Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mimicry and automatic imitation are not correlated

It is widely known that individuals have a tendency to imitate each other. However, different psychological disciplines assess imitation in different manners. While social psychologists assess mimicry by means of action observation, cognitive psychologists assess automatic imitation with reaction time based measures on a trial-by-trial basis. Although these methods differ in crucial methodological aspects, both phenomena are assumed to rely on similar underlying mechanisms. This raises the fundamental question whether mimicry and automatic imitation are actually correlated. In the present research we assessed both phenomena and did not find a meaningful correlation. Moreover, personality traits such as empathy, autism traits, and traits related to self- versus other-focus did not correlate with mimicry or automatic imitation either. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Association Between Polymorphisms of ERCC1 and XPD and Clinical Response to Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and Objective:DNA repair capacity is correlated with sensitivity of cancer cells toward platinum-based chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in polymorphisms of DNA repair gene ERCC1 (excision repair cross-complementation group 1) and XPD (ERCC2, excision repair cross-complementation group 2) were associated with the tumor response in advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients received platinum-based chemotherapy in Chinese population. Methods:Totally 115 patients with advanced NSCLC were routinely treated with cisplatin- or carboplatin-based chemotherapy, and clinical response was evaluated after 2 cycles. Three dimensions (3-D) polyacrylamide gel-based DNA microarray method was used to evaluate the genotypes of ERCC1 Asn118Asn (354 CT), Gln504Lys (8092 CA) and XPD Lys751Gln (35931 AC). Results:The C→T change of ERCC1 Asn118Asn polymorphism and the C→A change of ERCC1 Gln504Lys polymorphism have statistically significant association with elevated or descendent platinum-based chemotherapy response respectively. Conclusion:The polymorphic status of ERCC1 might be the promising ancillary marker for predicting treatment response of advanced stage NSCLC patients. The DNA microarray-based method is accurate, high-throughput and inexpensive, suitable for SNP genotyping in a large number of individuals.
Color eigenflows: statistical modeling of joint color changes

We develop a linear model of commonly observed joint color changes in images due to variation in lighting and certain non-geometric camera parameters. This is done by observing how all of the colors are mapped between two images of the same scene under various "real-world" lighting changes. We represent each instance of such a joint color mapping as a 3-D vector field in RGB color space. We show that the variance in these maps is well represented by a low-dimensional linear subspace of these vector fields. We dub the principal components of this space the color eigenflows. When applied to a new image, the maps define an image subspace (different for each new image) of plausible variations of the image as seen under a wide variety of naturally observed lighting conditions. We examine the ability of the eigenflows and a base image to reconstruct a second image taken under different lighting conditions, showing our technique to be superior to other methods. Setting a threshold on this reconstruction error gives a simple system for scene recognition.
Fast pre-authentication based on proactive key distribution for 802.11 infrastructure networks

Recently, user mobility in wireless data networks is increasing because of the popularity of portable devices and the desire for voice and multimedia applications. These applications, however, require fast handoffs among base stations to maintain the quality of the connections. Re-authentication during handoff procedures causes a long handoff latency which affects the flow and service quality especially for multimedia applications. Therefore minimizing re-authentication latency is crucial in order to support real-time multimedia applications on public wireless IP networks.In this paper, we proposed two fast re-authentication methods based on the predictive authentication mechanism defined by IEEE 802.11i security group. We have implemented these methods in an experimental test-bed using freeware and commodity 802.11 hardware and we demonstrate that they provide significant latency reductions compared to already proposed solutions. Conducted measurements show a very low latency not exceeding 50 ms under extreme congested network conditions.
Plasmodium falciparum: the importance of IgM in the rosetting of parasite-infected erythrocytes.

Abstract Clough, B. , Atilola, F. A. , Black, J., and Pasvol, G. 1998. Plasmodium falciparum : The importance of IgM in the rosetting of parasite-infected erythrocytes. Experimental Parasitology 89, 129–132.
Treatment of Low Back Pain with a Digital Multidisciplinary Pain Treatment App: Short-Term Results

Background Even though modern concepts of disease management of unspecific low back pain (LBP) postulate active participation of patients, this strategy is difficult to adapt unless multidisciplinary pain therapy is applied. Recently, mobile health solutions have proven to be effective aides to foster self-management of many diseases. Objective The objective of this paper was to report on the retrospective short-term results of a digital multidisciplinary pain app for the treatment of LBP. Methods Kaia is a mobile app that digitalizes multidisciplinary pain treatment and is in the market as a medical product class I. For the current study, the data of anonymized Kaia users was retrospectively analyzed. User data were evaluated for 12 weeks regarding duration of use and effect on in-app user reported pain levels, using the numerical rating scale (NRS), depending on whether LBP was classified as acute, subacute, or chronic back pain according to current guidelines. Results Data of 180 users were available. The mean age of the users was 33.9 years (SD 10.9). Pain levels decreased from baseline NRS 4.8 to 3.75 for all users at the end of the observation period. Users who completed 4, 8, or 12 weeks showed an even more pronounced decrease in pain level NRS (baseline 4.9 [SD 1.7] versus 3.6 [SD 1.5] at 4 weeks; baseline 4.7 [SD 1.8] versus 3.2 [SD [2.0] at 8 weeks; baseline 4.6 [SD 2.2] versus 2.6 [SD 2.0] at 12 weeks). In addition, subgroup analysis of acute, subacute, or chronic classification revealed no significant main effect of group (P>.30) on the reduction of pain. Conclusions: This retrospective study showed that in a pre-selected population of app users, an app digitalizing multidisciplinary rehabilitation for the self-management of LBP reduced user-reported pain levels significantly. The observed effect size was clinically relevant. Ongoing prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) will adjust for potential bias and selection effects. Conclusions This retrospective study showed that in a pre-selected population of app users, an app digitalizing multidisciplinary rehabilitation for the self-management of LBP reduced user-reported pain levels significantly. The observed effect size was clinically relevant. Ongoing prospective RCTs will adjust for potential bias and selection effects.
Subject Collections

mammals biogeographic histories of present-day richness gradients for Phylogenetic diversity as a window into the evolutionary and References (657 articles) evolution (497 articles) ecology Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Email alerting service here right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article-sign up in the box at the top Research Phylogenetic diversity as a window into the evolutionary and biogeographic histories of present-day richness gradients for mammals Phylogenetic diversity (PD) captures the shared ancestry of species, and is increasingly being recognized as a valuable conservation currency. Regionally, PD frequently covaries closely with species richness; however, variation in speciation and extinction rates and/or the biogeographic history of lineages can result in significant deviation. Locally, these differences may be pronounced. Rapid recent speciation or high temporal turnover of lineages can result in low PD but high richness. In contrast, rare dispersal events, for example, between biomes, can elevate PD but have only small impact on richness. To date, environmental predictors of species richness have been well studied but global models explaining variation in PD are lacking. Here, we contrast the global distribution of PD versus species richness for terrestrial mammals. We show that an environmental model of lineage diversification can predict well the discrepancy in the distribution of these two variables in some places, for example, South America and Africa but not others, such as Southeast Asia. When we have information on multiple diversity indices, conservation efforts directed towards maximizing one currency or another (e.g. species richness versus PD) should also consider the underlying processes that have shaped their distributions. 1. INTRODUCTION Recent efforts have provided us with an increasingly nuanced understanding of the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem function and ecological stability [1–6]; however, at the same time, there is mounting evidence that we are losing elements of biodiversity at a rapid rate [7,8]. There is, therefore, increasing pressure to identify conservation priorities to maximize returns on limited conservation dollars (e.g. [9,10]). While there is general consensus (at least in the scientific community) that urgent action is essential, there remains debate regarding the currency that should be maximized , complicating conservation efforts [11,12]. There is a bewildering array of diversity metrics from which to choose (see [13,14]), each considering different and sometimes only marginally overlapping aspects of biodiversity (e.g. [12,15–17]). At large geographical scales, diversity is most commonly …
Architecture design and implementation of the increasing radius - List sphere detector algorithm

A list sphere detector (LSD) is an enhancement of a sphere detector (SD) that can be used to approximate the optimal MAP detector. In this paper, we introduce a novel architecture for the increasing radius (IR)-LSD algorithm, which is based on the Dijkstra's algorithm. The parallelism possibilities are introduced in the presented architecture, which is also scalable for different multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The novel architecture is implemented on a Virtex-IV field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip using high-level ANSI C++ language based Catapult C Synthesis tool from Mentor Graphics. The used word lengths, the latency of the design, and the required resources are presented and analyzed for 4 × 4 MIMO system with 16- quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The detector implementation achieves a maximum throughput of 12.1Mbps at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
MAGELLAN/M2FS SPECTROSCOPY OF THE RETICULUM 2 DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY

We present results from spectroscopic observations with the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS) of 182 stellar targets along the line of sight (LOS) to the newly discovered “ultrafaint” object Reticulum 2 (Ret 2). For 37 of these targets, the spectra are sufficient to provide simultaneous estimates of LOS velocity ( v los ? > , median random error δ v los = 1.4 ? > km s−1), effective temperature ( T eff ? > , δ T eff = 478 ? > K), surface gravity ( log g ? > , δ log g = 0.63 ? > dex), and iron abundance ( [ Fe / H ] ? > , δ [ Fe / H ] = 0.47 ? > dex). We use these results to confirm 17 stars as members of Ret 2. From the member sample we estimate a velocity dispersion of &sgr; v los = ? > 3.6 − 0.7 + 1.0 ? > km s−1 about a mean of ⟨ v los ⟩ = ? > 64.3 − 1.2 + 1.2 ? > km s−1 in the solar rest frame ( ∼ − 90.9 ? > km s−1 in the Galactic rest frame), and a metallicity dispersion of &sgr; [ Fe / H ] = ? > 0.49 − 0.14 + 0.19 ? > dex about a mean of ⟨ [ Fe / H ] ⟩ = ? > − 2.58 − 0.33 + 0.34 ? > . These estimates marginalize over possible velocity and metallicity gradients, which are consistent with zero. Our results place Ret 2 on chemodynamical scaling relations followed by the Milky Way’s dwarf-galactic satellites. Under assumptions of dynamic equilibrium and negligible contamination from binary stars—both of which must be checked with deeper imaging and repeat spectroscopic observations—the estimated velocity dispersion suggests a dynamical mass of M ( R h ) ≈ 5 R h &sgr; v los 2 / ( 2 G ) = ? > 2.4 − 0.8 + 1.4 × 10 5 ? > M ⊙ ? > enclosed within projected halflight radius R h ∼ 32 ? > pc, with mass-to-light ratio ≈ 2 M ( R h ) / L V = ? > 467 − 168 + 286 ? > in solar units.
Immediate and Short‐term Effects of Thoracic Spine Manipulation in Patients With Cervical Radiculopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

•BACKGROUND: Thoracic spine thrust manipulation has been shown to improve patient‐rated outcomes for individuals with neck pain. However, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in patients with cervical radiculopathy. •OBJECTIVES: To compare the immediate and short‐term effects of thoracic manipulation to those of a sham thoracic manipulation in patients with cervical radiculopathy. •METHODS: In this multicenter randomized controlled trial, participants with cervical radiculopathy were randomized to receive either manipulation (n = 22) or sham manipulation (n = 21) of the thoracic spine. Outcomes were measured at baseline, immediately after treatment, and at a follow‐up 48 to 72 hours after manipulation. A repeated‐measures analysis of variance was used to analyze neck and upper extremity pain (numeric pain‐rating scale), disability (Neck Disability Index), cervical range of motion (ROM), and endurance (deep neck flexor endurance test). The chi‐square test was used to analyze changes in neck and upper extremity pain, centralization of symptoms, and beliefs about receiving the active manipulation treatment using a global rating of change scale. •RESULTS: Neck and upper extremity pain, cervical ROM, disability, and deep neck flexor endurance all showed significant interactions between group and time (P<.01). Immediately after treatment and at the 48‐to‐72‐hour follow‐up, the manipulation group had lower neck pain (P<.01), better cervical ROM (P<.01), lower disability (P<.01), and better deep neck flexor endurance (P = .02) compared to the sham manipulation group. The manipulation group had moderate to large effect‐size changes over time. No between‐group differences for upper extremity pain were found immediately following the intervention (P = .34) and at 48 to 72 hours after the intervention (P = .18). At 48 to 72 hours after treatment, a greater proportion of participants in the manipulation group reported improvement (global rating of change scale score of 4 or greater) in neck and upper extremity symptoms (P<.01), centralization of symptoms (P<.01), and beliefs about receiving an active manipulation (P = .01) compared to the sham manipulation group. •CONCLUSION: One session of thoracic manipulation resulted in improvements in pain, disability, cervical ROM, and deep neck flexor endurance in patients with cervical radiculopathy. Patients treated with manipulation were more likely to report at least moderate change in their neck and upper extremity symptoms up to 48 to 72 hours following treatment. •LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapy, level 2.
An integrative framework for IS quality management

T he importance of information technologies and the information systems function is no longer of debate among business people. The question, rather, is how an organization can take best advantage of IT in order to support its operations, add value to its products and services, and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. To be able to perform up to such high expectations, the IS function must develop an intimate understanding of the expectations of its varied clientele. As organizations embark on their journey to be more responsive to their customers and to continuously improve the quality of their products and services, IS must do the same. Unfortunately, it seems that despite the importance of IT to the success of most organizations, the function is not proactive when it comes to actively pursuing and implementing quality principles. Surveys of IS managers [5] found that a minority of IS managers (41%) understood the basic principles of Total Quality Management (TQM), and thought they would be useful to the IS function. Even in the cases where TQM principles were understood, they often were not implemented in the IS function. Previous research in this area is at best fragmented, with focus on only subsets of IS quality (software and data quality), and is centered around front-line (core) processes (for example, systems development). This article takes a holistic view of quality in the IS function from the perspective of an IS manager and considers issues relating to multiple stakeholder groups, product, service, and process quality. This framework represents a contribution to both the practice as well as the research of how the IS function should be managed. From the practical perspective, the framework along with the discussion of many issues relating to the implementation and management of an IS quality system can be used to introduce and pursue a philosophy of total IS quality. From the research perspective, the framework integrates and fills in gaps in the existing literature, and it proposes new research questions. Total IS quality is a multidimensional Considering issues relating to multiple stakeholder groups, product, service, and process quality is important for managing IS quality. ■ Antonis C. Stylianou and Ram L. Kumar
The Burden of Cerebrovascular Disease in the United States

Introduction Little is known about trends in the overall combined burden of fatal and nonfatal cerebrovascular disease events in the United States. Our objective was to describe the combined burden by age, sex, and region from 2006 through 2014. Methods We used data on adults aged 35 and older from 2006 through 2014 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, National Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, and the National Vital Statistics System. We calculated age-standardized cerebrovascular disease event rates by using the 2010 US Census population. Trends in rates were assessed by calculating the relative percentage change (RPC) between 2006 and 2014, and by using Joinpoint to obtain P values for overall trends. Results The age-standardized rate increased significantly for total cerebrovascular disease events (primary plus comorbid events) from 1,050 per 100,000 in 2006 to 1,147 per 100,000 in 2014 (P < .05 for trend). Treat-and-release emergency department visits with comorbid cerebrovascular disease events increased significantly, from 114 per 100,000 in 2006 to 213 per 100,000 in 2014 (RPC of 87%, P < .05 for trend). Significant rate increases were identified among adults aged 35 to 64 with an RPC of 19% in primary cerebrovascular disease events, 48% in comorbid cerebrovascular disease events, and 36% in total events. Conclusion Our findings have important implications for the increasing cerebrovascular disease burden among adults aged 35 to 64. Focused prevention strategies should be implemented, especially among young adults who may be unaware of existing modifiable risk factors.
Confident but not theoretically grounded – experienced simulation educators’ perceptions of their own professional development

Background Medical simulation enables the design of learning activities for competency areas (eg, communication and leadership) identified as crucial for future health care professionals. Simulation educators and medical teachers follow different career paths, and their education backgrounds and teaching contexts may be very different in a simulation setting. Although they have a key role in facilitating learning, information on the continuing professional development (pedagogical development) of simulation educators is not available in the literature. Objectives To explore changes in experienced simulation educators’ perceptions of their own teaching skills, practices, and understanding of teaching over time. Methods A qualitative exploratory study. Fourteen experienced simulation educators participated in individual open-ended interviews focusing on their development as simulation educators. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. Results Marked educator development was discerned over time, expressed mainly in an altered way of thinking and acting. Five themes were identified: shifting focus, from following to utilizing a structure, setting goals, application of technology, and alignment with profession. Being confident in the role as an instructor seemed to constitute a foundation for the instructor’s pedagogical development. Conclusion Experienced simulation educators’ pedagogical development was based on self-confidence in the educator role, and not on a deeper theoretical understanding of teaching and learning. This is the first clue to gain increased understanding regarding educational level and possible education needs among simulation educators, and it might generate several lines of research for further studies.
Elevated Serum Sorbitol and not Fructose in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Reductions in fasting serum fructose or erythrocyte sorbitol have been proposed as markers for early proof of mechanism in clinical development of aldose reductase (AR) inhibitors. However fructose is significantly impacted by meals and evaluation of erythrocyte sorbitol poses technical challenges. To more accurately assess the performance of these markers in biological samples, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry assay was modified and validated. Serum was collected on three consecutive days from 13 healthy volunteers (HV) and 14 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and assayed for sorbitol and fructose using this assay. Serum fructose and sorbitol were relatively constant across the three days. Fasting fructose levels were comparable between the two groups (T2DM: 1.48 ± 0.49 mg/L; HV: 1.39 ± 0.38 mg/L, mean ± standard deviation, P = 0.61), but fasting sorbitol levels were significantly higher in diabetics (T2DM: 0.280 ± 0.163 mg/L; HV: 0.164 ± 0.044 mg/L, P = 0.02). Feeding resulted in a 5–6 fold increase in serum fructose levels, but only a 5%-10% increase in sorbitol. Only sorbitol remained significantly elevated pre- and post feeding in T2DM patients relative to HV. These data suggest that serum sorbitol may be a robust proof of mechanism biomarker and facilitate dose selection for clinical development of AR inhibitors.
Measuring and Improving Latency to Avoid Test Suite Wear Out

This paper introduces the concept of test suite latency. The more latent a test suite, the more it is possible to repeatedly select subsets that achieve a test goal (such as coverage) without re-applying test cases. Where a test case is re-applied it cannot reveal new information. The more a test suite is forced to re-apply already applied test cases in order to achieve the test goal, the more it has become `worn out'. Test suite latency is the flipside of wear out; the more latent a test suite, the less prone it is to wear out. The paper introduces a theory of test suite latency. It presents results from the empirical study of latency, highlighting the need for latency enhancement. The paper also introduces a strategy and algorithms for improving latency and an empirical study of their effectiveness. The results show that local search is effective at improving the latency of a test suite.