Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health professionals responding to men for safety (HERMES): feasibility of a general practice training intervention to improve the response to male patients who have experienced or perpetrated domestic violence and abuse

Aim To evaluate a training intervention for general practice-based doctors and nurses in terms of the identification, documentation, and referral of male patients experiencing or perpetrating domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in four general practices in the south west of England. Background Research suggests that male victims and perpetrators of DVA present to primary care clinicians to seek support for their experiences. We know that the response of primary care clinicians to women patients experiencing DVA improves from training and the establishment of referral pathways to specialist DVA services. Method The intervention consisted of a 2-h practice-based training. Outcome measures included: a pre-post, self-reported survey of staff practice; disclosures of DVA as documented in medical records pre-post (six months) intervention; semi-structured interviews with clinicians; and practice-level contact data collected by DVA specialist agencies. Results Results show a significant increase in clinicians’ self-reported preparedness to meet the needs of male patients experiencing or perpetrating DVA. There was a small increase in male patients identified within the medical records (6 pre- to 17 post-intervention) but only five of those patients made contact with a specialist DVA agency identified within the referral pathway. The training increased clinicians’ confidence in responding to male patients affected by DVA. The increase in recorded identification of DVA male patients experiencing or perpetrating DVA was small and contact of those patients with a specialist DVA support service was negligible. We need to better understand male help seeking in relation to DVA, further develop interventions to increase identification of male patients experiencing or perpetrating DVA behaviours, and facilitate access to support services.
SEXUAL SIZE DIMORPHISM OF THE MUSK DUCK

Abstract We examined sexual size dimorphism of a lek-displaying diving duck from Australia, the Musk Duck (Biziura lobata). Like other lek-displaying species, Musk Ducks exhibit extreme sexual size dimorphism in addition to structural dimorphism. Body mass ratios (male:female) for Musk Ducks are among the highest reported for birds (more than 3:1). Multivariate analyses of 16 anatomical measurements indicated that body plans of male and female Musk Ducks have diverged isometrically except for the addition of a pendant lobe on lower mandibles of males. Within males, pendant lobe length, depth, and breadth were positively correlated with center rectrix length and bill width. Lobe area also was positively related to bill width, but not to center rectrix length. Lobe breadth and center rectrix length were positively related to overall body mass. Our results suggested that information about male physical quality may be conveyed to other Musk Ducks by parts of the anatomy most conspicuously exposed during sexual advertising displays. In contrast, anatomical features that function in foraging activity showed no sexual differences in anatomical shape relative to other parts of the anatomy that do not serve obvious foraging functions. We argue that foraging niche divergence or use of different food resources, if they have occurred, probably are secondary consequences of sexual size dimorphism.
Transductive inference & kernel design for object class segmentation

Transductive inference techniques are nowadays becoming standard in machine learning due to their relative success in solving many real-world applications. Among them, kernel-based methods are particularly interesting but their success remains highly dependent on the choice of kernels. The latter are usually handcrafted or designed in order to capture better similarity in training data. In this paper, we introduce a novel transductive learning algorithm for kernel design and classification. Our approach is based on the minimization of an energy function mixing i) a reconstruction term that factorizes a matrix of input data as a product of a learned dictionary and a learned kernel map ii) a fidelity term that ensures consistent label predictions with those provided in a ground-truth and iii) a smoothness term which guarantees similar labels for neighboring data and allows us to iteratively diffuse kernel maps and labels from labeled to unlabeled data. Solving this minimization problem makes it possible to learn both a decision criterion and a kernel map that guarantee linear separability in a high dimensional space and good generalization performance. Experiments conducted on object class segmentation, show improvements with respect to baseline as well as related work on the challenging VOC database.
Fluorescence polarization immunoassay. I. Monitoring aminoglycoside antibiotics in serum and plasma.

Fluorescence polarization immunoassays of the aminoglycoside antibiotics gentamicin, tobramycin, and amikacin in plasma and serum are described and shown to be clinically useful. The aminoglycoside tracers were prepared by reacting the parent compounds with 5-[(4,6-dichlorotriazin-2-yl)-amino] fluorescein. Antisera specific for the compounds were raised in rabbits by conventional procedures. Tracer, sample, and diluted antiserum are combined and, after a 15-min incubation at ambient temperature, the polarization of the fluorescence of the tracer is determined in a specially designed fluorometer. The assays are designed to give accurate trough (i.e., minimum during therapy) values and to be free of matrix effects. Severely icteric samples may interfere, but this can be overcome by blank subtraction. The performance of the assays with clinical specimens compared favorably with that of some commercially available assays.
A “Wearable” Test for Maximum Aerobic Power: Real-Time Analysis of a 60-m Sprint Performance and Heart Rate Off-Kinetics

Maximum aerobic power (V˙O2peak) as an indicator of body fitness is today a very well-known concept not just for athletes but also for the layman. Unfortunately, the accurate measurement of that variable has remained a complex and exhaustive laboratory procedure, which makes it inaccessible to many active people. In this paper we propose a quick estimate of it, mainly based on the heart rate off-kinetics immediately after an all-out 60-m sprint run. The design of this test took into account the recent availability of wrist wearable, heart band free, multi-sensor smart devices, which could also inertially detect the different phases of the sprint and check the distance run. 25 subjects undertook the 60-m test outdoor and a V˙O2peak test on the laboratory treadmill. Running average speed, HR excursion during the sprint and the time constant (τ) of HR exponential decay in the off-kinetics were fed into a multiple regression, with measured V˙O2peak as the dependent variable. Statistics revealed that within the investigated range (25–55 ml O2/(kg min)), despite a tendency to overestimate low values and underestimate high values, the three predictors confidently estimate individual V˙O2peak (R2 = 0.65, p < 0.001). The same analysis has been performed on a 5-s averaged time course of the same measured HR off-kinetics, as these are the most time resolved data for HR provided by many modern smart watches. Results indicate that despite of the substantial reduction in sample size, predicted V˙O2peak still explain 59% of the variability of the measured V˙O2peak.
Ultrastructural aspects of fertilization in the domestic pig: sperm penetration and pronucleus formation.

Detailed morphological and chronological descriptions concerning the process of fertilization in the domestic pig, Sus scrofa, are available at the level of the light microscope (Thibault, 1959; Hancock, 1961; Hunter, 1967a, 1972a, b; Baker, Dziuk & Norton, 1967; Hunter & Dziuk, 1968), but a systematic examination of sperm penetration and pronucleus formation by electron microscopy has yet to be presented for any of the large domestic species. Using data on the timing of penetration and early development obtained principally by phase-contrast microscopy (Hunter & Dziuk, 1968; Hunter, 1972a, b), it has been possible to examine certain aspects of the sequence of events during fertilization in porcine eggs of known postovulatory age. The following study presents electron microscope observations on changes in the sperm membranes during penetration of the egg investments, with reference to the so-called acrosome reaction, and also describes formation and development of the pronuclei. These findings are compared with recent information on other mammals, particularly the domestic rabbit and golden hamster, for both of which species a number of descriptions of sperm incorporation into the vitellus are available (Austin, 1963, 1965, 1968; Bedford, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972; Franklin, Barros & Fussell, 1970; Yanagimachi & Noda, 1970a; Zamboni & Mastroianni, 1966).
Steady Wave Analysis of Wave Propagation in Laminates and Mechanical Mixtures

A mechanical theory is developed for the propagation of steady waves in laminated media. This analysis treats wave propagation parallel and perpendicular to the laminate plates. It predicts the response of the composite from a knowledge of the component vol ume fractions and mechanical equation of states. Under the restric tion of fluid or hydrodynamic materials, the results yield a hydro dynamic prediction which is independent of composite geometry. Consequently, the analysis is equally applicable to mechanical mix tures. Theoretical calculations are compared to experimental Hu goniot results for a cloth laminate quartz phenolic, a plate laminate and three mechanical mixtures of Al2O3 in epoxy. Excellent agree ment is obtained at low stresses, if the expected deviations caused by material strength are recognized. Thermodynamic effects caused by deviations of the loading path from that of a single shock become more predominant as the stress increases. Models describing both the strength and thermodynamic effects are discussed.
Regression of left ventricular hypertrophy: hoping for a longer life

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is more than just an adaptive response to hypertension. It predicts a poor prognosis independently of the blood pressure (BP) level. There is increasing evidence from studies such as Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) and Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction in hypertension (LIFE) that LVH should be a target for treatment, above and beyond BP control. It is likely that drugs blocking the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system cause greater regression of LVH than other agents and this is probably the mechanism that explains the superiority of losartan over atenolol in the LIFE study. In order to achieve the stringent BP goals suggested by modern guidelines, most patients will require multiple antihypertensive agents and the clinical choices relate more often to which combinations of drugs are most appropriate, rather than which single drug is the best. Tight BP control should be the first priority and this is likely to lead to regression of LVH.
Independent and population-specific association of risk variants at the IRGM locus with Crohn's disease

DNA polymorphisms in a region on chromosome 5q33.1 which contains two genes, immunity related GTPase related family, M (IRGM) and zinc finger protein 300 (ZNF300), are associated with Crohn's disease (CD). The deleted allele of a 20 kb copy number variation (CNV) upstream of IRGM was recently shown to be in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with the CD-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms and is itself associated with CD (P < 0.01). The deletion was correlated with increased or reduced expression of IRGM in transformed cells in a cell line-dependent manner, and has been proposed as a likely causal variant. We report here that small insertion/deletion polymorphisms in the promoter and 5′ untranslated region of IRGM are, together with the CNV, strongly associated with CD (P = 1.37 × 10−5 to 1.40 × 10−9), and that the CNV and the 5′-untranslated region variant −308(GTTT)5 contribute independently to CD susceptibility (P = 2.6 × 10−7 and P = 2 × 10−5, respectively). We also show that the CD risk haplotype is associated with a significant decrease in IRGM expression (P < 10−12) in untransformed lymphocytes from CD patients. Further analysis of these variants in a Japanese CD case–control sample and of IRGM expression in HapMap populations revealed that neither the IRGM insertion/deletion polymorphisms nor the CNV was associated with CD or with altered IRGM expression in the Asian population. This suggests that the involvement of the IRGM risk haplotype in the pathogenesis of CD requires gene–gene or gene–environment interactions which are absent in Asian populations, or that none of the variants analysed are causal, and that the true causal variants arose after the European–Asian split.
Distribution and Genotypic Characterization of Campylobacter jejuni Isolated from Poultry in Split and Dalmatia County, Croatia

Consumption of poultry contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni has been recognized worldwide as the leading cause of campylobacteriosis. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence and genotype diversity of Campylobacter jejuni in poultry meat intended for consumption in Split and Dalmatia County, which is the second biggest County in Croatia. Furthermore, we also wanted to discover possibly stable clones of C. jejuni appearing in different samples and periods of time, which would indicate their ability to persist in or adapt to poultry. In the period from March 2008 until June 2010, 834 samples of poultry from various sources were examined using a surface swab technique. Isolation of C. jejuni was performed by Preston broth and Karmali agar. Identification of the isolates was carried out using biochemical tests. C. jejuni was found in 84 of 574 chicken samples (14.6%) and in nine of 260 samples of turkey (3.5%). Pulse‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to analyse 61 obtained isolates using SmaI and KpnI. Of 22 different macrorestriction profiles (MRP) that were found, five were detected in poultry from both different locations and periods of time. Samples from 11 locations were found to be contaminated with more than two different genotypes of C. jejuni. Interestingly, the same MRP were found both in poultry declared to be of domestic origin and in the poultry imported from abroad. The prevalence of C. jejuni in poultry samples was in accordance with previously reported results. Genotypic analysis indicated that the population of C. jejuni in Split and Dalmatia County was diverse and that multiple strains of C. jejuni could be found in the same poultry samples. Furthermore, the same genotypes were identified from the samples obtained from different locations and periods of time, which could support the theory of a global existence of certain MRP that are able to persist in or adapt to poultry.
Finite Element Analysis of Minimum Plastic Zone Radius criterion for crack initiation direction under mixed mode loading

The studies on crack‐tip plastic zones are of fundamental importance in describing the process of failure and in formulating various fracture criteria. The material fracture by opening mode (mode I) is not solely responsible for fracture propagation. Many industrial examples show the presence of mode II and mixed mode I+II loading in machine/structural components. In the present study, the emphasis is placed on the analysis of the size and shape of the plastic zone at the crack tip under mixed mode (I+II) loading conditions. The shape and size of crack‐tip plastic zones have been estimated by elastic finite element analysis in a Compact Tensile Shear (CTS) specimen under mixed mode loading according to von Mises yield criteria. The results obtained are used to analyze the minimum plastic zone radius (MPZR) criterion for crack‐initiation angle with reference to the loading angle and stress intensity factor.
An accretion disc-corona model for X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei

The hard X-ray emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is believed to originate from the hot coronae above the cold accretion discs. The hard X-ray spectral index is found to be correlated with the Eddington ratio L(bol)/L(Edd), and the hard X-ray bolometric correction factor L(bol)/L(X,2-10keV) increases with the Eddington ratio. The Compton reflection is also found to be correlated with the hard X-ray spectral index for Seyfert galaxies and X-ray binaries. These observational features provide very useful constraints on the accretion disc-corona model for AGN. We construct an accretion disc-corona model and calculate the spectra with different magnetic stress tensors in the cold discs, in which the corona is assumed to be heated by the reconnection of the magnetic fields generated by buoyancy instability in the cold accretion disc. Our calculations show that the magnetic stress tensor tau(r phi) = alpha p(gas) fails to explain all these observational features, while the disc-corona model with tau(r phi) = alpha p(tot) always leads to constant L(bol)/L(X,2-10keV) independent of the Eddington ratio. The resulted spectra of the disc-corona systems with tau(r phi) = alpha root p(gas)p(tot) show that both the hard X-ray spectral index and the hard X-ray bolometric correction factor L(bol)/L(X,2-10keV) increase with the Eddington ratio, which are qualitatively consistent with the observations. We find that the disc-corona model is unable to reproduce the observed very hard X-ray continuum emission from the sources accreting at low rates (e.g. Gamma similar to 1 for L(bol)/L(Edd) similar to 0.01), which may imply the different accretion modes in these low-luminosity sources. We suggest that the disc-corona system transits to an advection-dominated accretion flow+disc corona system at low accretion rates, which may be able to explain all the above-mentioned correlations.
Downlink Training Sequence Design for FDD Multiuser Massive MIMO Systems

We consider the problem of downlink training sequence design for frequency-division-duplex multiuser massive multiple-input multiple-output systems in the general case where users have distinct spatial correlations. The training sequences leverage spatial correlations and are designed to minimize the channel estimation weighted sum mean square error (MSE) under the assumption that users employ minimum MSE estimators. Noting that the weighted sum MSE function is invariant to unitary rotations of its argument, a solution is obtained using a steepest descent method on the Grassmannian manifold. We extend the proposed design to scenarios with temporal correlations combined with Kalman filters at the users, and design sequences exploiting the multiuser spatio-temporal channel structure. Finally, we consider scenarios where only a limited number of bits <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$</tex-math> </inline-formula> are available at the base station (BS) to inform the users of each chosen sequence, e.g., sequences are chosen from a set of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^B$</tex-math></inline-formula> vectors known to the BS and users, and develop a subspace version of matching pursuit techniques to choose the desired sequences. Simulation results using realistic channel models show that the proposed solutions improve user fairness with a proper choice of weights, lead to accurate channel estimates with training durations that can be much smaller than the number of BS antennas, and show substantial gains over randomly chosen sequences for even small values of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$</tex-math></inline-formula>.
Alcohol consumption in men is influenced by qualitatively different genetic factors in adolescence and adulthood

Background Alcohol consumption is influenced by genetic factors. Previous studies have examined the heritability of alcohol consumption, or related phenotypes, from adolescence into adulthood, frequently finding that total heritability changes over time. However, it remains unclear whether the same genes underlie liability to alcohol consumption across development versus whether novel risk genes become important over time. Method A population-based study of adult male twins (n=1790) born in Virginia, USA, retrospectively reported on their average monthly alcohol consumption from early adolescence through adulthood. We used twin modeling methods to explore genetic and environmental influences on alcohol consumption over time. Results One latent genetic factor accounted for the majority of the heritability in alcohol consumption during mid- to late adolescence, but its influence declined thereafter; from young adulthood forward, heritability was largely attributable to a second genetic factor. The total heritability of alcohol consumption increased from 0 at ages 12–14 years to 0.40 by ages 18–21 years. Shared environmental factors declined in influence over time. Conclusions The heritability of alcohol consumption over time is dynamic both quantitatively and qualitatively. These results have important implications for gene identification endeavors. Furthermore, these findings could inform efforts to elucidate developmentally dynamic behaviors, such as antisocial behavior.
Dividend Smoothing and Predictability

The relative predictability of returns and dividends is a central issue because it forms the paradigm to interpret asset price variation. A little studied question is how dividend smoothing, as a choice of corporate policy, affects predictability. We show that even if dividends are supposed to be predictable without smoothing, dividend smoothing can bury this predictability. Because aggregate dividends are dramatically more smoothed in the postwar period than before, the lack of dividend growth predictability in the postwar period does not necessarily mean that there is no cash flow news in stock price variations; rather, a more plausible interpretation is that dividends are smoothed. Using two alternative measures that are less subject to dividend smoothing---net payout and earnings---we reach the consistent conclusion that cash flow news plays a more important role than discount rate news in price variations in the postwar period. This paper was accepted by Wei Xiong, finance.
Performance Bounded Reinforcement Learning in Strategic Interactions

Despite increasing deployment of agent technologies in several business and industry domains, user confidence in fully automated agent driven applications is noticeably lacking. The main reasons for such lack of trust in complete automation are scalability and nonexistence of reasonable guarantees in the performance of selfadapting software. In this paper we address the latter issue in the context of learning agents in a Multiagent System (MAS). Performance guarantees for most existing on-line Multiagent Learning (MAL) algorithms are realizable only in the limit, thereby seriously limiting its practical utility. Our goal is to provide certain meaningful guarantees about the performance of a learner in a MAS, while it is learning. In particular, we present a novel MAL algorithm that (i) converges to a best response against stationary opponents, (ii) converges to a Nash equilibrium in self-play and (iii) achieves a constant bounded expected regret at any time (no-average-regret asymptotically) in arbitrary sized general-sum games with non-negative payoffs, and against any number of opponents.