Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining the developing regulatory functions of inhibitory control in young children with externalizing problems

Examining the developing regulatory functions of inhibitory control in young children with externalizing problems William T. Utendale, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2012 Early emerging aggressive and disruptive behaviour problems are associated with the development of patterns of more serious delinquent, oppositional and violent behaviour. Given that such early externalizing problems (EP) contribute to significant personal, academic and social burdens, research elucidating factors that contribute to the development of such difficulties is prudent. In this series of studies, the developing relations between EP, inhibitory control (IC) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were examined. The early childhood period is a time of dynamic and dramatic change and maturation of prefrontostriatal circuitry, with corresponding changes in regulation of behaviour via improved executive functions, of which IC is one prominent feature, and vagal mediated support of responding during stress or challenge, which is reflected in RSA. Both theoretical and empirical attention was given to how physiological and neuropsychological changes over the early childhood period contribute to effective behavioural regulation versus manifestations of elevated EP. In Study 1, externalizing difficulties and IC were examined over the toddler to kindergarten period to identify patterns of change in the regulatory functions of IC. In Study 2, the relations between IC and EP were examined in a sample of 4and 6-year-old children including a large proportion of children with elevated EP, while controlling for
Efficient and secure ranked multi-keyword search on encrypted cloud data

Information search and document retrieval from a remote database (e.g. cloud server) requires submitting the search terms to the database holder. However, the search terms may contain sensitive information that must be kept secret from the database holder. Moreover, the privacy concerns apply to the relevant documents retrieved by the user in the later stage since they may also contain sensitive data and reveal information about sensitive search terms. A related protocol, Private Information Retrieval (PIR), provides useful cryptographic tools to hide the queried search terms and the data retrieved from the database while returning most relevant documents to the user. In this paper, we propose a practical privacy-preserving ranked keyword search scheme based on PIR that allows multi-keyword queries with ranking capability. The proposed scheme increases the security of the keyword search scheme while still satisfying efficient computation and communication requirements. To the best of our knowledge the majority of previous works are not efficient for assumed scenario where documents are large files. Our scheme outperforms the most efficient proposals in literature in terms of time complexity by several orders of magnitude.
The 30 December 2002 landslide-induced tsunamis in Stromboli: sequence of the events reconstructed from the eyewitness accounts

Abstract. On 30 December 2002 the coast of the volcanic island of Stromboli, in the Tyrrhenian sea, Italy, was attacked by two tsunamis generated by landslides that took place on the north-west flank of the volcano. The landslides and the tsunamis represented the most impressive and threatening episodes of a strong effusive eruption, started on 28 December from a new vent which opened close to the north-east crater of the volcano. In spite of the intensified monitoring carried out in response to the eruption, the landslides and the ensuing tsunamis were not foreseen, and the available instrumental data are insufficient to allow a precise reconstruction of the sequence of the events. The seismic network recorded two main landslides along the steep slope of Sciara del Fuoco, with onset around 13:15 and 13:23 local time (GMT+1). The tsunamis were the direct consequence of the mass movements. Three main post-event surveys helped make assessment on the wave impact on the coast. In this paper the attention is focussed on the accounts of the eye-witnesses, that help us clarify and understand what happened. People in the source area (Sciara del Fuoco) reported a small-volume subaerial slide taking place first, then a sharp cut forming in the sea water down to the sea floor (about 10–20 m deep) and propagating almost parallel to the coastline, be concomitantly associated with a sea retreat and a subsequent sea advance. It is suggested here that the cut was the effect of a large submarine landslide that detached from very close to the coast and produced the 13:15 signal in the recorded seismograms. The second, mostly subaerial, slump was observed to slide down 7–8 min later and to excite a train of waves some distance offshore. Not all the witnesses realised that two distinct tsunamis occurred. The tsunami period was probably in the order of 100 s, but shorter period crests were seen to travel on the top of the long-period waves by several persons. The duration of each tsunami was appreciated to be around 5–7 min. It is difficult to ascertain which tsunami was the largest, since there is no full agreement among the observers, but certainly by accounts both were characterised by large destructive waves.
Deterministic History-Independent Strategies for Storing Information on Write-Once Memories

Motivated by the challenging task of designing "secure" vote storage mechanisms, we deal with information storage mechanisms that operate in extremely hostile environments. In such environments, the majority of existing techniques for information storage and for security are susceptible to powerful adversarial attacks. In this setting, we propose a mechanism for storing a set of at most K elements from a large universe of size N on write-once memories in a manner that does not reveal the insertion order of the elements. Whereas previously known constructions were either inefficient (required Θ(K2) memory), randomized, or employed cryptographic techniques which are unlikely to be available in hostile environments, we eliminate each of these undesirable properties. The total amount of memory used by the mechanism is linear in the number of stored elements and poly-logarithmic in the size of the universe of elements. In addition, we consider one of the classical distributed computing problems: Conflict resolution in multiple-access channels. By establishing a tight connection with the basic building block of our mechanism, we construct the first deterministic and non-adaptive conflict resolution algorithm whose running time is optimal up to poly-logarithmic factors.
Genetic polymorphisms and the adequacy of brain stimulation: state of the art

ABSTRACT Introduction: Heterogeneity of therapeutic response to brain stimulation techniques has inspired scientists to uncover the secrets to success or failure of these projects. Genetic polymorphisms are one of the major causes of this heterogeneity. Areas covered: More than twenty genetic variants within more than ten genes (e.g. BDNF, COMT, DRD2, TRPV1, 5-HT1A, 5-HHT, P2RX7, VEGF, TPH1, TPH2, ACE, APOE, GNB3, NET, NMDA receptors, and RGS4) have been investigated, among which the BDNF gene and its polymorphism, Val66Met, is the best documented variant. We review the genotypic combinations, which are reported to interact with the work of brain stimulation, of which the DRD2 C957T polymorphism is the most prominent type. Finally, implications of transcranial magnetic stimulation in deciphering the interaction between genetic background (e.g. SCN1A and 5-HTT) and drugs (e.g. carbamazepine and citalopram) at the cortical excitability level is explained. Expert commentary: Studies are ongoing to find missing factors responsible for heterogeneity of response to brain stimulation techniques. Further knowledge about genetic factors affecting the therapeutic response to brain stimulation techniques might provide helpful guidelines for choosing ideal candidates for treatment.
Rectal cancer associated with schistosomiasis: report of two cases and review of the literature.

Rectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the West. The incidence in the developing countries is also increasing. There are various reasons for this escalation, including changes in dietary habits, particularly among urban dwellers, and parasitic infections. The risk of colorectal cancer is known to be increased in patients with long-standing schistosomal colitis. We present two male patients who had low rectal cancer (pT3N3M0, and pT3N2M0) for which they were treated with A-P resection and adjuvant chemoradiation. Histological examination of the specimen revealed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma with extensive schistosomal colitis. The literature was reviewed. The relation between colorectal cancer and intestinal schistosomiasis should be considered as precancerous.
Social environment and depression among pregnant women in rural areas of Sind, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relative power of social relations and social conditions in predicting depression using (CES-D scale) among rural pregnant women belonging to Sind, Pakistan. METHODS The study was conducted from January 2004 tp December 2004. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. During quantitative phase a total of 375 rural pregnant women were inquired about social conditions, social relations and pregnancy related concerns through a questionnaire based form. Variables were given scores when it applied to a situation of a pregnant woman. Concurrently, in a blind set-up, translated and validated Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered. In multivariate linear regression analysis, relation between scores of social relations and social condition variables with scores of CES-D scale were analyzed. RESULTS Prevalence of depression among rural pregnant women is high (62%). Social conditions as compared to social relations are more important determinants for depression among rural pregnant women. CONCLUSION There is a high prevalence of depression in rural areas.
Face liveness detection through face structure analysis

Liveness detection is a way to detect whether the person is live or not during submission of his/her biometric trait. It is mandatory in order to prevent face spoofing attacks. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed a robust face structure analysis mechanism to detect the liveness by exploiting face shape information. 3D structure/shape of the face is measured on the basis of disparity map between left and right image taken by stereoscopic vision. A gradient–based eight neighbour feature extraction technique has been proposed to extract unique features from these disparity images. It produces minimal computational cost by taking subset of the overall image. We have applied linear discriminant analysis (LDA), C–means algorithms on these features while principal component analysis (PCA) is applied on raw disparity images. We have achieved a recognition rate of 91.6%, 97.5% and 98.3% using PCA, LDA and C–means respectively, which strengthened the confidence of our proposed feature extraction technique.
A vigorous starburst in the SCUBA galaxy N2 850.4

We present optical and near-infrared (near-IR) spectroscopy of a z = 2.38 hyperluminous IR galaxy, covering the rest-frame wavelength range from 1000-5000 A. It appears to comprise two components separated by less than1 arcsec on the sky (? 8 kpc); one component (B) is blue, the other (P) is red in rest-frame ultraviolet(UV)-optical colours. The combined system has a rest-frame luminosity of ∼8L* v and its rest-frame optical spectrum is characteristic of a Seyfert active galactic nucleus. However, its rest-frame UV spectrum exhibits striking features associated with young stars, including P-Cygni lines from stellar winds and blueshifted interstellar absorption lines indicative of a galactic outflow. Redshifts are derived from stellar photospheric lines in the UV and from narrow emission lines in the rest-frame optical, and these are compared to those measured for the molecular gas recently detected with the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) interferometer. The offsets indicate that the far-IR emission is most likely associated with the near-IR source P, which hosts the Seyfert nucleus, while the UV-bright component B is blueshifted by 400 km s - 1 . This suggests that the two components are probably merging and the resulting gravitational interactions have triggered the hyperluminous activity. Modelling of the UV spectral features implies that the starburst within the UV component of this system has been going on for at least ∼10 Myr. Assuming that the bolometrically-dominant obscured component has a similar lifetime, we estimate that it has so far formed a total stellar mass of ∼10 1 1 M O . If this star formation continues at its present level for substantially longer, or if this activity is repeated, then the present-day descendant of N2 850.4 will be a very luminous galaxy.
Cheating behaviors of college students

The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of college students who cheated when allowed to correct their own examinations, to, determine factors associated with cheating behavior among freshman college students, and to determine the proportion of college students who would admit to cheating. Data from the sample of 158 students enrolled in three general psychology courses at a small, Midwestern, public college, during fall quarter, 1981, were obtained from a questionnaire developed by the researcher, from observed cheating behavior, from a modification of Warner's randomized response technique, and from a direct question method regarding cheating. Cheating was defined as changing one or more answers when correcting own examination and/or not marking two or more incorrect responses. Forty-three percent of the students cheated. Although no significant difference existed between the proportions of males and females who cheated, 50 percent of the males cheated compared to 38.3 percent of the females. Students at the lower end of the grade scale tended to cheat more than those at the upper end of the grade scale. Students were more likely to cheat as a result of perceived importance of grades to parents than importance of grades to themselves. Among the selected variables investigated, anticipated college success was found to be significantly related to cheating at the . 05 level, using a Chi Square Test of Independence. Those students who anticipated being "very successful" cheated more than was expected based on a true null hypothesis. Other variables from the questionnaire were not found to be related significantly to cheating, except for students' specific plans for training/education after college. The randomized response procedure was not found to have utility in group settings. Recommendations for action and further study included 1) further study regarding the usefulness of the Warner technique is warranted, particularly where the actual incidence of a sensitive behavior can be determined and compared to the estimated proportions for the sake of validation, and 2) further studies should be conducted to clarify the relationship between cheating and anticipated success.
A strategic governance model to improve the performance of emergency departements in public hospitals in the province of Ontario, Canada

La demande croissante de soins de sante dans la province de l'Ontario a mene a ce qu’un plus grand nombre de patients se tournent vers les services d'urgence des hopitaux publics pour les soins dont ils ont besoin. La qualite de la gestion des services d'urgence mesuree par les resultats des patients est probablement symptomatique de la qualite de la gestion de l'hopital et, finalement, de celle de la direction de l'hopital. Cette etude est la premiere a notre connaissance reliant la qualite de la gestion a la composition du conseil d'administration des hopitaux. La performance a ete evaluee en determinant les activites qui etaient presentes, en termes de resultats pour les patients. Les donnees ont ete recueillies aupres du ministere de la Sante de l'Ontario : signalements des 109 hopitaux pendant plus de 3 ans et histoire des membres du conseil d’administration. L'effet des activites sur les patients a ete evalue pour des activites ayant un effet positif sur les resultats des patients (classees comme des activites essentielles). La performance des activites a ete etudiee en fonction de la composition et des competences du conseil. Trois liens ont ete trouves entre les conseils et les performances : les conseils avec des membres ayant des competences d'execution operationnelles avaient un rendement superieur, les conseils avec des entrepreneurs et du personnel medical ont eu un effet positif alors que les conseils avec des hommes politiques ont eu un impact negatif sur les performances. C'est pourquoi les conseils d'hopitaux de l'Ontario doivent etre construits de telle sorte que les membres puissent assurer une gouvernance de qualite superieure, conduisant a de meilleurs resultats pour les patients. Cette etude a revele deux activites qui n'avaient pas d’impact ou un impact negatif. La question de qualite de la gestion conseil competence peut etre evaluee en presence de l'activite et de la performance de ces activite
Ultrastructure of cells of the mononuclear‐phagocyte series (MPS) across the leprosy spectrum

A systematic ultrastructural study of cells of the MPS across the spectrum of leprosy has been carried out. Graded changes in macrophage ultrastructure from the lepromatous to the tuberculoid poles have been shown. Mycobacteria-filled macrophages in lepromatous leprosy are characterised by long cell processes, whereas in borderline tuberculoid leprosy these cells have a rounded appearance and are mainly characterised by numerous intracellular vacuoles. In borderline leprosy, macrophages have an intermediate appearance. Cells of the MPS containing abundant endoplasmic reticulum were only seen in typical "epithelioid cell" tuberculoid granulomas in "BT in reaction" and in the Mitsuda reaction. Epithelioid cell granulomas in other forms of BT leprosy contained activated macrophages.
In-silico Taxonomic Classification of 373 Genomes Reveals Species Misidentification and New Genospecies within the Genus Pseudomonas

The genus Pseudomonas has one of the largest diversity of species within the Bacteria kingdom. To date, its taxonomy is still being revised and updated. Due to the non-standardized procedure and ambiguous thresholds at species level, largely based on 16S rRNA gene or conventional biochemical assay, species identification of publicly available Pseudomonas genomes remains questionable. In this study, we performed a large-scale analysis of all Pseudomonas genomes with species designation (excluding the well-defined P. aeruginosa) and re-evaluated their taxonomic assignment via in silico genome-genome hybridization and/or genetic comparison with valid type species. Three-hundred and seventy-three pseudomonad genomes were analyzed and subsequently clustered into 145 distinct genospecies. We detected 207 erroneous labels and corrected 43 to the proper species based on Average Nucleotide Identity Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) sequence similarity to the type strain. Surprisingly, more than half of the genomes initially designated as Pseudomonas syringae and Pseudomonas fluorescens should be classified either to a previously described species or to a new genospecies. Notably, high pairwise average nucleotide identity (>95%) indicating species-level similarity was observed between P. synxantha-P. libanensis, P. psychrotolerans–P. oryzihabitans, and P. kilonensis- P. brassicacearum, that were previously differentiated based on conventional biochemical tests and/or genome-genome hybridization techniques.
Patient-derived granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor autoantibodies reproduce pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in nonhuman primates.

RATIONALE Granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibodies (GMAb) are strongly associated with idiopathic pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and are believed to be important in its pathogenesis. However, levels of GMAb do not correlate with disease severity and GMAb are also present at low levels in healthy individuals. OBJECTIVES Our primary objective was to determine whether human GMAb would reproduce PAP in healthy primates. A secondary objective was to determine the concentration of GMAb resulting in loss of GM-CSF signaling in vivo (i.e., critical threshold). METHODS Nonhuman primates (Macaca fascicularis) were injected with highly purified, PAP patient-derived GMAb in dose-ranging (2.2-50 mg) single and multiple administration studies, and after blocking antihuman immunoglobulin immune responses, in chronic administration studies maintaining serum levels greater than 40 microg/ml for up to 11 months. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS GMAb blocked GM-CSF signaling causing (1) a milky-appearing bronchoalveolar lavage fluid containing increased surfactant lipids and proteins; (2) enlarged, foamy, surfactant-filled alveolar macrophages with reduced PU.1 and PPARgamma mRNA, and reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion; (3) pulmonary leukocytosis; (4) increased serum surfactant protein-D; and (5) impaired neutrophil functions. GM-CSF signaling varied inversely with GMAb concentration below a critical threshold of 5 microg/ml, which was similar in lungs and blood and to the value observed in patients with PAP. CONCLUSIONS GMAb reproduced the molecular, cellular, and histopathologic features of PAP in healthy primates, demonstrating that GMAb directly cause PAP. These results have implications for therapy of PAP and help define the therapeutic window for potential use of GMAb to treat other disorders.
Identification of Water Use Strategies at Early Growth Stages in Durum Wheat from Shoot Phenotyping and Physiological Measurements

Modern imaging technology provides new approaches to plant phenotyping for traits relevant to crop yield and resource efficiency. Our objective was to investigate water use strategies at early growth stages in durum wheat genetic resources using shoot imaging at the ScreenHouse phenotyping facility combined with physiological measurements. Twelve durum landraces from different pedoclimatic backgrounds were compared to three modern check cultivars in a greenhouse pot experiment under well-watered (75% plant available water, PAW) and drought (25% PAW) conditions. Transpiration rate was analyzed for the underlying main morphological (leaf area duration) and physiological (stomata conductance) factors. Combining both morphological and physiological regulation of transpiration, four distinct water use types were identified. Most landraces had high transpiration rates either due to extensive leaf area (area types) or both large leaf areas together with high stomata conductance (spender types). All modern cultivars were distinguished by high stomata conductance with comparatively compact canopies (conductance types). Only few landraces were water saver types with both small canopy and low stomata conductance. During early growth, genotypes with large leaf area had high dry-matter accumulation under both well-watered and drought conditions compared to genotypes with compact stature. However, high stomata conductance was the basis to achieve high dry matter per unit leaf area, indicating high assimilation capacity as a key for productivity in modern cultivars. We conclude that the identified water use strategies based on early growth shoot phenotyping combined with stomata conductance provide an appropriate framework for targeted selection of distinct pre-breeding material adapted to different types of water limited environments.