Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weighted Clustering Ensembles

Clustering is a popular approach to exploratory data analysis and mining. However, clustering faces difficult challenges due to its ill-posed nature. First, it is well known that off-the-shelf clustering methods may discover different patterns in a given set of data, because each clustering algorithm has its own bias resulting from the optimization of different criteria. Second, there is no ground truth against which the clustering result can be validated. High dimensional data also pose a difficult challenge to the clustering process. Various clustering algorithms can handle data with low dimensionality, but as the dimensionality of the data increases, these algorithms tend to break down. In this dissertation, we introduce novel clustering ensemble techniques and novel semi-supervised approaches to address these problems. Clustering ensembles offer a solution to challenges inherent to clustering arising from its ill-posed nature: they can provide more robust and stable solutions by making use of the consensus across multiple clustering results, and they can average out the emergent spurious structures which arise due to the various biases of each participating algorithm, and due to the variance induced by different data samples. We introduce and analyze three new consensus functions for ensembles of subspace clusterings. The ultimate goal of our consensus functions is to provide hard partitions of the data, and weight vectors which convey information regarding the subspaces within which the individual clusters exist. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our three techniques by running experiments with several real datasets, including high dimensional text data, and investigate the issue of diversity and accuracy in our ensemble techniques. We also study scenarios in which limited knowledge on the data (in terms of pair-wise constraints) is available from the user. We develop a methodology to embed such constraints into the ensemble components, so that the desired structure emerges via the consensus clustering. We introduce a mechanism which leverages the ensemble framework to bootstrap informative constraints directly from the data and from the various clusterings, without intervention from the user. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed techniques with experiments using real datasets and other state-of-the-art semi-supervised techniques.
Impact of Home Type, Age and Gender on The Antisocial Behaviour of Secondary School Students.

The study investigated the influence of home type, age and gender on the antisocial behaviour of secondary school students. Participants were 1000 secondary school male and female secondary schools students sampled from ten schools in Abuja. Participants were junior secondary three (JSS.111, age 13-15) and senior secondary three (SSS.111 age 16-18 years), 100 participants were sampled from each school, 50 (JSS111) and 50 (SS111). 25 boys and 25 girls from each class. An instrument developed by Nwoke (1998) called Influence of the home on students' school performance (IHSSP) was used. The design was 3x2x2 factorial. The major statistic used was the ANOVA. Results showed that home had significant effect on the antisocial behaviour of secondary school students. (F2, 98)= 18.81 P Gender and Behaviour Vol. 5 (2) 2007: pp. 1248-1259
Autoregressive Mixture Models for Dynamic Spatial Poisson Processes: Application to Tracking Intensity of Violent Crime

This article develops a set of tools for smoothing and prediction with dependent point event patterns. The methodology is motivated by the problem of tracking weekly maps of violent crime events, but is designed to be straightforward to adapt to a wide variety of alternative settings. In particular, a Bayesian semiparametric framework is introduced for modeling correlated time series of marked spatial Poisson processes. The likelihood is factored into two independent components: the set of total integrated intensities and a series of process densities. For the former it is assumed that Poisson intensities are realizations from a dynamic linear model. In the latter case, a novel class of dependent stick-breaking mixture models are proposed to allow nonparametric density estimates to evolve in discrete time. This, a simple and flexible new model for dependent random distributions, is based on autoregressive time series of marginally beta random variables applied as correlated stick-breaking proportions. The approach allows for marginal Dirichlet process priors at each time and adds only a single new correlation term to the static model specification. Sequential Monte Carlo algorithms are described for online inference with each model component, and marginal likelihood calculations form the basis for inference about parameters governing temporal dynamics. Simulated examples are provided to illustrate the methodology, and we close with results for the motivating application of tracking violent crime in Cincinnati.
Friends' Responses to Children's Disclosure of an Achievement-Related Success: An Observational Study

This study examined social support processes in the context of positive events. The conversations of fourth-grade through sixth-grade focal children and their friends (N = 116) were observed after focal children outperformed their friend on an achievement-related task. Changes in focal children's performance-related positive affect from prediscussion to postdiscussion were predicted from the features of these conversations. Focal children reported more positive affect when friends engaged in relatively high levels of help seeking and relatively low levels of off-task talk. Friends' responses were, in turn, predicted by friendship quality as rated by focal children and friends. Results are discussed in light of the changes in school adjustment and peer relationships that many children experience as they approach adolescence.
Using stochastic epidemiological models to evaluate conservation strategies for endangered amphibians

Recent outbreaks of chytridiomycosis, the disease of amphibians caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), have contributed to population declines of numerous amphibian species worldwide. The devastating impacts of this disease have led researchers to attempt drastic conservation measures to prevent further extinctions and loss of biodiversity. The conservation measures can be labour-intensive or expensive, and in many cases have been unsuccessful. We developed a mathematical model of Bd outbreaks that includes the effects of demographic stochasticity and within-host fungal load dynamics. We investigated the impacts of one-time treatment conservation strategies during the disease outbreak that occurs following the initial arrival of Bd into a previously uninfected frog population. We found that for all versions of the model, for a large fraction of parameter space, none of the one-time treatment strategies are effective at preventing disease-induced extinction of the amphibian population. Of the strategies considered, treating frogs with antifungal agents to reduce their fungal load had the greatest likelihood of a beneficial outcome and the lowest risk of decreasing the persistence of the frog population, suggesting that this disease mitigation strategy should be prioritized over disinfecting the environment or reducing host density.
Infants' and toddlers' reasoning about others: Connections to prosocial development and language

Often overlooked in the study of theory of mind (ToM) development, the understanding of motivational states, such as goals and desires, is both important in its own right and also a likely precursor to more advanced social and cognitive skills. This dissertation explored infants’ and toddlers’ reasoning about agents’ motivational states, linking those representations to the domains of language and prosocial development. Parts I and II of the dissertation asked about toddlers’ abilities to use representations of others’ motivational states to guide helping behaviors. Part I used a spontaneous helping paradigm with two goal objects, one previously liked and the other disliked. Threebut not 2-year-olds helped appropriately by giving an actor her desired object, reflecting prosocial concern for others’ specific desires at age 3. Part II probed the understanding of goals and helping of 14and 24-month-olds. After establishing that toddlers encode simple reaching actions as goal-directed, a series of 4 experiments using an object-giving paradigm investigated toddlers’ abilities to use goal representations to guide helping. The results indicate that 24but not 14-month-olds used representations of prior goals to inform their helping behaviors; 14-month-olds were capable of using only current goals to guide helping. Part III of the dissertation asked whether there is continuity in the developmental relationship between language and ToM by investigating links between toddlers’
Lingual Squamous Cell Carcinoma Surrounded by Granular Cell Tumor

The granular cell tumor (GCT) is an uncommon, benign lesion with a preference for subcutaneous sites. In the head and neck, the tongue is the most common site, followed by the larynx. We experienced a case of a 27-year-old woman with lingual squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) surrounded by GCT. The pathological findings established that the lesion was SCC covered by GCT in the midline of the tongue. The size of the mass was very small, however, so we excised it in a diamond shape. There is an interesting association between GCTs and other malignant neoplasms. However, no causal relationship between GCT and these other carcinomas has been established. Here we report on an SCC coexisting with GCT at the same site as a median tongue lesion and review the literature.
Prostaglandin E2 Affects T Cell Responses through Modulation of CD46 Expression

The ubiquitous protein CD46, a regulator of complement activity, promotes T cell activation and differentiation toward a regulatory Tr1-like phenotype. The CD46-mediated differentiation pathway is defective in several chronic inflammatory diseases, underlying the importance of CD46 in controlling T cell function and the need to understand its regulatory mechanisms. Using an RNA interference-based screening approach in primary T cells, we have identified that two members of the G protein-coupled receptor kinases were involved in regulating CD46 expression at the surface of activated cells. We have investigated the role of PGE2, which binds to the E-prostanoid family of G protein-coupled receptors through four subtypes of receptors called EP 1–4, in the regulation of CD46 expression and function. Conflicting roles of PGE2 in T cell functions have been reported, and the reasons for these apparent discrepancies are not well understood. We show that addition of PGE2 strongly downregulates CD46 expression in activated T cells. Moreover, PGE2 differentially affects T cell activation, cytokine production, and phenotype depending on the activation signals received by the T cells. This was correlated with a distinct pattern of the PGE2 receptors expressed, with EP4 being preferentially induced by CD46 activation. Indeed, addition of an EP4 antagonist could reverse the effects observed on cytokine production after CD46 costimulation. These data demonstrate a novel role of the PGE2–EP4 axis in CD46 functions, which might at least partly explain the diverse roles of PGE2 in T cell functions.
Endotoxin-stimulated alveolar macrophage recruitment of neutrophils and modulation with exogenous surfactant.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether endotoxin-stimulated alveolar macrophages would attract neutrophils and whether exogenous surfactant treatment would modulate this chemoattraction. DESIGN Alveolar macrophages were harvested from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and neutrophils from the blood of anesthetized guinea pigs. SUBJECTS Hartley guinea pigs. INTERVENTIONS Alveolar macrophages were suspended in RPMI 1640 and stimulated with 1 microg/mL of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the supernatant removed and the alveolar macrophages were incubated in either RPMI or RPMI with surfactant at two different doses (292 microg/mL or 875 microg/mL) for 16 hrs. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The supernatant was extracted from the alveolar macrophages and placed in a chemotaxis plate and the migration of neutrophils was measured. Chemotaxis of all cell types to be tested was measured by a change of absorbance on a microplate reader set at 492 nm. Results were compared with alveolar macrophages not stimulated with LPS, RPMI alone, and N formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). The supernatant of the stimulated alveolar macrophages increased neutrophil chemotaxis as compared with unstimulated alveolar macrophages, and RPMI (p < .05). Surfactant treatment with 292 microg/mL significantly decreased LPS-stimulated alveolar macrophages induced neutrophil chemotaxis. Treatment with 875 microg/mL of surfactant did not alter neutrophil chemotaxis. CONCLUSIONS Alveolar macrophages stimulation with LPS increased the chemotaxis of neutrophils. Treatment with surfactant at a concentration of 875 microg/mL did not alter neutrophil migration; however, treatment with 292 microg/mL significantly decreased neutrophil chemotaxis suggesting that at low concentrations, surfactant inhibits chemokine release and may reduce pulmonary neutrophil sequestration in vivo.
Challenging Notions of Gendered Game Play: Teenagers playing The Sims

This paper challenges notions of gendered game playing practice implicit in much research into young women's involvement with the computer gaming culture. It draws on a study of Australian teenagers playing The Sims Deluxe as part of an English curriculum unit and insights from feminist media studies to explore relationships between gender and game playing practices. Departing from a reliance on predetermined notions of “gender”, “domestic space”, and “successful game play”, it conceptualizes The Sims as a game in which the boundaries between gender and domestic space are disturbed. It argues that observing students’ constructions of gender and domestic space through the act of game play itself provides a more productive insight into the gendered dimensions of game play for educators wishing to work computer games such as The Sims into curriculum development.
How to handle missing data: A comparison of different approaches

Many researchers face the problem of missing data in longitudinal research. Especially, high risk samples are characterized by missing data which can complicate analyses and the interpretation of results. In the current study, our aim was to find the most optimal and best method to deal with the missing data in a specific study with many missing data on the outcome variable. Therefore, different techniques to handle missing data were evaluated, and a solution to efficiently handle substantial amounts of missing data was provided. A simulation study was conducted to determine the most optimal method to deal with the missing data. Results revealed that multiple imputation (MI) using predictive mean matching was the most optimal method with respect to lowest bias and the smallest confidence interval (CI) while maintaining power. Listwise deletion and last observation carried backward also scored acceptable with respect to bias; however, CIs were much larger and sample size almost halved using these methods. Longitudinal research in high risk samples could benefit from using MI in future research to handle missing data. The paper ends with a checklist for handling missing data.
Vitamin B-12 and homocysteine status among vegetarians : a global perspective 1 – 4

Evidence exists that well-planned vegetarian diets provide numerous health benefits and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle. It is also known that animal foods provide micronutrients that are nonexistent or available only in limited amounts in plant foods. Restriction or exclusion of all animal foods may therefore result in low intake of certain micronutrients such as vitamin B-12, thereby affecting vitamin B-12 status and elevating plasma homocysteine concentrations. Overall, the studies we reviewed showed reduced mean vitamin B-12 status and elevated mean homocysteine concentrations in vegetarians, particularly among vegans. Low vitamin B-12 intake may lead to decreased bioavailability and functional deficiency of cobalamin. Although early noticeable symptoms of vitamin B-12 deficiency are nonspecific (unusual fatigue, digestion problems, frequent upper respiratory infections), the best-known clinical manifestations of cobalamin malabsorption are hematologic (pernicious anemia) and neurologic symptoms. Hyperhomocysteinemia is associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Given these health concerns, vegetarians, particularly vegans, must be advised to carefully plan their diets, to monitor their plasma vitamin B-12 on a regular basis to facilitate early detection of low cobalamin status, and to use vitamin B-12–fortified foods or take vitamin B-12 supplements if necessary. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89
Different coping strategies influence the development of PTSD among first-time mothers

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the different coping strategies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), described in the non-obstetric trauma literature, with respect to first time postpartum women. Study design: This was a prospective cohort study conducted between 2011 and 2013. Eligible women had a singleton pregnancy and delivered a healthy newborn at term. Five sets of relevant questionnaires were sent to the participants six weeks postpartum. Posttraumatic stress disorder was defined as per DSM-V criteria. Results: One hundred and eighty eight completed questionnaires were considered for the final analysis. Two women (1.1%) had PTSD and nine women (4.8%) had partial PTSD. Coping by self-blame and/or rumination together with perception of resource loss emerged as independent variables that were significantly associated with post-traumatic symptomatology (PTS) severity. Objective birth factors such as participation in birth classes or the different modes of delivery seem to have no significant impact on postpartum PTS in our study. Conclusions: Cognitive coping styles such as self-blame and rumination, as well as perception of resource loss, were all related to postpartum PTS. Redirecting resources to address postpartum negative coping mechanisms may reduce the overall incidence of full and partial postpartum PTSD.
CT findings in acute gangrenous cholecystitis.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the CT findings in acute gangrenous cholecystitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four observers retrospectively reviewed CT scans in 75 patients (23 with acute gangrenous cholecystitis, 25 with acute non-gangrenous cholecystitis, and 27 without cholecystitis). The following findings were evaluated: distention, mural thickening, wall enhancement, irregular wall, wall striation, intraluminal membranes, pericholecystic inflammation, gallstones, pericholecystic fluid, enhancement of liver parenchyma, pericholecystic abscess, and gas in the wall or lumen. Sensitivity and specificity of CT for gangrenous cholecystitis and for each finding were calculated. Two reviewers in consensus measured gallbladder dimension and wall thickness. Logistic regression models were used to predict gangrenous versus non-gangrenous cholecystitis. RESULTS Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CT for acute cholecystitis were 91.7%, 99.1%, and 94.3%, respectively, and for acute gangrenous cholecystitis were 29.3%, 96.0%, and 64.1%, respectively. Findings with the highest specificity for gangrenous cholecystitis were gas in the wall or lumen (100%), intraluminal membranes (99.5%), irregular or absent wall (97.6%), and abscess (96.6%). The difference between the mean gallbladder wall thickness and the short-axis dimension for the two groups with cholecystitis was statistically significant. In three patients with gangrenous cholecystitis, no mural enhancement was seen. Pericholecystic fluid also achieved statistical significance for the diagnosis of gangrene. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the overall accuracy of CT for gangrenous cholecystitis was 86.7%. CONCLUSION CT findings most specific for acute gangrenous cholecystitis are gas in the wall or lumen, intraluminal membranes, irregular wall, and pericholecystic abscess. Gangrenous cholecystitis is associated with a lack of mural enhancement, pericholecystic fluid, and a greater degree of gallbladder distention and wall thickening.
Novel Salted Anionic-Cationic Polymethacrylate Polymer Blends for Sustained Release of Acidic and Basic Drugs.

BACKGROUND Since a unique matrix tablet formulation that independently controls the release of various drug types is in a great demand, the objective of this research was to develop a sustained release matrix tablet as a universal dosage form using a binary mixture of the salt forms of Eudragit polymers rather than their interpolyelectrolyte complexes. METHODS Tablets were prepared by wet granulation and compressed at different compression forces, depending on drug type. Dissolution tests were conducted using USP XXII rotating paddle apparatus at 50 rpm at 37°C in consecutive pH stages. RESULTS Tablets containing Ibuprofen (IB) as a model acidic drug and Metronidazole (MD) as a model basic drug showed controlled/sustained release behavior. For IB tablets containing 80% Ibuprofen and 5% (w/w) polymeric combination; the time for 50% of the drug release was about 24 hours compared to 8.5 hours for plain tablets containing 80% IB. In case of MD, the drug release extended to about 7 hours for tablets containing 80% MD and 5% (w/w) polymeric combination, compared to about 1 hour for plain tablets containing 80% MD. In terms of extending the release of medications, the dissolution profiles of the tablets containing polymeric salts forms were found to be statistically superior to tablets prepared by direct compression of the polymers in their powdered base forms, and superior to tablets containing the same polymers granulated using isopropyl alcohol. CONCLUSION The findings indicated the significance of combining the polymers in their salt forms in controlling the release of various drug types from matrices.
The interferon signature in autoimmune diseases

Purpose of reviewAn increased expression of type I interferon (IFN) regulated genes (an IFN signature) has been reported in blood and tissue cells from patients with SLE and other autoimmune diseases. We review the possible mechanisms behind the IFN signature as well as clinical and therapeutic consequences of this observation. Recent findingsAutoantigens from dying cells trigger plasmacytoid dendritic cells to a continuous synthesis of type I IFN, which is promoted by natural killer (NK) cells and B cells. A growing number of genes connected to type I IFN production and response associates with an increased susceptibility to autoimmunity. Besides type I IFN, type III IFN (IFN-&lgr;) may contribute to the IFN signature. In SLE and primary Sjögren's syndrome, a prominent IFN signature is connected to an active disease, whereas in rheumatoid arthritis the IFN signature defines a disease subset with poor clinical outcome and treatment failure to B-cell depleting therapy. Several therapies aiming to inhibit the IFN signature are in clinical trials and early data suggest clinical benefits without major safety problems. SummaryThe observed IFN signature in several autoimmune diseases is a biomarker of active disease and is investigated as a tool when selecting treatment for individual patients.