94 mentors employed in 7 high technology firms. Support was found for the proposed model Mentor-protege similarity emerged as an important predictor of mentors' functions Practical implications of the findings for organizations and further directions for research on mentoring are proposed.
Parasocial Breakups: Measuring Individual Differences in Responses to the Dissolution of Parasocial Relationships

A self-report measure is presented for assessing the expected reactions of television viewers to the loss of parasocial relationships. Based on three separate samples, the measure is validated and used to explore differences in how people react to parasocial breakup. Findings suggest that, although women develop stronger parasocial relationships, they do not react differently than men to expected breakup. Teens, however, expect to be more upset than adults, following parasocial breakup. Results demonstrate the construct validity of the new scale, and its potential contribution is discussed.
Whole body vibration exposure patterns in Canadian prairie farmers

Abstract Whole body vibration is a significant physical risk factor associated with low back pain. This study assessed farmers’ exposure to whole body vibration on the Canadian prairies according to ISO 2631-1. Eighty-seven vibration measurements were collected with a triaxial accelerometer embedded in a rubber seat pad at the operator-seat interface of agricultural machinery, including tractors, combines, pickup trucks, grain trucks, sprayers, swathers, all-terrain vehicles, and skid steers. Whole body vibration was highest in the vertical axis, with a mean (range) frequency-weighted root mean squared acceleration of 0.43 m/s2 (0.19−1.06 m/s2). Mean crest factors exceeded 9 in all 3 axes, indicating high mechanical shock content. The vertical axis vibration dose value was 7.55 m/s1.75 (2.18−37.59 m/s1.75), with 41.4% of measurements within or above the health guidance caution zone. These high exposures in addition to an ageing agricultural workforce may increase health risks even further, particularly for the low back. Practitioner Summary: Agricultural workers are frequently exposed to whole body vibration while operating farm equipment, presenting a substantial risk to musculoskeletal health including the low back. Assessing vibration exposure is critical in promoting a safe occupational environment, and may inform interventions to reduce farmer’s exposure to vibration.
Innovative approaches to reducing nurses' distractions during medication administration.

BACKGROUND Contributing factors to medication errors include distractions, lack of focus, and failure to follow standard operating procedures. The nursing unit is vulnerable to a multitude of interruptions and distractions that affect the working memory and the ability to focus during critical times. Methods that prevent these environmental effects on nurses can help avert medication errors. METHODS A process improvement study examined the effects of standard protocols and visible signage within a hospital setting. The project was patterned after another study using similar techniques. Rapid Cycle Testing was used as one of the strategies for this process improvement project. Rapid Cycle Tests have become a part of the newly adopted Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control steps at this particular hospital. RESULTS As a result, a medication administration check-list improved focus and standardized practice. Visible signage also reduced nurses' distractions and improved focus. CONCLUSION The results provide evidence that protocol checklists and signage can be used as reminders to reduce distractions, and are simple, inexpensive tools for medication safety.
Drosophila eye nuclei segmentation based on graph cut and convex shape prior

The rapid advance in three-dimensional (3D) confocal imaging technologies is rapidly increasing the availability of 3D cellular images. However, the lack of robust automated methods for the extraction of cell or organelle shapes from the images is hindering researchers ability to take full advantage of the increase in experimental output. The lack of appropriate methods is particularly significant when the density of the features of interest in high, such as in the developing eye of the fruit fly. Here, we present a novel and efficient nuclei segmentation algorithm based on the combination of graph cut and convex shape prior. The main characteristic of the algorithm is that it segments nuclei foreground using a graph cut algorithm and splits overlapping or touching cell nuclei by simple convex and concavity analysis, using a convex shape assumption for nuclei contour. We evaluate the performance of our method by applying it to a library of publicly-available two-dimensional (2D) images that were hand-labeled by experts. Our algorithm yields a substantial quantitative improvement over other methods for this benchmark. For example, our method achieves a decrease of 3.2 in the Hausdorff distance and an decrease of 1.8 per slice in the merged nuclei error.
Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty Complication Rates in Northern Illinois

A paucity of population-based data exist which describe the rapid growth of revision total knee arthroplasties, changes in patient characteristics, or the association of hospital volume with complication rates. We analyzed whether inpatient complications for 2986 revision knee arthroplasties done on patients admitted to 63 hospitals in northern Illinois from 1993-1999 were correlated with volume of revision total knee arthroplasties. Coded complication rates for hospitals with less than seven, seven to 14, or greater than 14 annual procedures were compared using logistic regression to control for clinical and demographic characteristics of patients, hospital teaching status, and the proportion of the hospitals’ patients discharged to rehabilitation facilities. Revision total knee arthroplasties increased 59%, and the overall complication rate declined from 9.3% during 1993-1996 to 7.3% during 1997-1999 (p = .04). When compared with the lowest volume hospitals, medium-volume hospitals had higher complication rates, whereas the highest volume hospitals were not significantly different. The absence of volume-outcome effects may be related to the relatively high volume of primary knee arthroplasties done at almost all area hospitals, surgeon group coverage across multiple hospitals, and the small annual number of revision total knee arthroplasties done during these years.
Effects of personal values, perceived surveillance, and task labels on task preference: The ideology of turning play into work.

Case Western Reserve UniversityIn Experiment 1, subjects who endorsed the work ethic spent more free-choicetime performing the target activity that had been labeled as "work" than didsubjects who opposed the work ethic The effect was eliminated or reversed if theactivity had been labeled as a leisure pastime. Experiment 2 demonstrated thatthe relation between personal values and task preference was mediated in somesubjects by a belief that the experimenter would know what they did, whereas othersubjects seemed unaffected by that belief. Implications for intrinsic motivation andfor attitude-behavior consistency are discussed In particular, "turning play intowork" by means of explicit labels may increase intrinsic motivation among personswho truly value work.
Outcomes of Voice Training in Clients with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neuromuscular disease in Australia with over 300,000 adults affected. This paper explores (a) the best way to market speech pathology services for people with PD, (b) whether group voice training is as effective as individual voice training, (c) whether nonintensive voice training produces significant change in measures of maximum phonation duration (MPD), phonation pitch range, loudness in sentences, paragraph reading, and in monologue, (d) whether carryover effect outside the training session exist, and (e) whether improved voice loudness is sustained for a period of time with minimal follow-up training session. The study design is a post hoc analysis of preliminary data collected from ongoing clinical services. We measured MPD in seconds at natural pitch, lowest and highest sustained pitch, MPD pitch range in hertz, and loudness in decibels for MPD, sentence and paragraph reading, and monologue. We found educating the PD support group resulted in improving referrals to the speech pathology service. Overall outcomes on paired sample T-test for Group 1 and Group 3 were significant (p <0.05) but Group 2 was not significant. Generalization outside the clinical sessions was reported incidentally by client's carers. We conclude that providing nonintense (weekly) voice training program in a group is effective and should be considered as an alternative to the well-established intense (4 times a week) Lee Silverman Voice Training (LSVT) program.
Two-Way Incremental Relaying With Symbol-Based Network Coding: Performance Analysis and Optimal Thresholds

In this paper, we investigate the signal-to-noise ratio-based incremental relaying scheme for a two-way relay channel (TWRC) with symbol-based network coding. Under the assumption of error propagation from the relay to the destination, we analyze the performance of the system in terms of the end-to-end symbol error rate (SER), the average spectral efficiency (ASE), the outage probability, the asymptotic behavior, and the diversity order for ${M}$ -ary phase-shift keying modulation. All of these performance measures depend on a single threshold employed by the destination. By optimizing this threshold with respect to two different performance measures, we attain two different incremental relaying schemes: 1) the SER-optimal scheme that minimizes the end-to-end SER and 2) the ASE-constrained scheme that minimizes the end-to-end SER under an ASE constraint for the TWRC. In all cases, we derive closed-form expressions for the performance measures and the optimal thresholds. The asymptotic analysis of the system shows that both the SER-optimal and ASE-constrained schemes achieve the full diversity gain at both transceivers. Moreover, both of the schemes are optimal in the sense of the asymptotic ASE. We also propose a class of thresholds that are independent of the network geometry and asymptotically perform the same as the optimal thresholds.
Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – A Brain Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study

Background: Impaired cognitive control in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be related to a prefrontal cortical glutamatergic deficit. We assessed the glutamate level in the left and the right midfrontal region including the anterior cingulate cortex in adults with ADHD and healthy controls. Methods: Twenty-nine adults with ADHD and 38 healthy controls were included. We used Proton Magnetic Resonance Imaging with single voxel point-resolved spectroscopy to measure the ratio of glutamate to creatine (Glu/Cre) in the left and the right midfrontal region in the two groups. Results: The ADHD group showed a significant reduction of Glu/Cre in the left midfrontal region compared to the controls. Conclusion: The reduction of Glu/Cre in the left midfrontal region in the ADHD group may reflect a glutamatergic deficit in prefrontal neuronal circuitry in adults with ADHD, resulting in problems with cognitive control.
Model Order Selection Based on Information Theoretic Criteria: Design of the Penalty

Information theoretic criteria (ITC) have been widely adopted in engineering and statistics for selecting among an ordered set of candidate models the one that better fits the observed sample data. The selected model minimizes a penalized likelihood metric, where the penalty is determined by the criterion adopted. While rules for choosing a penalty that guarantees a consistent estimate of the model order are known, theoretical tools for its design with finite samples have never been provided in a general setting. In this paper, we study model order selection for finite samples under a design perspective, focusing on the generalized information criterion (GIC), which embraces the most common ITC. The theory is general, and as case studies we consider: a) the problem of estimating the number of signals embedded in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) by using multiple sensors; b) model selection for the general linear model (GLM), which includes, e.g., the problem of estimating the number of sinusoids in AWGN. The analysis reveals a trade-off between the probabilities of overestimating and underestimating the order of the model. We then propose to design the GIC penalty to minimize underestimation while keeping the overestimation probability below a specified level. For the considered problems this method leads to analytical derivation of the optimal penalty for a given sample size. A performance comparison between the penalty optimized GIC and common AIC and BIC is provided, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed design strategy.
Psychiatric symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus: an update.

&NA; Twenty‐one studies on the prevalence and type of psychiatric symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are reviewed and evaluated. Substantial differences in prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in SLE‐patients (from 17%‐71%) have been reported. Of the investigated methodological aspects, differences in assessment techniques appeared to be the main source of the variability in findings. Although various types of psychiatric symptoms have been observed, depression is most frequently reported. There was no consistent relationship between the occurrence of psychiatric symptoms and other symptoms of SLE. However, the data suggest an association with (the patient's perception of) illness severity and with the experience of psychosocial stressors. Studies applying control groups (patients with other chronic diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis) showed striking similarities between both patient groups with respect to prevalence and type of psychiatric symptoms. There is some evidence, however, indicating that a small proportion of the psychiatric symptomatology, in particular psychosis, is related to neurological dysfunction in SLE.
Increasing Prose Recall of Learning Disabled and Reading Disabled Students Via Spatial Organizers.

ABSTRACTSixty-eight learning disabled and reading disabled junior high school-aged youths participated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, learners were required to study either a spatially organized illustration or a randomized (list format) illustration prior to hearing a related prose passage. Illustrations contained both mimetic (representational) symbols and referent labels. In Experiment 2, learners were required to study either spatially organized illustrations with or without mimetic symbols or randomized illustrations with or without mimetic symbols. All students were asked to recall the passage information and reconstruct the illustration. Results from both experiments indicated that spatially organized illustrations facilitated recall of related prose content and that the mimetic symbol illustration groups outperformed the labels groups. Results are discussed in terms of instructional variables for mildly handicapped youths.