Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence of airborne transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus.

BACKGROUND There is uncertainty about the mode of transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. We analyzed the temporal and spatial distributions of cases in a large community outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong and examined the correlation of these data with the three-dimensional spread of a virus-laden aerosol plume that was modeled using studies of airflow dynamics. METHODS We determined the distribution of the initial 187 cases of SARS in the Amoy Gardens housing complex in 2003 according to the date of onset and location of residence. We then studied the association between the location (building, floor, and direction the apartment unit faced) and the probability of infection using logistic regression. The spread of the airborne, virus-laden aerosols generated by the index patient was modeled with the use of airflow-dynamics studies, including studies performed with the use of computational fluid-dynamics and multizone modeling. RESULTS The curves of the epidemic suggested a common source of the outbreak. All but 5 patients lived in seven buildings (A to G), and the index patient and more than half the other patients with SARS (99 patients) lived in building E. Residents of the floors at the middle and upper levels in building E were at a significantly higher risk than residents on lower floors; this finding is consistent with a rising plume of contaminated warm air in the air shaft generated from a middle-level apartment unit. The risks for the different units matched the virus concentrations predicted with the use of multizone modeling. The distribution of risk in buildings B, C, and D corresponded well with the three-dimensional spread of virus-laden aerosols predicted with the use of computational fluid-dynamics modeling. CONCLUSIONS Airborne spread of the virus appears to explain this large community outbreak of SARS, and future efforts at prevention and control must take into consideration the potential for airborne spread of this virus.
Estimating sizes of social networks via biased sampling

Online social networks have become very popular in recent years and their number of users is already measured in many hundreds of millions. For various commercial and sociological purposes, an independent estimate of their sizes is important. In this work, algorithms for estimating the number of users in such networks are considered. The proposed schemes are also applicable for estimating the sizes of networks' sub-populations. The suggested algorithms interact with the social networks via their public APIs only, and rely on no other external information. Due to obvious traffic and privacy concerns, the number of such interactions is severely limited. We therefore focus on minimizing the number of API interactions needed for producing good size estimates. We adopt the abstraction of social networks as undirected graphs and use random node sampling. By counting the number of collisions or non-unique nodes in the sample, we produce a size estimate. Then, we show analytically that the estimate error vanishes with high probability for smaller number of samples than those required by prior-art algorithms. Moreover, although our algorithms are provably correct for any graph, they excel when applied to social network-like graphs. The proposed algorithms were evaluated on synthetic as well real social networks such as Facebook, IMDB, and DBLP. Our experiments corroborated the theoretical results, and demonstrated the effectiveness of the algorithms.
Do online information retrieval systems help experienced clinicians answer clinical questions?

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of clinicians' use of an online information retrieval system on their performance in answering clinical questions. DESIGN Pre-/post-intervention experimental design. MEASUREMENTS In a computer laboratory, 75 clinicians (26 hospital-based doctors, 18 family practitioners, and 31 clinical nurse consultants) provided 600 answers to eight clinical scenarios before and after the use of an online information retrieval system. We examined the proportion of correct answers pre- and post-intervention, direction of change in answers, and differences between professional groups. RESULTS System use resulted in a 21% improvement in clinicians' answers, from 29% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.4-32.6) correct pre- to 50% (95% CI 46.0-54.0) post-system use. In 33% (95% CI 29.1-36.9) answers were changed from incorrect to correct. In 21% (95% CI 17.1-23.9) correct pre-test answers were supported by evidence found using the system, and in 7% (95% CI 4.9-9.1) correct pre-test answers were changed incorrectly. For 40% (35.4-43.6) of scenarios, incorrect pre-test answers were not rectified following system use. Despite significant differences in professional groups' pre-test scores [family practitioners: 41% (95% CI 33.0-49.0), hospital doctors: 35% (95% CI 28.5-41.2), and clinical nurse consultants: 17% (95% CI 12.3-21.7; chi(2) = 29.0, df = 2, p < 0.01)], there was no difference in post-test scores. (chi(2) = 2.6, df = 2, p = 0.73). CONCLUSIONS The use of an online information retrieval system was associated with a significant improvement in the quality of answers provided by clinicians to typical clinical problems. In a small proportion of cases, use of the system produced errors. While there was variation in the performance of clinical groups when answering questions unaided, performance did not differ significantly following system use. Online information retrieval systems can be an effective tool in improving the accuracy of clinicians' answers to clinical questions.
Exportin 4: a mediator of a novel nuclear export pathway in higher eukaryotes

Transport receptors of the importin β superfamily account for many of the nuclear import and export events in eukaryotic cells. They mediate translocation through nuclear pore complexes, shuttle between nucleus and cytoplasm and co‐operate with the RanGTPase system to regulate their interactions with cargo molecules in a compartment‐specific manner. We used affinity chromatography on immobilized RanGTP to isolate further candidate nuclear transport receptors and thereby identified exportin 4 as the most distant member of the importin β family so far. Exportin 4 appears to be conserved amongst higher eukaryotes, but lacks obvious orthologues in yeast. It mediates nuclear export of eIF‐5A (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A) and possibly that of other cargoes. The export signal in eIF‐5A appears to be complex and to involve the hypusine modification that is unique to eIF‐5A. We discuss possible cellular roles for nuclear export of eIF‐5A.
Turbulence analysis of an experimental flux-rope plasma

We have previously generated elongated Taylor double-helix flux-rope plasmas in the SSX MHD wind tunnel. These plasmas are remarkable in their rapid relaxation (about one Alfvén time) and their description by simple analytical Taylor force-free theory despite their high plasma β and high internal flow speeds. We report on the turbulent features observed in these plasmas including frequency spectra, autocorrelation function, and probability distribution functions of increments. We discuss here the possibility that the turbulence facilitating access to the final state supports coherent structures and intermittency revealed by non-Gaussian signatures in the statistics. Comparisons to a Hall-MHD simulation of the SSX MHD wind tunnel show similarity in several statistical measures.
Simulation of strategies for containing pandemic influenza

We use a stochastic simulation model of pandemic influenza to investigate realistic intervention strategies that can be used in reaction to developing outbreaks. The model is constructed to represent a typical midsized North American city. Our model predicts average illness attack rates and economic costs for various intervention scenarios, e.g., in the case when low-coverage reactive vaccination and limited antiviral use are combined with minimally disruptive social distancing strategies, including short-term closure of individual schools. We find that such combination strategies can be substantially more effective than vaccination alone from epidemiological and economic standpoints.
Immunopathological Roles of Cytokines, Chemokines, Signaling Molecules, and Pattern-Recognition Receptors in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with unknown etiology affecting more than one million individuals each year. It is characterized by B- and T-cell hyperactivity and by defects in the clearance of apoptotic cells and immune complexes. Understanding the complex process involved and the interaction between various cytokines, chemokines, signaling molecules, and pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) in the immune pathways will provide valuable information on the development of novel therapeutic targets for treating SLE. In this paper, we review the immunopathological roles of novel cytokines, chemokines, signaling molecules, PRRs, and their interactions in immunoregulatory networks and suggest how their disturbances may implicate pathological conditions in SLE.
Questionário de Vivências Acadêmicas (QVA-r): avaliação do ajustamento dos estudantes universitários

O insucesso e a evasao no ensino superior atingem niveis preocupantes na maioria dos paises. Importa conhecer as suas causas e implementar as medidas, sobretudo preventivas, que possam diminuir o custo individual, familiar e social de tais situacoes. No presente trabalho, sao apresentados os procedimentos de construcao e validacao de uma versao reduzida do Questionario de Vivencias Academicas (QVA; Almeida & Ferreira, 1997). A reducao substancial do numero de itens na versao abreviada da escala (QVA-r; Almeida, Ferreira & Soares, 2001), procura ultrapassar as dificuldades inerentes a administracao de uma versao integral do questionario constituida por 170 itens distribuidos por 17 subescalas. A presente versao abreviada e constituida por 60 itens distribuidos por cinco grandes areas da adaptacao academica dos estudantes: pessoal; interpessoal; vocacional; estudo-aprendizagem; e institucional. As qualidades metricas da versao reduzida revelam-se satisfatorias em termos da sua consistencia e validade interna.
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE ON NON-USE OF MODERN CONTRACEPTIVES AMONG WOMEN IN NIGERIA: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF 1990 AND 2008 NDHS

Summary The role of religion in contraceptive use is an issue of significant debate. This study employed the 1990 and 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data to examine differences and similarities in the influence of religious affiliation on non-use of modern contraceptives in Nigeria over the last two decades. The results suggest that a significant increase has occurred in the level of awareness of modern contraceptives in Nigeria over the last two decades, but that non-use remains very high. Religion could not independently predict non-use of modern contraceptives in 1990. Women of Islam and Traditional religions were more likely to have never used or not to be using modern contraceptives compared with Catholics and Protestants in 2008 (p<0.05). This can be explained by their poorer socioeconomic status relative to Catholics and Protestants. Therefore, improving women's socioeconomic status is an imperative in the promotion of modern contraception in Nigeria. Education and employment are critical in this regard and adherents of Islam and Traditional religions require special attention.
Code warriors and code-a-phobes: a study in attitude and pair programming

This paper reports on how first-year students who have programmed before see their programming interest and ability and how this self-perception relates to their performance in the introductory programming course. In particular we examine how this self-perception is reflected in their reactions to the pair-programming technique for developing software.Students who had programming experience before University were given a survey that placed them on a scale that we have called Code Warrior to Code-a-phobe. We then placed them in 'opposite' and 'similar' pairs for a pair programming exercise and surveyed their reactions. There was evidence that students who have considerable self-confidence do not enjoy the experience of pair programming as much as other students and that students produce their best work when placed in pairs with students of similar self-confidence levels.
Aspek Afektif Hasil Pembelajaran Matematika

Teachers and parents often complain about the negative affect of students on mathematics learning at schools, but there has been no official report on this matter. This study was intended to investigate the status of the affective aspect of the result of the schools mathematics education. The affects measured were attitude, interest, motivation, anxiety, self concept, extrinsic appreciation, intrinsic appreciation, operational appreciation, belief about mathematics, belief about self, belief about mathematics teaching, and belief about social context. The subjects were the first year students of the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences of the State University of Yogyakarta (UNY) comprising students of eight departments i.e. Department of: Biology, Biology Education, Chemistry, Chemistry Education, Mathematics, Mathematics Education, Physics, and Physics Education. The instrument was adapted from the affective test items developed by Wilson used in the National Longitudinal Study on Mathematics Achievement by the School Mathematics Study Group in the USA, and supplemented by test items on beliefs developed based on the McLeod's classification. The data indicated that the affects were of either low level or neutral level (neither favorable nor unfavorable for mathematics lesson) except for the belief about mathematics, about mathematics teaching, and about social context of mathematics.
DHA Supplementation Alone or in Combination with Other Nutrients Does not Modulate Cerebral Hemodynamics or Cognitive Function in Healthy Older Adults

A number of recent trials have demonstrated positive effects of dietary supplementation with the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on measures of cognitive function in healthy young and older adults. One potential mechanism by which EPA, and DHA in particular, may exert these effects is via modulation of cerebral hemodynamics. In order to investigate the effects of DHA alone or provided as one component of a multinutrient supplement (also including Gingko biloba, phosphatidylserine and vitamins B9 and B12) on measures of cerebral hemodynamics and cognitive function, 86 healthy older adults aged 50–70 years who reported subjective memory deficits were recruited to take part in a six month daily dietary supplementation trial. Relative changes in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin and deoxygenated hemoglobin were assessed using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) during the performance of cognitive tasks prior to and following the intervention period. Performance on the cognitive tasks was also assessed. No effect of either active treatment was found for any of the NIRS measures or on the cognitive performance tasks, although the study was limited by a number of factors. Further work should continue to evaluate more holistic approaches to cognitive aging.
Treatment of Trauma for Latina and African American Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Etiony Aldarondo. No. of pages in text. (139) The mental health field lacks an array of effective interventions designed to assist women victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Moreover, treatment modalities responsive to the needs of racially and ethnically diverse populations are under researched. This presents a significant challenge to serving ethnic minority women who are known to experience more crime, violence victimization, and psychological trauma than their dominant-ethnic group counterparts. This study integrated research and theory of trauma with current IPV literature and tested the utility of a brief trauma-based approach in reducing trauma related symptomatology in a predominantly Latina and African American clinical sample. Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) is a time limited intervention that seeks to resolve trauma and psychological symptoms through various memory-based methods, guided exposure techniques, and the use repetitious story-telling of traumatic event(s). By taking this approach, this research sought to add to the emerging literature on the effects of TIR in alleviating symptoms associated with trauma exposure. Treatment effects in 106 survivors of IPV were examined (age = 36, SD=9, 80.2% Latina, 19.8% African American, mean hours spent in TIR treatment M = 6.4, SD = 5.28). Paired t-tests supported the hypotheses that TIR significantly (p < .001) reduced symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression and increased self-concept. Multiple regression analyses found that as the hours in TIR increased so did the participants selfconcept ( R = .179, F(4, 75) = 4.08, p = . 005). Multiple regression analysis also supported the hypothesis that as the total number of crimes as a victim increased Depression increased significantly ( R = .125, F(4, 76) = 2.72, p = . 036). Chi squares and t-tests found no differences between those who remained in treatment versus those who terminated prematurely.
Using An N-Gram-Based Document Representation With A Vector Processing Retrieval Model

N-gram based representations for documents have several distinct advantages for various document processing tasks. First, they provide a more robust representation in the face of grammatical and typographical errors in the documents. Secondly, N-gram representations require no linguistic preparations such as word-stemming or stopword removal. Thus they are ideal in situations requiring multi-language operations. Vector processing retrieval models also have some unique advantages for information retrieval tasks. In particular, they provide a simple, uniform representation for documents and queries, and an intuitively appealing document similarity measure. Also, modern vector space models have good retrieval performance characteristics. In this work, we combine these two ideas by using a vector processing model for documents and queries, but using N-gram frequencies as the basis for the vector element values instead of more traditional term frequencies. The resulting system provides good retrieval performance on the TREC-1 and TREC-2 tests without the need for any kind of word stemming or stopword removal. We also have begun testing the system on Spanish language documents.
Help-Seeking in Suicidal Situations: Paramount and yet Challenging. Interactions between Significant Others of Suicidal Persons and Health Care Providers

Significant others are often crucial for suicidal persons or suicide attempters’ access to care, yet little is known about their efforts to seek help. This article presents the findings of a qualitative pilot study carried out in Switzerland on the help-seeking process of 18 significant others, their perception of the care received by their loved one, and the interactions and collaboration they experienced with professionals. Most significant others repeatedly sought out support for their loved one and themselves. The help-seeking process seemed mostly difficult, was seldom successful on the first attempt, and was filled with multiple difficulties, such as availability and continuity of care and cooperation issues with professionals. Two-thirds of participants were not satisfied with the care provided to their loved ones and half of them faced challenges in their cooperation with professionals, i.e., poor sharing of information or not being acknowledged as partners or supported by professionals. Based on their experience, providing education about suicidal crises and care programs to significant others might lighten their burden and improve their cooperation with professionals, who in turn may benefit from training in communication issues and specific methods of cooperation with significant others in suicidal situations.
Assessment of the accuracy of GeoNames gazetteer data

Gazetteers are the basis of many geospatial applications and serve an important role to collect and make available knowledge about the physical world such as place names and their coordinates. GeoNames is one of the largest and most often used gazetteer and it is generally assumed to be of sufficient quality. In this paper, we examine the quality and accuracy of the data in more detail, triggered by some anomalies encountered during its use. We present a classification of inaccuracies ranging from grid patterns, imprecise coordinates, overlaps and repetitions as well as misclassifications and visualize these for a range of countries. We finally give an outlook into potential corrections.
Dance talent development

This qualitative study examined the culture-specific forms of dance talent development. Due to the scant and uneven literature in the field of dance talent development, this study firstly aimed at exploring the various theories and research methodologies underpinning current dance talent development literature. The other aims were to better understand how various catalysts and processes enhanced dancers’ development at different stages and helped guide students in actualizing their potential. Hence, mapping the Finnish and Singaporean dancers’ and dance students’ talent trajectories later became the focus of this study. This dissertation consists of three sections or (dance) “Acts”, which are based on three soleauthored publications. Act I introduces the compilation and synthesis of empirically based articles published between 2000–2012 that dealt with the critical issues of developing dance talents across the lifespan of children, adolescents, and adults. Data from 37 accepted studies were abstracted into evidence tables relating to: (a) abilities and traits, (b) creativity, (c) motivation, and (d) social support. Findings and recommendations about future research were useful in clarifying the ontological, epistemological, and methodological lenses adopted in subsequent studies in this dissertation. In particular, definition of dance talents should be addressed using talent development theories, and more retrospective research about successful dancers and more prospective longitudinal research about talented students should be conducted. Act II presents, via retrospective interviews, the key factors that impacted the talent development of the award-winning Singaporean (n = 4) and Finnish (n = 4) ballet and contemporary dancers. Integral to all the eight dancers’ success were a high level of abilities, developed psychosocial skills, supportive and knowledgeable people, optimal learning opportunities, and chance. Four dancers’ stories titled “Nonconformist,” “Exemplary Dancer,” “Go-Getter,” and “Trailblazer”—revolving around the themes and developmental stages—illustrate the markedly different pathways for achieving success. The talent-development mega-model framed the discussions in Acts I and II. The perspectives of students (n = 4), parents (n = 2), teachers (n = 6), and a sibling were analyzed in Act III in order to clarify how well significant individuals have supported the exceptionally talented dance students across the different stages of their talent development. The four exceptionally talented students were enrolled in their national dance institutions—the Finnish National Opera Ballet School and the Singapore Dance Theatre. Common themes that emerged from this prospective, two-year study were being there, sharing, and knowing that illustrated the types of support—instrumental, emotional, and informational—from families, peers, and teachers that contributed to the students’