Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safe or Out: Does the Location of Attention Affect Judgments at First Base in Baseball?

Titchener’s law of prior entry states that attended stimuli are perceived before unattended stimuli. Prior entry effects measured with visual stimuli have been generated with both endogenous and exogenous attentional deployment (e.g., by Shore, Spence, & Klein, 2001). In theory, the endogenous form of prior entry may have implications for baseball umpire judgments. Conventionally, umpires are instructed to first attend to the ball when it is hit into play; however, where they attend at the imperative instant of the play at first base can vary between individuals and across scenarios. If the law of prior entry holds in the baseball context, umpires may be biased to make judgments in favour of the imperative event nearest the locus of attention. We tested this hypothesis by having non-umpires make “Safe” or “Out” judgments in response to first base baseball plays wherein the relative arrival times of the runner and baseball were varied. A novel colour wheel method was implemented in an orthogonal task to bias attention endogenously and to measure the effectiveness of this manipulation. Attention was confirmed to be successfully biased to the glove or base by way of improved identification at the likely probe location. However, there was no evidence that prior entry was affecting Safe or Out judgments. La loi de l’entrée préalable de Titchener dicte que les stimuli sur lesquels notre attention se concentre sont perçus avant les stimuli sur lesquels notre attention n’est pas concentrée. Les effets de l’entrée préalable, mesurés à l’aide de stimuli visuels, ont été générés via déploiement attentionnel endogène et exogène (par ex., par Shore, Spence, & Klein, 2001). En théorie, la forme endogène de l’entrée préalable pourrait avoir des implications sur les jugements des arbitres au baseball. Règle générale, les arbitres reçoivent comme directives de porter attention à la balle dès qu’elle entre en jeu; or, l’emplacement exact où ces derniers interviennent à l’instant impératif du jeu au premier but peut varier d’un individu à l’autre et d’un scénario à l’autre. Si la loi de l’entrée préalable tient dans le contexte du baseball, les arbitres pourraient être biaisés à effectuer leurs jugements en faveur de l’événement impératif le plus proche de leur centre d’attention. Nous avons testé cette hypothèse en demandant à des non-arbitres de décréter des jugements « Sauf » ou « retiré » à la suite de jeux de baseball sur le premier but où les temps d’arrivée du coureur et de la balle variaient. Une nouvelle méthode à base de roue chromatique a été introduite dans une tâche orthogonale afin de biaiser l’attention de manière endogène et de mesurer l’efficacité de cette manipulation. Il a été confirmé que l’attention était bel et bien biaisée par le gant ou le but grâce à une identification améliorée sur les lieux probables du sondage. Il n’y avait toutefois aucune preuve voulant que la loi de l’entrée préalable affecte les jugements « sauf » ou « retiré ».
The Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on the Renal Parenchyma Measurements : ACT Based Study

Objective: In order to establish some preliminary data of our population, we determined the Computerized Tomography (CT) for evaluation the kidney dimensions in individuals with known Diabetic Nephropathy. We evaluated whether the diabetes can affect the renal measurements. Methods: In Multidetector Computerized Tomography thin-slice (MDCTs) scans of 300 kidneys in 150 Sudanese patients (50 Diabetes subjects and 100 as control) the study was performed. The kidney length, width, medulla and cortical width, medulla and cortical CT Hounsfield (HU), and the renal parenchymal thickness on CT scans were measured through upper calyx; renal pelvis; and lower calyx levels and were registered in (mm) for both kidneys. The measurements were done for both control and diabetes groups. The possible influencing diabetic effects that can be visualized were recorded from a measurement data set. For measurements, axes were adjusted individually in axial and coronal planes. Results: Kidneys were found to be significantly changed for some parameters in diabetic patients when compared to the normal control group. A positive linear relationship was found between the right and left kidney width and the duration of diabetes. Conclusions: The possible mechanisms for the kidney measurements changes were highlighted for Sudanese population.
Deep Learning Based Car Damage Classification

Image based vehicle insurance processing is an important area with large scope for automation. In this paper we consider the problem of car damage classification, where some of the categories can be fine-granular. We explore deep learning based techniques for this purpose. Initially, we try directly training a CNN. However, due to small set of labeled data, it does not work well. Then, we explore the effect of domain-specific pre-training followed by fine-tuning. Finally, we experiment with transfer learning and ensemble learning. Experimental results show that transfer learning works better than domain specific fine-tuning. We achieve accuracy of 89.5% with combination of transfer and ensemble learning.
Towards Real-Time, Country-Level Location Classification of Worldwide Tweets

The increase of interest in using social media as a source for research has motivated tackling the challenge of automatically geolocating tweets, given the lack of explicit location information in the majority of tweets. In contrast to much previous work that has focused on location classification of tweets restricted to a specific country, here we undertake the task in a broader context by classifying global tweets at the country level, which is so far unexplored in a real-time scenario. We analyze the extent to which a tweet’s country of origin can be determined by making use of eight tweet-inherent features for classification. Furthermore, we use two datasets, collected a year apart from each other, to analyze the extent to which a model trained from historical tweets can still be leveraged for classification of new tweets. With classification experiments on all 217 countries in our datasets, as well as on the top 25 countries, we offer some insights into the best use of tweet-inherent features for an accurate country-level classification of tweets. We find that the use of a single feature, such as the use of tweet content alone-the most widely used feature in previous work-leaves much to be desired. Choosing an appropriate combination of both tweet content and metadata can actually lead to substantial improvements of between 20 and 50 percent. We observe that tweet content, the user’s self-reported location and the user’s real name, all of which are inherent in a tweet and available in a real-time scenario, are particularly useful to determine the country of origin. We also experiment on the applicability of a model trained on historical tweets to classify new tweets, finding that the choice of a particular combination of features whose utility does not fade over time can actually lead to comparable performance, avoiding the need to retrain. However, the difficulty of achieving accurate classification increases slightly for countries with multiple commonalities, especially for English and Spanish speaking countries.
The N54-αs Mutant Has Decreased Affinity for βγ and Suggests a Mechanism for Coupling Heterotrimeric G Protein Nucleotide Exchange with Subunit Dissociation

Ser54 of Gsα binds guanine nucleotide and Mg2+ as part of a conserved sequence motif in GTP binding proteins. Mutating the homologous residue in small and heterotrimeric G proteins generates dominant-negative proteins, but by protein-specific mechanisms. For αi/o, this results from persistent binding of α to βγ, whereas for small GTP binding proteins and αs this results from persistent binding to guanine nucleotide exchange factor or receptor. This work examined the role of βγ interactions in mediating the properties of the Ser54-like mutants of Gα subunits. Unexpectedly, WT–αs or N54-αs coexpressed with α1B-adrenergic receptor in human embryonic kidney 293 cells decreased receptor stimulation of IP3 production by a cAMP-independent mechanism, but WT-αs was more effective than the mutant. One explanation for this result would be that αs, like Ser47 αi/o, blocks receptor activation by sequestering βγ; implying that N54-αS has reduced affinity for βγ since it was less effective at blocking IP3 production. This possibility was more directly supported by the observation that WT-αs was more effective than the mutant in inhibiting βγ activation of phospholipase Cβ2. Further, in vitro synthesized N54-αs bound biotinylated-βγ with lower apparent affinity than did WT-αs. The Cys54 mutation also decreased βγ binding but less effectively than N54-αs. Substitution of the conserved Ser in αo with Cys or Asn increased βγ binding, with the Cys mutant being more effective. This suggests that Ser54 of αs is involved in coupling changes in nucleotide binding with altered subunit interactions, and has important implications for how receptors activate G proteins.
Evaluation of Alternate Concepts for Synthetic Vision Flight Displays With Weather- Penetrating Sensor Image Inserts During Simulated Landing Approaches

Summary A simulation study was conducted in 1994at Langley Research Center using 12 commercialairline pilots repeatedly flying complex Micro-wave Landing System (MLS)-type approaches toclosely spaced parallel runways to compare twosensor insert concepts of “Synthetic VisionSystems” (SVS) with a more conventionalelectro-optical (EO) display (similar to a Head-UpDisplay (HUD) with raster capability for sensorimagery) flown under less restrictive visibilityconditions and used as a control condition. TheSVS concepts combined the sensor imagery witha computer-generated image (CGI) of an out-the-window scene based on an onboard airport data-base. Various scenarios involving runway trafficincursions (taxiing aircraft and parked fuel trucks)and navigational system position errors (bothstatic and dynamic) were used to assess the pilots’ability to manage the approach task with thedisplay concepts. The two SVS sensor insertconcepts contrasted the simple overlay of sensorimagery on the CGI scene without additionalimage processing (the Synthetic Vision (SV) dis-play) to the complex integration (the AdvancedVision (AV) display) of the CGI scene, with pilot-decision aiding using both object and edge detec-tion techniques for detection of obstacle conflictsand runway alignment errors.The objective and subjective data results bothindicate that with the scenarios employed and thedisplay conditions implemented in the study, theSV display condition produced poor and, in sev-eral cases, unsafe performance. They also concurthat the AV display produces superior perform-ance. The safety data in particular indicate thatsimilar SVS concepts should not be implementedwithout incorporating image processing decisionaids for the pilot. Subjective comments indicatedthat the synthetic runway scene was so compel-ling that it was easy to ignore the sensor imageinformation in this concept without the decisionaid information.
Work Load On Nurses And It ’ s Impact On Patientcare Major

Nursing work includes many factors that effects nursing workload and client outcomes.These factors include nursing condition of the client, the characteristics of the care providers, the medical condition of the client, the work environment and the nursing interventions. The key component to measure nursing resource intensity is known as a nursing workload measurement system. The nursing workload measurement system use currentlyis just provide information about the mechanism to track the time it takes to deliver various activities in the department or program which is mandatory and ignoring the nursing and medical complexity of client, the work environment and the characteristics of nurses providing care. Nurse patient ratio is the unit level most commonly used to measure the nursesworkload.In most of the hospitals all over the world heavy workload is the major problem. Nurses are experiencing heavy workload because of inadequate supply of nurses, reduction in patient length of stay, increased demand for nurses, reduced staffing and increased overtime. A heavy workload leads to suboptimal patient care thus reduced patient satisfaction. Workload a complex construct, it is more complex than the measure of the nurse patient ratio. It is not possible to measure the workload which is multifaceted structure, multidimensional by one unique representative measure. Nurse-patient ratio as a measure of workload is not contributing to understand the impact of workload on nurses and providing solutions in mitigating or reducing the nursing workload. Nurses may not have sufficient time to perform tasks properly which can have direct effects on patient safety under a heavy workload. A heavy workload will hinder in proper decision making of the health care providers. Nursephysician collaboration will be effected with heavy workload due to lack of time. It will also effect the nursepatient relationship due to lack of communication between them, dissatisfaction among nurses for creating conditions for unsafe patient care, errors and poor job performance. Heavy workload will result in job dissatisfaction thus turnover, absenteeism, low morale, and poor job performance. Potentially will threaten the patient care quality and organizational
Raman Microspectroscopic Mapping with Multivariate Curve Resolution–Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) Applied to the High-Pressure Polymorph of Titanium Dioxide, TiO2-II

The high-pressure, α-PbO2-structured polymorph of titanium dioxide (TiO2-II) was recently identified in micrometer-sized grains recovered from four Neoarchean spherule layers deposited between ∼2.65 and ∼2.54 billion years ago. Several lines of evidence support the interpretation that these layers represent distal impact ejecta layers. The presence of shock-induced TiO2-II provides physical evidence to further support an impact origin for these spherule layers. Detailed characterization of the distribution of TiO2-II in these grains may be useful for correlating the layers, estimating the paleodistances of the layers from their source craters, and providing insight into the formation of the TiO2-II. Here we report the investigation of TiO2-II-bearing grains from these four spherule layers using multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) applied to Raman microspectroscopic mapping. Raman spectra provide evidence of grains consisting primarily of rutile (TiO2) and TiO2-II, as shown by Raman bands at 174 cm–1 (TiO2-II), 426 cm–1 (TiO2-II), 443 cm–1 (rutile), and 610 cm–1 (rutile). Principal component analysis (PCA) yielded a predominantly three-phase system comprised of rutile, TiO2-II, and substrate-adhesive epoxy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggests heterogeneous grains containing polydispersed micrometer- and submicrometer-sized particles. Multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares applied to the Raman microspectroscopic mapping yielded up to five distinct chemical components: three phases of TiO2 (rutile, TiO2-II, and anatase), quartz (SiO2), and substrate-adhesive epoxy. Spectral profiles and spatially resolved chemical maps of the pure chemical components were generated using MCR-ALS applied to the Raman microspectroscopic maps. The spatial resolution of the Raman microspectroscopic maps was enhanced in comparable, cost-effective analysis times by limiting spectral resolution and optimizing spectral acquisition parameters. Using the resolved spectra of TiO2-II generated from MCR-ALS analysis, a Raman spectrum for pure TiO2-II was estimated to further facilitate its identification.
Clinical value and indication for the dissection of lymph nodes posterior to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve in papillary thyroid carcinoma

Lymph nodes posterior to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve (LN-prRLN) are common sites of nodal recurrence after the resection of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). However, the indication for LN-prRLN dissection remains debatable. We therefore studied the relationships between LN-prRLN metastasis and the clinicopathological characteristics in 306 patients with right or bilateral PTC who underwent LN-prRLN dissection. We found that LN-prRLN metastasis occurred in 16.67% of PTC and was associated with a number of the clinicopathological features. The receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the areas under the ROC curves for the prediction of LN-prRLN metastasis by the risk factors age < 35.5 years, right tumor size > 0.85 cm, lymph node (right cervical central VI-1) number > 1.5, metastatic lymph node (right cervical central VI-1) size > 0.45 cm, and lymph node number in the right cervical lateral compartment > 0.5 were 0.601, 0.815, 0.813, 0.725, and 0.743, respectively. In conclusion, the risk factors for LN-prRLN metastasis in patients suffering right thyroid lobe or bilateral PTC include age ≤ 35.5 years, right tumor size ≥ 0.85 cm, capsular invasion, metastatic lymph node (right cervical central VI-1) number ≥ 2, metastatic lymph node (right cervical central VI-1) size ≥ 0.45 cm, and metastatic lymph node number in the right cervical lateral compartment ≥ 1. In patients whose risk factors can be identified pre-operatively or intraoperatively, the dissection of LN-pr-RLN should be considered during right cervical central compartment dissection.
Predicting Ideological Prejudice

A major shortcoming of current models of ideological prejudice is that although they can anticipate the direction of the association between participants’ ideology and their prejudice against a range of target groups, they cannot predict the size of this association. I developed and tested models that can make specific size predictions for this association. A quantitative model that used the perceived ideology of the target group as the primary predictor of the ideology-prejudice relationship was developed with a representative sample of Americans (N = 4,940) and tested against models using the perceived status of and choice to belong to the target group as predictors. In four studies (total N = 2,093), ideology-prejudice associations were estimated, and these observed estimates were compared with the models’ predictions. The model that was based only on perceived ideology was the most parsimonious with the smallest errors.
Charitable technologies: opportunities for collaborative computing in nonprofit fundraising

This paper presents research analyzing the role of computational technology in the domain of nonprofit fundraising. Nonprofits are a cornerstone of many societies and are especially prominent in the United States, where $295 billion, or slightly more than 2% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (i.e. total national revenue), was directed toward charitable causes in 2006. Nonprofits afford many worthwhile endeavors, including crisis relief, basic services to those in need, public education and the arts, and preservation of the natural environment. In this paper, we identify six roles that computational technology plays in support of nonprofit fundraising and present two models characterizing technology use in this domain: (1) a cycle of technology-assisted fundraising and (2) a model of relationships among stakeholders in technology-assisted fundraising. Finally, we identify challenges and research opportunities for collaborative computing in the unique and exciting nonprofit fundraising domain.
Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on cardiac organ damage in patients with acute ischemic stroke

Background and purpose: Both obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiac organ damage have a crucial role in acute ischemic stroke. Our aim is to explore the relationship between OSA and cardiac organ damage in acute stroke patients. Methods: A total of 130 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled. Patients underwent full multichannel 24-h polysomnography for evaluation of OSA and echocardiography to evaluate left ventricle (LV) mass index (LV mass/BSA, LV mass/height2.7), thickness of interventricular septum (IVS) and posterior wall (LVPW), LV ejection fraction and left atrium enlargement. Information on occurrence of arterial hypertension and its treatment before stroke was obtained from patients’ history. Results: 61.9% (70) of patients, mostly men (67.1%), with acute stroke had OSA (AHI > 10). Patients with acute stroke and OSA showed a significant increase (P < 0.05) of LV mass index, IVS and LVPW thickness and a significant left atrial enlargement as compared with patients without OSA. LV ejection fraction was not significantly different in stroke patients with and without OSA and was within normal limits. No relationship was found among cardiac alterations, occurrence of OSA and history of hypertension. Conclusion: Acute stroke patients with OSA had higher LV mass and showed greater left atrial enlargement than patients without OSA. This study confirms the high prevalence of OSA in stroke patients, suggesting also an association between OSA and cardiac target organ damage. Our finding of structural LV abnormalities in acute stroke patients with OSA suggests a potential role of OSA as contributing factor in determining both cerebrovascular and cardiac damage, even in absence of clear link with a history of blood pressure elevation.
Factors related to poor asthma control in Latvian asthma patients between 2013 and 2015

Abstract Objectives: To investigate whether beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional factors are related to poor asthma control in a sample of Latvian asthma patients in 2015. Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. Subjects: Three hundred and fifty two asthma patients (mean age 57.5 years) attending outpatient pulmonologist consultations in Riga, Latvia during September 2013 to December 2015. The sample size was calculated to detect a prevalence of poor asthma control of 50% with a margin of error of 5% and a power of 95%. Main outcome measures: The validated Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire (BMQ) and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (brief IPQ) were used. Good asthma control was assessed using the asthma control test (ACT), a validated five-item scale that reliably assesses asthma control over a recall period of four weeks. Logistic regression models were used to predict poor asthma control. Results: Patients who had a good control of asthma medication (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.61–0.79) or were confident that their asthma medication improves illness (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.74–0.95) had a reduced risk of poor asthma control. The more symptoms (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.44–1.84) the asthma patients perceived or the more their illness affects their life, the higher the probability of poor asthma control (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.31–1.65). Some beliefs of necessity and concerns of asthma medication were also statistically significantly related to poor asthma control. Conclusions: Beliefs of necessity of asthma medication, cognitive and emotional illness perception factors correlate well with poor asthma control in Latvian patients.
Quercetin induces human colon cancer cells apoptosis by inhibiting the nuclear factor-kappa B Pathway

Quercetin can inhibit the growth of cancer cells with the ability to act as chemopreventers. Its cancer-preventive effect has been attributed to various mechanisms, including the induction of cell-cycle arrest and/or apoptosis as well as the antioxidant functions. Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) is a signaling pathway that controls transcriptional activation of genes important for tight regulation of many cellular processes and is aberrantly expressed in many types of cancer. Inhibitors of NF-κB pathway have shown potential anti-tumor activities. However, it is not fully elucidated in colon cancer. In this study, we demonstrate that quercetin induces apoptosis in human colon cancer CACO-2 and SW-620 cells through inhibiting NF-κB pathway, as well as down-regulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 and up-regulation of Bax, thus providing basis for clinical application of quercetin in colon cancer cases.