Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Viral infections and the development of asthma in children

Viral aetiology, host susceptibility (in particular allergic predisposition and sensitization), and illness severity, timing and frequency all appear to contribute as synergistic factors to the risk of developing asthma. Experimental models have shown both innate and adaptive immune responses contribute to this risk with lung inflammatory cells showing marked differences in phenotype and function in young compared with older animals, and these differences are further enhanced following virus infection. Findings to date strongly suggest that the impact of infant and preschool viral infections on the maturing immune system and developing lung that subsequently result in an asthma phenotype occur during a critical susceptibility period, and in a genetically susceptible host. There are currently no therapeutic strategies that allow primary or secondary prevention of asthma following early life viral respiratory infections in high-risk children, thus a focus on understanding the mechanisms of progression from viral wheezing in infants and preschool children to asthma development are urgently needed. This review summarizes the data reporting the role of the two most common viruses, that is, respiratory syncytial virus and human rhinovirus, that result in asthma development, comparing risk factors for disease progression, and providing insight into strategies that might be adopted to prevent asthma development.
SweetJess: Inferencing in Situated Courteous RuleML via Translation to and from Jess Rules

We describe the innovative design of our prototyped SweetJess tool for RuleML inferencing. Our first contribution is to give a new, implemented translation from a broad but restricted case of SCLP RuleML into Jess rules, and an inverse translation from a broad but further restricted case of Jess rules into SCLP RuleML. SCLP stands for the Situated Courteous Logic Programs knowledge representation; this is expressively powerful and fea- tures prioritized conflict handling and procedural attachments. The translation is intended to preserve semantic equivalence - i.e., for a given rulebase, to entail the same conclusions. The translation often preserves semantic equivalence; in current work, we are developing formal guarantees for the equivalence, including necessary expressive restrictions in each direction. Our second contribution, building upon the translation, is a new, implemented architecture to perform (a broad case of) SCLP RuleML inferencing using the Jess rule en- gine. Our approach translates from SCLP RuleML rules into Jess rules, runs the Jess rule engine to generate conclusions (and actions), and then translates the concluded Jess facts back into SCLP RuleML. Our third new contribution is to enable bi-directional implemented inter-operability, via RuleML, between several other heterogeneous rule systems (e.g., XSB Prolog and IBM CommonRules) and Jess. For example, to our knowledge, this is the first tool to enable inter-operability between a Prolog and any "production"/"reactive" rule sys- tem descended from OPS5 heritage. The prototype implementation of SweetJess is publicly available for Web download.
Risks of cataract in Nigerian metal arc welders.

BACKGROUND Occupational exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from welding is considered a risk factor for cataract and other eye disorders, but the evidence for such effects is limited. AIMS To identify any increased risk of developing cataract from metal arc welding and to investigate the associated risk factors. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out on male welders and control subjects (not engaged in welding) from five fabrication and construction companies in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to gather information regarding their demography and lifestyle, along with their occupational, medical and ocular histories. Cataract was identified by external examination and ophthalmoscopy. RESULTS A total of 117 welders and 105 controls participated. There was no statistically significant increase in the risk of cataract in welders after adjusting for age, smoking status, family history of cataract, outdoor work and history of eye injury. There was a strong association between work-related eye-injury history and cataract. Only 60% of welders were wearing eye protection when the eye injury occurred. The majority of the eye injuries (72%) occurred during welding and grinding operations. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study suggest that the main occupational risk factor for cataract was a history of eye injuries. The role of UV (or optical) radiation appeared to be less important than impact eye injuries associated with welding-allied processes. It is therefore important that welders are provided with different types of eye protection and are informed about which type should be used, and when, so that they can be protected against optical and impact injuries.
Semi-supervised training of lip reading models using lattice-free MMI

In this project I focused on training and evaluating models for lip reading, or visual speech recognition, using audio-visual datasets. Since large transcribed audio-visual datasets are costly to build and supervised lip reading models are found to not generalise well to data from a mismatched domain, I investigated how we can make use of the large quantities of untranscribed video data that exist. I generated a multi-genre audio-visual dataset containing 223 hours of training data, and used this to perform semi-supervised training of both acoustic and lip reading models using the LF-MMI training criterion with HMM-DNN based models in Kaldi. While supervised models trained on TED talks did not generalise well to this challenging multi-genre dataset in either modality, through semi-supervised training the word error rate for the acoustic model reduced from 42.1% to 36.8% and for the lip reading model reduced from 93.4% to 91.3%. This improvement, though small, is promising for this first use of the semi-supervised LF-MMI technique in the field of lip reading.
Tuning down the hedonic brain: Working memory load reduces neural responses to high-calorie food images in the nucleus accumbens

The present research examined whether cognitive load modulates the neural processing of appetitive, high-calorie food stimuli. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants quickly categorized high-calorie and low-calorie food pictures versus object pictures as edible or inedible while they concurrently performed a digit-span task that varied between low and high cognitive load (memorizing six digits vs. one digit). In line with predictions, the digit-span task engaged the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) when cognitive load was high compared to low. Moreover, exposure to high-calorie compared to low-calorie food pictures led to increased activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), but only when cognitive load was low and not when it was high. In addition, connectivity analyses showed that load altered the functional coupling between NAcc and right DLPFC during presentation of the high-calorie versus low-calorie food pictures. Together, these findings indicate that loading the cognitive system moderates hedonic brain responses to high-calorie food pictures via interactions between NAcc and DLPFC. Our findings are consistent with the putative cognitive nature of food motivation. Implications for future research are discussed.
Complex magnetic monopoles, geometric phases and quantum evolution in the vicinity of diabolic and exceptional points

We consider the geometric phase and quantum tunneling in the vicinity of diabolic and exceptional points. We show that the geometric phase associated with the degeneracy points is defined by the flux of complex magnetic monopoles. In the limit of weak coupling, the leading contribution to the real part of the geometric phase is given by the flux of the Dirac monopole plus a quadrupole term, and the expansion of the imaginary part starts with a dipole-like field. For a two-level system governed by a generic non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, we derive a formula to compute the non-adiabatic, complex, geometric phase by integrating over the complex Bloch sphere. We apply our results to study a dissipative two-level system driven by a periodic electromagnetic field and show that, in the vicinity of the exceptional point, the complex geometric phase behaves like a step-function. Studying the tunneling process near and at the exceptional point, we find two different regimes: coherent and incoherent. The coherent regime is characterized by Rabi oscillations, with a one-sheeted hyperbolic monopole emerging in this region of the parameters. The two-sheeted hyperbolic monopole is associated with the incoherent regime. We show that the dissipation results in a series of pulses in the complex geometric phase which disappear when the dissipation dies out. Such a strong coupling effect of the environment is beyond the conventional adiabatic treatment of the Berry phase.
Improved detection and correlation of multi-stage VoIP attack patterns by using a Dynamic Honeynet System

Security issues like service misuse and fraud are well-known problems of SIP-based networks. To develop effective countermeasures, it is important to know how these attacks are launched in reality. For gathering the required data, a specialized SIP Honeynet System has been running since January 2009 and has recorded over 58 million SIP messages. The analyses have shown that SIP-based misuse is typically performed as a multistage attack and the IP address of the attacker changes before the actual Toll Fraud calls. To be able to correlate all attack stages despite intermediate changes of the attacker's IP address we developed the new Dynamic Honeynet System (DHS), which reacts according to the attackers' behaviour and uses a dynamic Honeypot configuration in real-time to significantly improve the detection efficiency. We present the architecture and new features such as dynamic reconfiguration and demonstrate its attack correlation capabilities. We developed a Sensor component to realize this system. The Sensor provides active monitoring based on signatures to detect attacks in real-time and controls the dynamic Honeypot.
Determinants of Caregiving Burden and Quality of Life in Caregivers of Stroke Patients

Background and Purpose— A large proportion of disabled stroke survivors live at home and are supported by informal caregivers. Identification of determinants of caregiver burden will help to target caregiver interventions. Methods— Data on patient, caregiver, and health and social support characteristics were collected prospectively over 1 year in 232 stroke survivors in a randomized trial of caregiver training. The contribution of these variables to caregiver burden score (CBS) and quality of life (QOL) measures at 3 months and 1 year was analyzed using regression models. Results— Stroke patients had a mean age of 74±11 years, and 120 (52%) were men. The mean age of caregivers was 65.7±12.5 years, 149 (64%) were females, and 116 (50%) had received caregiver training. The mean CBS was 48±13 and 38±11 (score range of bad to good 88 to 22) and QOL score was 75±16 and 75±15 (score range of bad to good 0 to 100) at 3 months and 1 year, respectively. CBS and QOL correlated with each other and with patient (age, dependency, and mood), caregiver (age, gender, mood, and training), and support (social services and family networks) variables. Of these, only patient and caregiver emotional status, caregiver age and gender, and participation in caregiver training were independent predictors of either outcome at 3 months. Patient dependency and family support were additional independent predictors at 1 year. Social services support predicted institutionalization but not caregiver outcomes. Conclusion— Advancing age and anxiety in patients and caregivers, high dependency, and poor family support identify caregivers at risk of adverse outcomes, which may be reduced by caregiver training.
Deriving Word Association Networks from Text Corpora

This article presents and evaluates a model to automatically derive word association networks from text corpora. Two aspects were evaluated: To what degree can corpus-based word association networks (CANs) approximate human word association networks with respect to (1) their ability to quantitatively predict word associations and (2) their structural network characteristics. Word association networks are the basis of the human mental lexicon. However, extracting such networks from human subjects is laborious, time consuming and thus necessarily limited in relation to the breadth of human vocabulary. Automatic derivation of word associations from text corpora would address these limitations. In both evaluations corpus-based processing provided vector representations for words. These representations were then employed to derive CANs using two measures: (1) the well known cosine metric, which is a symmetric measure, and (2) a new asymmetric measure computed from orthogonal vector projections. For both evaluations, the full set of 4068 free association networks (FANs) from the University of South Florida word association norms were used as baseline human data. Two corpus based models were benchmarked for comparison: a latent topic model and latent semantic analysis (LSA). We observed that CANs constructed using the asymmetric measure were slightly less effective than the topic model in quantitatively predicting free associates, and slightly better than LSA. The structural networks analysis revealed that CANs do approximate the FANs to an encouraging degree.
Associations of Circulating Oxidized LDL and Conventional Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease in a Cross-Sectional Study of the Navajo Population

The prevalences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have increased among the Navajo Native American community in recent decades. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) is a novel CVD biomarker that has never been assessed in the Navajo population. We examined the relationship of oxLDL to conventional CVD and T2D risk factors and biomarkers in a cross-sectional population of Navajo participants. This cross-sectional study included 252 participants from 20 Navajo communities from the Diné Network for Environmental Health Project. Plasma samples were tested for oxLDL levels by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the relationship of oxLDL and oxidized- to non-oxidized lipoprotein ratios to glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL6) and demographic and health variables. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and obesity are very prevalent in this Navajo population. HbA1c, CRP, body mass index (BMI), high-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides were at levels that may increase risk for CVD and T2D. Median oxLDL level was 47 (36.8–57) U/L. Correlational analysis showed that although oxLDL alone was not associated with HbA1c, oxLDL/HDL, oxLDL/LDL and CRP were significantly associated with HbA1c and glucose. OxLDL, oxLDL/HDL and oxLDL/LDL were significantly associated with CRP. Multivariate analysis showed that triglycerides were a common and strong predictor of oxLDL, oxLDL/HDL and oxLDL/LDL. OxLDL was trended with HbA1c and glucose but did not reach significance, however, HbA1c was an independent predictor of OxLDL/HDL. CRP trended with oxLDL/HDL and was a weak predictor of oxLDL/LDL. This Navajo subset appears to have oxLDL levels comparable to subjects without evidence of CVD reported in other studies. The high prevalence of T2D, hypertension and obesity along with abnormal levels of other biomarkers including HbA1c indicate that the Navajo population has a worsening CVD risk profile.
Deregulated miR‐155 promotes Fas‐mediated apoptosis in human intervertebral disc degeneration by targeting FADD and caspase‐3

The role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) remains enigmatic. Accumulating evidence has shown that the apoptotic machinery is regulated by miRNAs. We hypothesized that miRNAs might contribute to apoptosis in IDD. We have found that 29 miRNAs were differentially expressed and miR‐155 was down‐regulated in degenerative nucleus pulposus (NP). The deregulation of miR‐155 was further verified using real‐time PCR (0.56 fold, p < 0.05). Bioinformatics target prediction identified FADD and caspase‐3 as putative targets of miR‐155. Furthermore, miR‐155 inhibited FADD and caspase‐3 expression by directly targeting their 3′‐UTRs, which was abolished by mutation of the miR‐155 binding sites. In vitro up‐regulation of miR‐155 in human NP cells by transfection with lentiviral pre‐miR‐155 resulted in repression of FADD and caspase‐3; whereas knockdown of miR‐155 with lentiviral antigomiR‐155 led to over‐expression of FADD and caspase‐3. Also, Fas‐mediated apoptosis was increased when antagonizing miR‐155 and decreased when using pre‐miR‐155 in human NP cells. In addition, we presented direct evidence of NP cells undergoing apoptosis in IDD tissues using transmission electron microscopy analysis. Moreover, a combination of in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) revealed that miR‐155 expressed in the cytoplasm of human NP cells with reverse correlation with FADD and caspase‐3. In summary, this is the first study addressing the underlying mechanisms of IDD in terms of apoptosis and miRNAs. Furthermore, caspase‐3 is identified as a novel target of miR‐155. Our results suggest that deregulated miR‐155 promotes Fas‐mediated apoptosis in human IDD by targeting FADD and caspase‐3, implicating an aetiological and therapeutic role of miR‐155 in IDD. Copyright © 2011 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Child Sexual Abusers Working with Children - Characteristics and Risk Factors

The present article aims at providing an overview of the current state of research about child sexual abuse occurring in youth-serving institutions and about the individuals who have sexually offended against children with whom they work. Depending on the specific institution and the assessment method used, between 0.1% and 10% of all children and adolescents who were placed in a youth-serving institution have been sexually victimized. In most cases offenders are male and highly educated. Compared to child sexual abusers (CSA) not working with children pedophilic sexual interests seem to be more prevalent in child sexual abusers working with children (CSA-W), while indicators for antisocial behaviors can be found less often. In line with this constellation of risk factors CSA-W primarily reoffend sexually. Thus, risk assessment instruments that specifically measure the risk for sexual recidivism perform best in CSA-W. Concerning offence-supportive strategies previous research found that CSA-W use manipulative behaviors rather than violence prior to the abuse and the abuse most commonly occurs when the CSA-W is alone with the victim. Based on these findings it can be concluded that treatment with CSA-W should focus primarily on the management of pedophilic sexual interests as well as on the relationship problems. However, future research still has to evaluate the impact of psychotherapeutic treatment on these offenders and has to identify additional risk factors that should be considered in treatment approaches.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES FROM IMITATION TO INNOVATION : WHERE IS ALL THAT CHINESE R & D GOING ?

We construct an endogenous growth model with random interactions where firms are subject to distortions. The TFP distribution evolves endogenously as firms seek to upgrade their technology over time either by innovating or by imitating other firms. We use the model to quantify the effects of misallocation on TFP growth in emerging economies. We structurally estimate the stationary state of the dynamic model targeting moments of the empirical distribution of R&D and TFP growth in China during the period 2007–12. The estimated model fits the Chinese data well. We compare the estimates with those obtained using data for Taiwan and perform counterfactuals to study the effect of alternative policies. R&D misallocation has a large effect on TFP growth. Michael König Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam School of Business and Economics Amsterdam Netherlands m.d.konig@vu.nl Zheng Michael Song Department of Economics Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, N.T. , Hong Kong zheng.michael. song@gmail.com Kjetil Storesletten Department of Economics University of Minnesota 4-141 Hanson Hall 1925 Fourth Street S Minneapolis, MN 55455 kjetil.storesletten@econ.uio. no Fabrizio Zilibotti Department of Economics Yale University 28 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven, CT 06520 and NBER fabrizio.zilibotti@yale.edu
Elaia, Pergamon's maritime satellite: the rise and fall of an ancient harbour city shaped by shoreline migration

Throughout human history, communication and trade have been key to society. Because maritime trade facilitated the rapid transportation of passengers and freight at relatively low cost, harbours became hubs for traffic, trade and exchange. This general statement holds true for the Pergamenian kingdom, which ruled wide parts of today's western Turkey during Hellenistic times. Its harbour, located at the city of Elaia on the eastern Aegean shore, was used extensively for commercial and military purposes. This study reconstructs the coastal evolution in and around the ancient harbour of Elaia and compares the observed environmental modifications with archaeological and historical findings. We use micropalaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical proxies to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental dynamics and evolution of the ancient harbour. The geoarchaeological results confirm the archaeological and historical evidence for Elaia's primacy during Hellenistic and early Roman times, and the city's gradual decline during the late Roman period. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that Elaia holds a unique position as a harbour city during ancient times in the eastern Aegean region, because it was not greatly influenced by the high sediment supply associated with river deltas. Consequently, no dredging of the harbour basins is documented, creating exceptional geo‐bioarchives for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
Teleseismic Waveform Complexities Caused by Near Trench Structures and Their Impacts on Earthquake Source Study: Application to the 2015 Illapel Aftershocks (Central Chile)

The complex near trench velocity structures, characterized by strongly varying bathymetry along with seawater, can produce substantial waveform complexities for near trench earthquakes, which makes it difficult to study earthquake source parameters through waveform modeling/inversion. Here we explore these wavefield complexities via modeling teleseismic records of a Mw6.6 near coast event and a Mw6.8 near trench event in the 2015 Illapel earthquake sequence. For the near coast event, the waveforms of direct P waves at teleseismic/diffracted distances are simple, and we obtain consistent source parameters between 1D regional and teleseismic waveform inversions. In contrast, the near trench event produces stronger and longer P coda waves (>100 s), resulting in many dramatic discrepancies between the regional and teleseismic inversions, in particular for the centroid depth. We adopt a spectral element method‐direct solution method hybrid approach to simulate synthetics with the complex source‐side 3‐D structures (bathymetry and water layer in this case) and investigate their roles in the genesis of strong P coda waves. Compared with the 1‐ and 2‐D synthetics, the 3‐D synthetics significantly improve the waveform fits up to 0.1 Hz when the source is placed at the preferred horizontal (~30 km from the trench axis) and vertical (~5 km beneath the ocean bottom) location. The refined location of the earthquake indicates that the plate interface is probably locked at very shallow depths and capable of nucleating strong earthquakes. We highlight the need for considering near trench 3‐D structures in seismic waveform analysis of near trench earthquakes, many of which are tsunamigenic.