Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internet Addiction

The internet has transformed the world we live in, but it also poses new risks to our psychological well-being. This book provides an introduction to the issue of internet addiction, an increasingly common problem. All day, every day, we are connected to the internet, putting most people at some level of risk for internet addiction. Problematic internet use can take many forms, including overuse of social media and addictions to online shopping, gaming, or pornography. Such behaviors can cause anxiety, depression, sleep deprivation, loneliness, and physical health problems. People can lose their jobs and families, and in a few extreme cases, internet addiction has directly led to the death of the addicted individual or a child in their care. Internet Addiction is the latest volume in Greenwood's Health and Medical Issues Today series. Part I explores what internet addiction is, the many forms it can take, and the serious consequences it can have. Part II examines a number of controversies and issues, such as balancing the internet's benefits against its addictive nature. Part III provides a variety of useful materials, including case studies, a timeline of critical events, and a directory of resources.
Amplitude regulation of vocalizations in noise by a songbird,Taeniopygia guttata


Bird vocalizations are produced under various noise conditions. It could therefore benefit birds to alter the amplitude of their signals as noise conditions change. We tested this by recording male and female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, as they were subjected to various levels of white noise. Both sexes increased amplitude levels of vocalization in response to increased levels of noise. Similar results were obtained with humans (the 'Lombard effect'). The results are discussed in terms of the 'active space' of bird song and honest signalling. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Enhanced Huﬀman Coded OFDM with \\ Index Modulation

—In this paper, we propose an enhanced Huffman coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing with index modulation (EHC-OFDM-IM) scheme. The proposed scheme is capable of utilizing all legitimate subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) and adapting the bijective mapping relation between SAPs and leaves on a given Huffman tree according to channel state information (CSI). As a result, a dynamic codebook update mechanism is obtained, which can provide more reliable transmissions. We take the average block error rate (BLER) as the performance evaluation metric and approximate it in closed form when the transmit power allocated to each subcarrier is independent of channel states. Also, we propose two CSI-based power allocation schemes with different requirements for computational complexity to further improve the error performance. Subsequently, we carry out numerical simulations to corroborate the error performance analysis and the proposed dynamic power allocation schemes. By studying the numerical results, we ﬁnd that the depth of the Huffman tree has a signiﬁcant impact on the error performance when the SAP-to-leaf mapping relation is optimized based on CSI. Meanwhile, through numerical results, we also discuss the trade-off between error performance and data transmission rate and investigate the impacts of imperfect CSI on the error performance of EHC-OFDM-IM.
A Fuzzy-Based Model to Measure Supplier Performance with Lean Attributes

Nowadays, outsourcing as a strategic goal is becoming a critical success factor used by different organizations in order to provide high quality, and low price products for their customers. In this context, supplier selection has become an extremely important decision for companies. Management and human resource researchers have focused more on qualitative aspects and conceptual models, whereas engineering science researchers have developed quantitative and full-mathematical models and techniques. Since it is important to consider both aspects of supplier performance, this paper develops a fuzzy-based model to evaluate the leanness of supplier performance. The model presented here, gives a single unit-less score, which clearly shows the leanness of supplier performance. Based on the final score, managers can easily decide on supplier selection. The model includes a systematic measurement of supplier performance with six characteristics: flexible, dynamic, fuzzy logical, continuous improvement, easy to use, and single unit-less (dimensionless) score.
The influence of the Atlantic and regional climate variability on the long‐term changes in gelatinous carnivore populations in the northwestern Mediterranean

We investigated potential connections between climate and the population size of gelatinous carnivores in the northwestern Mediterranean. The interannual variability of large‐ and meso‐scale climate factors was related to gelatinous carnivore dynamics by means of a multivariate regression model. Gelatinous carnivore population dynamics integrate the climate‐related changes in the northwestern Mediterranean with close correlations between climate and the population size of the Calycophoran siphonophores Chelophyes appendiculata and Abylopsis tetragona and the Hydromedusae Rhopalonema velatum and Solmundella bitentaculata. We show that the sensitivity of particular gelatinous carnivore species to environmental forcing relates to their seasonal appearance and peak of abundance. Our results advocate the occurrence of short time windows, during which gelatinous carnivores appear more sensitive to environmental conditions, and favorable conditions may therefore substantially enhance their annual peaks. Furthermore, there were threshold values from which climate effects on gelatinous carnivores become noticeable, indicating that the climate‐gelatinous carnivore relationship intensifies according to the strength of climate forcing. The possibility of using the North Atlantic climate variability for assessing and predicting interannual abundance changes of these organisms in the northwestern Mediterranean is considered.
Injury Severity of Motorcycle Riders Involved in Traffic Crashes in Hunan, China: A Mixed Ordered Logit Approach

Issues related to motorcycle safety in China have not received enough research attention. As such, the causal relationship between injury outcomes of motorcycle crashes and potential risk factors remains unknown. This study intended to investigate the injury risk of motorcyclists involved in road traffic crashes in China. To account for the ordinal nature of response outcomes and unobserved heterogeneity, a mixed ordered logit model was employed. Given that the crash occurrence process is different between intersections and non-intersections, separate models were developed for these locations to independently estimate the impacts of various contributing factors on motorcycle riders’ injury severity. The analysis was based on the police-reported crash dataset obtained from the Traffic Administration Bureau of Hunan Provincial Public Security Ministry. Factors associated with a substantially higher probability of fatalities and severe injuries included motorcycle riders older than 60 years, the absence of helmets, motorcycle riders identified to be equal duty, and when a motorcycle collided with a heavy vehicle during the night time without lighting. Crashes occurred along county roads with curve and slope alignment or at regions with higher GDP were associated with an elevated risk of fatality of motorcycle riders, while unsignalized intersections were related to less severe injuries. Findings of this study are beneficial in forming several targeted countermeasures for motorcycle safety in China, including designing roads with appropriate road delineation and street lighting, strict enforcement for speeding and red light violations, promoting helmet usage, and improving the conspicuity of motorcyclists.
Immunosignature system for diagnosis of cancer

Significance Over much of the world, healthcare systems are facing an unprecedented challenge to meet the medical needs of an aging population while controlling costs. The early detection and treatment of diseases that are prevalent in older people is likely to be a key aspect of economically efficient, high-quality healthcare. In the case of cancer, the resection of a stage I or stage II tumor is often effectively a cure. An ideal diagnostic would allow early detection of disease on a single platform that could be used for any disease. Here, we demonstrate that the immunosignature diagnosis platform could potentially meet the universal platform requirement. Ongoing work will address the early detection requirement separately. Although the search for disease biomarkers continues, the clinical return has thus far been disappointing. The complexity of the body’s response to disease makes it difficult to represent this response with only a few biomarkers, particularly when many are present at low levels. An alternative to the typical reductionist biomarker paradigm is an assay we call an “immunosignature. ” This approach leverages the response of antibodies to disease-related changes, as well as the inherent signal amplification associated with antigen-stimulated B-cell proliferation. To perform an immunosignature assay, the antibodies in diluted blood are incubated with a microarray of thousands of random sequence peptides. The pattern of binding to these peptides is the immunosignature. Because the peptide sequences are completely random, the assay is effectively disease-agnostic, potentially providing a comprehensive diagnostic on multiple diseases simultaneously. To explore the ability of an immunosignature to detect and identify multiple diseases simultaneously, 20 samples from each of five cancer cohorts collected from multiple sites and 20 noncancer samples (120 total) were used as a training set to develop a reference immunosignature. A blinded evaluation of 120 blinded samples covering the same diseases gave 95% classification accuracy. To investigate the breadth of the approach and test sensitivity to biological diversity further, immunosignatures of >1,500 historical samples comprising 14 different diseases were examined by training with 75% of the samples and testing the remaining 25%. The average accuracy was >98%. These results demonstrate the potential power of the immunosignature approach in the accurate, simultaneous classification of disease.
Performance of Priority Queues U nder a Variant of the Hold Model*

In the last decades a number of near optimal priority queues have been developed for simulations based on discrete events. Many of these priority queues have been compared and analyzed using a model for a list of events in an empirical manner. This paper studies the performance of priority queues under a variant of this m o del which mimics the requirements of a new class of applications: multiple-object simulation. Our results show that an unusual adaptation of a strictly balanced binary tree gives the best performance in all the cases considered
The digital divide shifts to differences in usage

In a representative survey of the Dutch population we found that people with low levels of education and disabled people are using the Internet for more hours a day in their spare time than higher educated and employed populations. To explain this finding, we investigated what these people are doing online. The first contribution is a theoretically validated cluster of Internet usage types: information, news, personal development, social interaction, leisure, commercial transaction and gaming. The second contribution is that, based on this classification, we were able to identify a number of usage differences, including those demonstrated by people with different gender, age, education and Internet experience, that are often observed in digital divide literature. The general conclusion is that when the Internet matures, it will increasingly reflect known social, economic and cultural relationships of the offline world, including inequalities.
Carbon and nitrogen cycling in watersheds of contrasting vegetation types in the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia

Increased anthropogenic deposition of nitrogen (N) and land-use changes associated with planted forests have important implications for sustainable forest management and associated water quality. The purpose of the research for this dissertation was to explore how N deposition will affect the long-term health, productivity, and carbon (C) and N sequestration of conifer and hardwood forest types by examining the mechanisms controlling N cycling and NO3-N production in two watersheds with contrasting vegetation at the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF), West Virginia. I utilized watershed C and N budgets to account for differences in stream export of NO3-N from streams draining adjacent watersheds containing (i) planted Norway spruce (Picea abies) and (ii) native Appalachian hardwoods. I also investigated spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved C and N across both watersheds and identified key soil properties associated with NO3-N in soil solution and streamwater. In a third study, I performed a soil inoculation and incubation experiment, which utilized soil from both watersheds, mixed in ratios in order to create a gradient of soil chemical and biotic characteristics. Important differences in biogeochemical cycling of C and N were documented in the watersheds after nearly 40 years of influence by contrasting vegetation. Total C and N pools were 28% and 35% lower in the spruce watershed than the hardwood watershed, respectively. Results also identify vegetation-mediated differences in soil characteristics, with lower soil pH and base cations, and higher extractable aluminum and C:N ratios measured in the spruce soil as compared to the native hardwood soil. Establishment of a spruce monoculture at the FEF significantly altered N cycling, depleted N stores, increased soil acidity, and altered organic matter dynamics, thus leading to low net nitrification rates. Carbon and N properties and processes in the soil profile should be taken into consideration in forests managed for ecosystem services including C sequestration and improvement or maintenance of water quality through alleviation of N inputs into aquatic ecosystems.
Addition of Brain Infarction to the ABCD2 Score (ABCD2I): A Collaborative Analysis of Unpublished Data on 4574 Patients

Background and Purpose— The ABCD system was developed to predict early stroke risk after transient ischemic attack. Incorporation of brain imaging findings has been suggested, but reports have used inconsistent methods and been underpowered. We therefore performed an international, multicenter collaborative study of the prognostic performance of the ABCD2 score and brain infarction on imaging to determine the optimal weighting of infarction in the score (ABCD2I). Methods— Twelve centers provided unpublished data on ABCD2 scores, presence of brain infarction on either diffusion-weighted imaging or CT, and follow-up in cohorts of patients with transient ischemic attack diagnosed by World Health Organization criteria. Optimal weighting of infarction in the ABCD2I score was determined using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve analyses and random effects meta-analysis. Results— Among 4574 patients with TIA, acute infarction was present in 884 (27.6%) of 3206 imaged with diffusion-weighted imaging and new or old infarction was present in 327 (23.9%) of 1368 imaged with CT. ABCD2 score and presence of infarction on diffusion-weighted imaging or CT were both independently predictive of stroke (n=145) at 7 days (after adjustment for ABCD2 score, OR for infarction=6.2, 95% CI=4.2 to 9.0, overall; 14.9, 7.4 to 30.2, for diffusion-weighted imaging; 4.2, 2.6 to 6.9, for CT; all P<0.001). Incorporation of infarction in the ABCD2I score improved predictive power with an optimal weighting of 3 points for infarction on CT or diffusion-weighted imaging. Pooled areas under the curve increased from 0.66 (0.53 to 0.78) for the ABCD2 score to 0.78 (0.72 to 0.85) for the ABCD2I score. Conclusions— In secondary care, incorporation of brain infarction into the ABCD system (ABCD2I score) improves prediction of stroke in the acute phase after transient ischemic attack.
Quantum Signatures of Unstable Dynamics in the Photodissociation of Ozone

Weak oscillations in the Hartley absorption system of ozone have been interpreted as the quantum correspondence of unstable repeating orbits in the nonlinear classical dynamics. Timedomain analysis of the frequency-domain spectrum has proven invaluable in this regard. Current experiments are measuring the Raman excitation profiles in a unique continuous-scanning mode to determine more details about photoexcited ozone during dissociation. Extraction of the corresponding dynamical information, which requires recovery of phase information from the Raman signals, is complicated by both noise and finite length of the spectral data. In answer to both these issues, a time-frequency analysis via wavelet decomposition is being put into operation. Key-Words: Dynamics, Ozone, Phase, Raman, Spectroscopy, Wavelets CSCC'99 Proc.pp.5491-5495
Music training and empathy positively impact adults’ sensitivity to infant distress

Crying is the most powerful auditory signal of infant need. Adults’ ability to perceive and respond to crying is important for infant survival and in the provision of care. This study investigated a number of listener variables that might impact on adults’ perception of infant cry distress, namely parental status, musical training, and empathy. Sensitivity to infant distress was tested using a previously validated task, which experimentally manipulated distress by varying the pitch of infant cries. This task required that participants discriminate between pitch differences and interpret these as differences in infant distress. Parents with musical training showed a significant advantage on this task when compared with parents without. The extent of the advantage was correlated with the amount of self-reported musical training. For non-parents, individual differences in empathy were associated with task performance, with higher empathy scores corresponding to greater sensitivity to infant distress. We suggest that sensitivity to infant distress can be impacted by a number of listener variables, and may be amenable to training.
An investigation of drought prediction using various remote-sensing vegetation indices for different time spans

ABSTRACT Iran is a country in a dry part of the world and extensively suffers from drought. Drought is a natural and repeatable phenomenon definable at specified time and area. In addition, social and economic issues can be affected by drought. Information such as intensity, duration, and spatial coverage of drought can help decision makers to reduce the vulnerability of the drought-affected areas, therefore lessen the risks associated with drought episodes. Lack of long-term meteorological data for many parts of the country is one of the most important problems for drought monitoring in Iran. One of the useful ways for gathering information about soil and vegetation conditions is using satellite-based imagery. In this study, remotely sensed image data were applied in order to forecast and model the drought. To this end, SPI (standardized precipitation index) drought indicator was used to represent the drought and its intensity in different time spans (1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months). Some vegetation indices (VIs) including normalized difference vegetation index, temperature condition index, vegetation condition index, and normalized difference vegetation index deviation were extracted using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor imagery. These indices were plugged into the model to calculate the SPI. A unique Support Vector Machine classifier improved for all types of the SPI by applying various remotely sensed VIs. The best vegetation index for each kind of SPI was determined. In this framework, meteorological stations were clustered based on their land cover extracted from satellite-based indices before insertion to the model.
ANNALES DE L’INSTITUT FOURIER

— In this short note, we study the bordism problem for group actions on the torus and give examples of groups acting on the torus by diﬀeomor-phisms isotopic to the identity that cannot be extended to an action on a bounding 3-manifold. This solves a question raised in the previous work of the authors. Résumé. — Dans cette courte note, nous étudions le groupe de bordisme pour l’action d’un groupe sur le tore et nous donnons quelques exemples de groupes agissant sur le tore T par diﬀéomorphismes isotopiques à l’identité et n’admettant pas de prolongement à une action sur une variété de dimension 3 avec bord T . Cela répond à une question posée dans les travaux antérieurs des auteurs.
ANTIVENOM : THE SHORTAGE AT HAND AND HOW POLYSPECIFIC ANTIVENOM MAY SAVE US ALL

University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering 1 Submission Date 11.01. 2016 Disclaimer—This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is based on publicly available information and may not provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
Lung Cancer Susceptibility and hOGG1 Ser326Cys Polymorphism: A Meta-Analysis

Recent lung cancer studies have focused on identifying the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes, among which DNA repair genes are increasingly being studied. Genetic variations in DNA repair genes are thought to modulate DNA repair capacity and are suggested to be related to lung cancer risk. In this study, we tried to assess reported studies of association between polymorphism of human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) Ser326Cys and lung cancer. We conducted MEDLINE, Current Contents and Web of Science searches using "hOGG1", "lung cancer" and "polymorphism" as keywords to search for papers published (from January 1995 through August 2010). Data were combined using both a fixed effects (the inverse variance-weighted method) and a random effects (DerSimonian and Laird method) models. The Cochran Q test was used for the assessment of heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by both Begg’s and Egger’s tests. We identified 20 case-control studies in 21 different ethnic populations. As two studies were not in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, 18 case-control studies in 19 different ethnic populations (7,792 cases and 9,358 controls) were included in our meta-analysis. Summary frequencies of the Cys allele among Caucasians and Asians based on the random effects model were 20.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 18.9–22.9) and 46.1% (95% CI = 40.2–52.0), respectively. The distribution of the Cys allele was significantly different between Asians and Caucasians (P < 0.001). The Cys/Cys genotype was significantly associated with lung cancer risk in Asian populations (odds ratio = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.09–1.48) but not in Caucasian populations. This ethnic difference in lung cancer risk may be due to environmental factors such as cigarette smoking and dietary factors. Although the summary risk for developing lung cancer may not be large, lung cancer is such a common malignancy that even a small increase in risk can translate to a large number of excess lung cancer cases. As lung cancer is a multifactorial disease, further investigations of the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions on the hOGG1 polymorphism-associated lung cancer risk may help to better understand of the molecular pathogenesis of human lung cancer.