Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Golden Section has no Special Aesthetic Attractivity!

Through the centuries great claims have been made for the special aesthetic value of the Golden Section. Reviews of the experimental literature yield a mixed verdict, some studies supporting the Golden Section hypothesis, others disproving it. A series of experiments is described in which the aesthetic quality of the Golden Section was systematically compared with the aesthetic appeal of the ratio of 1.5. It was found that the Golden Section does not have a special aesthetic quality as compared to the ration 1.5, and that other characteristics of visual patterns are far more important from an aesthetic point of view.
Convergence of Hypervolume-Based Archiving Algorithms

Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms typically maintain a set of solutions. A crucial part of these algorithms is the archiving, which decides what solutions to keep. A (μ + λ)archiving algorithm defines how to choose in each generation μ children from μ parents and λ offspring together. We study mathematically the convergence behavior of hypervolume-based archiving algorithms. We distinguish two cases for the offspring generation. A best-case view leads to a study of the effectiveness of archiving algorithms. It was known that all (μ + 1)-archiving algorithms are ineffective, which means that a set with maximum hypervolume is not necessarily reached. We prove that for λ <; μ, all archiving algorithms are ineffective. We also present upper and lower bounds for the achievable hypervolume for different classes of archiving algorithms. On the other hand, a worstcase view on the offspring generation leads to a study of the competitive ratio of archiving algorithms. This measures how much smaller hypervolumes are achieved due to not knowing the future offspring in advance. We present upper and lower bounds on the competitive ratio of different archiving algorithms and present an archiving algorithm, which is the first known computationally efficient archiving algorithm with constant competitive ratio.
High-frequency high frame rate ultrasound imaging system for small animal imaging with linear arrays

Due to the fast heart rate of a mouse greater than 400 beats/min, cardiovascular research utilizing mice requires imaging modalities with high frame rate capability (>100 Frames/sec), which cannot be realized by Micro-CT and MicroPET at present. High-frequency ultrasound imaging, on the other hand, is capable of achieving a better spatial resolution at an affordable price. In this paper, we report the development of a high-frequency high frame rate ultrasound imaging system using 30~35MHz linear arrays. The system includes 64 pulsers, 16 1:4 De-multiplexers, 16 4:1 multiplexers, 16-channel TGC amplifiers, an analog beamforming board, a microprocessor (89S8252), a 500MS/s 8-bit PCI A/D card and a PC supported by Labview based software. The system can display 30 images per second and acquire over 100 images per second for slow motion playback with 30MHz 48 element linear arrays. Tissue mimicking phantoms were used to assess image quality. Rabbit eye images and mouse heart images have been obtained in vitro and in vivo to demonstrate the potential of this system in biomedical applications.
Asthma in Inner-City Children at 5–11 Years of Age and Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates: The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Cohort

Background: Studies suggest that phthalate exposures may adversely affect child respiratory health. Objectives: We evaluated associations between asthma diagnosed in children between 5 and 11 years of age and prenatal exposures to butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and diethyl phthalate (DEP). Methods: Phthalate metabolites were measured in spot urine collected from 300 pregnant inner-city women. Children were examined by an allergist or pulmonologist based on the first parental report of wheeze, other respiratory symptoms, and/or use of asthma rescue/controller medication in the preceding 12 months on repeat follow-up questionnaires. Standardized diagnostic criteria were used to classify these children as either having or not having current asthma at the time of the physician examination. Children without any report of wheeze or the other asthma-like symptoms were classified as nonasthmatics at the time of the last negative questionnaire. Modified Poisson regression analyses were used to estimate relative risks (RR) controlling for specific gravity and potential confounders. Results: Of 300 children, 154 (51%) were examined by a physician because of reports of wheeze, other asthma-like symptoms, and/or medication use; 94 were diagnosed with current asthma and 60 without current asthma. The remaining 146 children were classified as nonasthmatic. Compared with levels in nonasthmatics, prenatal metabolites of BBzP and DnBP were associated with a history of asthma-like symptoms (p < 0.05) and with the diagnosis of current asthma: RR = 1.17 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.35) and RR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.51) per natural log-unit increase, respectively. Risk of current asthma was > 70% higher among children with maternal prenatal BBzP and DnBP metabolite concentrations in the third versus the first tertile. Conclusion: Prenatal exposure to BBzP and DnBP may increase the risk of asthma among inner-city children. However, because this is the first such finding, results require replication. Citation: Whyatt RM, Perzanowski MS, Just AC, Rundle AG, Donohue KM, Calafat AM, Hoepner LA, Perera FP, Miller RL. 2014. Asthma in inner-city children at 5–11 years of age and prenatal exposure to phthalates: the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Cohort. Environ Health Perspect 122:1141–1146; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1307670
Ideal Pure Shear Strength of Aluminum and Copper

Although aluminum has a smaller modulus in {111}〈112̄〉 shear than that of copper, we find by first-principles calculation that its ideal shear strength is larger because of a more extended deformation range before softening. This fundamental behavior, along with an abnormally high intrinsic stacking fault energy and a different orientation dependence on pressure hardening, are traced to the directional nature of its bonding. By a comparative analysis of ion relaxations and valence charge redistributions in aluminum and copper, we arrive at contrasting descriptions of bonding characteristics in these two metals that can explain their relative strength and deformation behavior.
The Use of Diaries To Measure Discretionary Behavior

This article presents a study of the use of diaries to measure discretionary behavior. These are behaviors such as viewing television where personal choice plays a predominant role. Diary data collected upon two occasions five months apart were compared with automatically recorded data. The results show that use of diaries apparently caused an increase in thefrequency of viewing broadcast teletext on the part of those who normally used it infrequently. The data indicate that diaries are likely to be inaccurate in measuring the durations of behavioral events. It is concluded that diaries should not be used to estimate the population frequencies for discretionary behaviors.
The Moderating Effect of Organizational Commitment on the Occupational Stress Outcome Relationship

The study attempted to examine the effect of organizational commitment as a moderator of the stress-outcome relationship. In all, 106 (39 male, 67 female) professional and administrative officers from various departments of a public sector organization each completed a set of questionnaires which consisted of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) which has six subscales relating to stressors, six relating to coping strategies, three relating to Type A, three to locus of control as well as three outcome measures: mental health, physical health and a five subscale job satisfaction measure. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) and a single item for intention to quit was also completed. According to previous findings (Begley & Czajka, 1993), individuals with high organizational commitment suffered less negative outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, mental and physical health, and intention to quit as compared to those who were less committed. Therefore it was predicted that commitment buffered the relationship between occupational stress and stress outcomes. Regressions showed commitment as a main effect, but not in interaction overall. Stress was a significant predictor of all four dependent variables: job satisfaction, mental ill-health, physical ill-health and intention to quit. Results showed that commitment was significant only in the relationship between stress due to factors intrinsic to job, and mental ill-health. Therefore, there was little evidence for the moderating effect of commitment in any of the outcome variables. Commitment was found to affect the outcome variables directly while occupational stress was only found to predict mental and physical health.
Strategical Argumentative Agent for Human Persuasion

Automated agents should be able to persuade people in the same way people persuade each other - via dialogs. Today, automated persuasion modeling and research use unnatural assumptions regarding persuasive interaction, which creates doubt regarding their applicability for real-world deployment with people. In this work we present a novel methodology for persuading people through argumentative dialogs. Our methodology combines theoretical argumentation modeling, machine learning and Markovian optimization techniques that together result in an innovative agent named SPA. Two extensive ﬁeld experiments, with more than 100 human subjects, show that SPA is able to persuade people signiﬁcantly more often than a baseline agent and no worse than people are able to per-suade each other.
Ideological and Demographic Correlates of Proecology Behavior

Summary Previous studies of the ideological and demographic characteristics of environmentalists have used attitude measures to distinguish persons with a pro-ecology orientation. Concerns about attitude-behavior correspondence, however, have provoked criticism that such ideological and demographic profiles may have little meaning for predicting variation in behavioral commitment to protecting and enhancing environmental quality. In order to examine this issue a survey including measures of sociopolitical ideology and a variety of demographic attributes was administered to residents of a medium-sized New England town. Later, a subsample of 44 men and women was given the opportunity to participate in a series of ecology projects carried out over a five month period. Results indicated that Ss exhibiting high participation were more liberal in their social, economic, and religious philosophies, better educated, and higher in occupational status; the same pattern of attributes previously linked to attitudinal.
A Low-Leakage, Robust ESD Clamp with Thyristor Delay Element in 65 nm CMOS Technology

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a well-known problem in integrated circuits that affects its reliability, yield and cost. It is important to design ESD protection circuits that are ablet o prevent ESD related yield loss [1]. In this work, a 65 nm static clamp with a thyristor as a delay element to extend the on time of the clamp during the ESD event is presented. Simulation and measurement results show that the proposed clamp has fast response for ESD-like events. Extensive analysis demonstrates that the clamp is stable against false triggering, power supplynoise and has very low-leakage current. Measurement resultsshow that the clamp is capable of handling 3.21A of currentwhile its leakage is only 180pA. In addition, the measurementresults show that the proposed clamp demonstrates immunityagainst false triggering under the fast power-on condition.
Inattention, hyperactivity, and symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing.

OBJECTIVE Inattention and hyperactivity are frequent among children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and often improve when SDB is treated. However, the frequency of SDB symptoms among inattentive and hyperactive children has received little study. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Two university-affiliated but community-based general pediatrics clinics. PATIENTS Patients consisted of N = 866 children (469 boys), aged 2.0 to 13.9 years (mean: 6.8 plus minus 3.2 years), with clinic appointments. MEASURES A validated Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire assessed for habitual snoring (1 item), snoring severity (a 4-item subscale), sleepiness (4 items), and overall risk of SDB (16 items). Parents also completed 2 common behavioral measures, an inattention/hyperactivity scale (IHS) derived from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and the hyperactivity index (HI, expressed as a t score) of the Conners' Parent Rating Scale. RESULTS Habitual snoring was reported in 16% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 13, 19) of the participants. High HI scores (>60) were found in 13% (95% CI: 11, 16) of all participants, 22% (95% CI: 15, 29) of habitual snorers, and 12% (95% CI: 9, 14) of nonsnorers. Odds ratios between HI >60 and each of the following were: habitual snoring, 2.2 (95% CI: 1.4, 3.6); 1 additional positive symptom-item on the snoring scale, 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.5); 1 additional positive item on the sleepiness scale, 1.6 (95% CI: 1.4, 2.0); and a 1-standard deviation increase in the overall SDB score, 1.7 (95% CI: 1.4, 2.0; all odds ratios age- and sex-adjusted). Results were similar for high IHS scores (>1.25). Stratification by age and sex showed that most of the association with snoring (but not sleepiness) derived from boys <8 years old. CONCLUSIONS Inattention and hyperactivity among general pediatric patients are associated with increased daytime sleepiness and---especially in young boys---snoring and other symptoms of SDB. If sleepiness and SDB do influence daytime behavior, the current results suggest a major public health impact.
Targeting of AMSH to Endosomes Is Required for Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Degradation*

To reach the lysosomes, down-regulated receptors such as the epidermal growth factor receptor must first be sorted into internal vesicles of late endosomes (multivesicular bodies), a ubiquitin-dependent event that requires the coordinated function of the endosome sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) proteins. Here we report that CHMP3, an ESCRT-III complex component, and associated molecule of SH3 domain of STAM (AMSH), a deubiquitinating enzyme, interact with each other in cells. A dominant-negative version of CHMP3, which specifically prevents targeting of AMSH to endosomes, inhibits degradation but not internalization of EGFR, suggesting that endosomal AMSH is a functional component of the multivesicular body pathway.
HoNOSCA: Uses and Limitations

HoNOSCA is a timely newcomer to the field of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) research. In its short life it has already been thoroughly and successfully evaluated. Its user-friendliness has made it acceptable and even popular in routine clinical practice. It was central to clinical data gathering for the recent national survey of CAMH provision in the UK (Audit Commission, 1999). What are the reasons for its popularity? What are its limitations? And what about possible future uses?
Unlocking the learning potential in peer mediation: An evaluation of peer mediator modeling and disputant learning

This research used modeling theory to test peer mediator modeling and disputant learning during peer mediation.The results demonstrated that peer mediators effectively modeled, and disputants effectively learned, conflict resolution knowledge, attitudes, and skills that contributed to a significant improvement in conflict attitudes and behaviors, and a significant reduction in disputant discipline problems following mediation.
Hyperandrogenemia in male autistic children and adolescents: relation to disease severity

Abstract Background: It has been suggested that autistic patients have elevated blood androgens, and although signs of precocious puberty have been reported in autistic patients, such a relation has not yet been clarified. Objectives: To assess serum androgen levels in a group of Egyptian male autistic children and adolescents and their relation to disease severity. In addition, the risk for association of androgens with autism was estimated. Methods: In comparison to 20 controls, 30 male autistic children were studied. All subjects were subjected to clinical evaluation, intelligence quotient (IQ) assessment and measurement of serum free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) and Δ4-androstenedione (Δ4-A). Results: Androgens were higher in autistic patients than in controls and increased with increased autistic severity. Of the patients, 11 (36.66%) had high FT, 9 (30%) had high DHEA, 12 (40%) had high Δ4-A and 8 (26.66%) showed elevation of all androgen levels. FT (OR: 38.45, 95% CI: 2.14–688.93, p=0.013) and Δ4-A (OR: 13.6, 95%CI: 2.25–22.89, p=0.04) had a significant risk for association with autism. Conclusions: Hyperandrogenemia is prevalent in autistic patients and increases with autistic severity. Thus, androgen levels should be assessed in autistic patients with signs of early puberty. Further studies are warranted regarding trials of anti-androgen therapy in such patients.
Three-Dimensional Local Binary Patterns for Hyperspectral Imagery Classification

The local binary pattern (LBP) is a simple and efficient texture descriptor for image processing. Recently, LBP has been introduced for feature extraction of hyperspectral imagery. Specifically, the LBP codes are extracted from the 2-D band images to capture the spatial correlation among neighboring pixels, and then the statistical histogram features from all bands, which could estimate the underlying distribution in local area, are concatenated together for pixel-wise classification. However, since hyperspectral imagery contains rich spectral and spatial information, which is actually a 3-D data cube, the 2-D LBP (2-DLBP) model cannot fully exploit the joint spectral–spatial structure. In this paper, the 2-DLBP has been extended into 3-D LBP (3-DLBP) model through forming a 3-D regular octahedral frame to characterize the spectral–spatial relationship. In order to reflect the local continuous property of hyperspectral data in both the spectral and spatial domains, while ensuring the rotational invariance of the 3-DLBP model, the code patterns of 3-DLBP model have been divided into eight groups (including seven groups of “dense” patterns and one group of “nondense” patterns) based on the consistency of spectral–spatial topology structure. Specifically, the patterns in seven “dense” groups correspond to the microstructures in the 3-D domains (such as spots, edges, and flat areas), which has a high percentage in all the 3-DLBP patterns, while the rest patterns are aggregated and treated as the “nondense” patterns. The proposed method is thus called 3-D dense LBP (3-D2LBP) model. Moreover, instead of taking zero as the hard threshold, a slack variable has been introduced to enable the difference between the central pixel and the neighboring ones varying in a small interval, which could greatly decrease the impact of spectral variability and noise, and the discriminative power of the features has been further boosted. The slack threshold-based 3-D2LBP model is named ST-3-D2LBP. A series of experiments is conducted on three real hyperspectral imageries to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed two 3-D2LBP-based methods. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed ST-3-D2LBP is significantly superior to that of 2-DLBP, which is also better than the 3-D2LBP model and several state-of-the-art hyperspectral classification methods.
Expression of the transcriptional regulator snail1 in kidney transplants displaying epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition features.

BACKGROUND The epithelial response to injury is stereotypical and reminiscent of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs), such as those observed during embryogenesis and tumour metastasis. In the context of solid organ transplantation, EMT-like features are often acquired by epithelial cells and are predictive of graft fibrosis. Here, we studied the possible involvement of several major transcriptional regulators, including snail1, phospho-Smad 2/3 and zeb1, in EMT induction in human renal grafts. METHODS We used immunohistochemistry to detect the presence of these EMT transcriptional regulators along with that of two validated EMT markers (intra-cytoplasmic translocation of β-catenin, de novo expression of vimentin), in 103 renal graft biopsy samples taken for routine surveillance or for a clinical indication. RESULTS We observed the nuclear accumulation of snail1 and phospho-smad2/3 in tubular cells displaying EMT. The level of snail1 was significantly correlated with the scores of EMT markers (β-catenin: ρ = 0.94, P < 0.0001; vimentin: ρ = 0.93, P < 0.0001) and with deteriorated graft function and proteinuria at the time of biopsy. Furthermore, intense staining for both snail1 and vimentin in tubular cells (≥10% of tubules) was predictive of graft dysfunction 21 months post-biopsy, independently of the other known risk factor for long-term graft dysfunction. In contrast, in both normal and diseased graft, zeb1 expression was detected exclusively in the endothelial cells of glomeruli and peritubular capillaries. CONCLUSION This study suggests that snail1 is closely related to the fibrogenic, EMT-like response of the tubular epithelium in human renal grafts and predictive of graft function loss.
Predicting Disability after Ischemic Stroke Based on Comorbidity Index and Stroke Severity—From the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive-Acute Collaboration

Background and aim The availability and access of hospital administrative data [coding for Charlson comorbidity index (CCI)] in large data form has resulted in a surge of interest in using this information to predict mortality from stroke. The aims of this study were to determine the minimum clinical data set to be included in models for predicting disability after ischemic stroke adjusting for CCI and clinical variables and to evaluate the impact of CCI on prediction of outcome. Method We leverage anonymized clinical trial data in the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive. This repository contains prospective data on stroke severity and outcome. The inclusion criteria were patients with available stroke severity score such as National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), imaging data, and outcome disability score such as 90-day Rankin Scale. We calculate CCI based on comorbidity data in this data set. For logistic regression, we used these calibration statistics: Nagelkerke generalised R2 and Brier score; and for discrimination we used: area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). The IDI was used to evaluate improvement in disability prediction above baseline model containing age, sex, and CCI. Results The clinical data among 5,206 patients (55% males) were as follows: mean age 69 ± 13 years, CCI 4.2 ± 0.8, and median NIHSS of 12 (IQR 8, 17) on admission and 9 (IQR 5, 15) at 24 h. In Model 2, adding admission NIHSS to the baseline model improved AUC from 0.67 (95% CI 0.65–0.68) to 0.79 (95% CI 0.78–0.81). In Model 3, adding 24-h NIHSS to the baseline model resulted in substantial improvement in AUC to 0.90 (95% CI 0.89–0.91) and increased IDI by 0.23 (95% CI 0.22–0.24). Adding the variable recombinant tissue plasminogen activator did not result in a further change in AUC or IDI to this regression model. In Model 3, the variable NIHSS at 24 h explains 87.3% of the variance of Model 3, follow by age (8.5%), comorbidity (3.7%), and male sex (0.5%). Conclusion Our results suggest that prediction of disability after ischemic stroke should at least include 24-h NIHSS and age. The variable CCI is less important for prediction of disability in this data set.