Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Government and Non-Government Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment Service Delivery for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community

ABSTRACT Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations are more likely to misuse alcohol and other drugs (AOD), compared to the general population. However, LGBT engagement with AOD treatment is often precluded by insensitivity and misunderstanding of LGBT issues. These treatment barriers may be a consequence of either worker attitudes, organizational factors or a combination of both. Few studies have compared service context as an impediment to AOD treatment. Objectives: This pilot study sought to examine and compare staff attitudes, knowledge and awareness of LGBT issues in two state-wide AOD services within Australia. One organization was a government service, whilst the other was faith based. Methods: A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample (N = 130) of workers employed in a state-wide government AOD service (n = 65), and a state-wide non-government service (n = 65) was conducted. Participants self-completed a questionnaire comprising tools previously used to assess staff attitudes, knowledge and awareness of LGBT issues. Results: Few significant differences in attitudes and awareness of LGBT issues between government and non-government respondents were found. Nearly all respondents were supportive of LGBT persons irrespective of organizational context, with a small number of negative views. Although most respondents demonstrated awareness of organizational policies and practices relating to LGBT clients, many were “unsure” or “neutral” of what these might be. Conclusion: It is confirming that the majority of staff report supportive attitudes towards LGBT clients. Findings suggest that organizations need to continue to take leadership to strengthen organizational training and capacity to deliver LGBT friendly AOD treatment practices.
Microaneurysm detection using deep learning and interleaved freezing

Diabetes affects one in eleven adults. Diabetic retinopathy is a microvascular complication of diabetes and the leading cause of blindness in the working-age population. Microaneurysms are the earliest clinical signs of diabetic retinopathy. This paper proposes an automatic method for detecting microaneurysms in fundus photographies. A novel patch-based fully convolutional neural network for detection of microaneurysms is proposed. Compared to other methods that require five processing stages, it requires only two. Furthermore, a novel network fine-tuning scheme called Interleaved Freezing is presented. This procedure significantly reduces the amount of time needed to re-train a network and produces competitive results. The proposed method was evaluated using publicly available and widely used datasets: E-Ophtha and ROC. It outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of free-response receiver operatic characteristic (FROC) metric. Simplicity, performance, efficiency and robustness of the proposed method demonstrate its suitability for diabetic retinopathy screening applications.
Functional conservation between CRABS CLAW orthologues from widely diverged angiosperms.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS CRABS CLAW (CRC) encodes a transcription factor of the YABBY family that plays important roles in carpel and nectary development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Combined evolutionary and developmental studies suggest an ancestor of the CRC gene to have controlled carpel development in the last common ancestor of the angiosperms. Roles for CRC orthologues in leaf development and carpel specification in rice, and in nectary development in core eudicots, have accordingly been interpreted as derived. The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of CRC orthologues from a basal angiosperm and from rice to complement CRC mutants of arabidopsis. These experiments were designed to test the hypothesized ancestral role of CRC in the angiosperms, and to indicate whether putatively novel roles of various CRC orthologues resulted from changes to their encoded proteins, or from other molecular evolutionary events. METHODS The crc-1 mutant of arabidopsis was genetically transformed with the coding sequences of various CRC orthologues, and with paralogous YABBY coding sequences, under the control of the arabidopsis CRC promoter. The phenotypes of transformed plants were assessed to determine the degree of complementation of the crc-1 mutant phenotype in carpel fusion, carpel form and nectary development. KEY RESULTS The CRC orthologue from the basal angiosperm Amborella trichopoda partially complemented the crc-1 mutant phenotype in carpels, but not in nectaries. The CRC orthologue from rice partially complemented all aspects of the crc-1 mutant phenotype. Though most non-CRC YABBY coding sequences did not complement crc-1 mutant phenotypes, YABBY2 (YAB2) proved to be an exception. CONCLUSIONS The data support a hypothesized ancestral role for CRC in carpel development and suggest that novel roles for CRC orthologues in monocots and in core eudicots resulted principally from molecular changes other than those affecting their coding sequences.
Phylostratigraphic Bias Creates Spurious Patterns of Genome Evolution.

Phylostratigraphy is a method for dating the evolutionary emergence of a gene or gene family by identifying its homologs across the tree of life, typically by using BLAST searches. Applying this method to all genes in a species, or genomic phylostratigraphy, allows investigation of genome-wide patterns in new gene origination at different evolutionary times and thus has been extensively used. However, gene age estimation depends on the challenging task of detecting distant homologs via sequence similarity, which is expected to have differential accuracies for different genes. Here, we evaluate the accuracy of phylostratigraphy by realistic computer simulation with parameters estimated from genomic data, and investigate the impact of its error on findings of genome evolution. We show that 1) phylostratigraphy substantially underestimates gene age for a considerable fraction of genes, 2) the error is especially serious when the protein evolves rapidly, is short, and/or its most conserved block of sites is small, and 3) these errors create spurious nonuniform distributions of various gene properties among age groups, many of which cannot be predicted a priori. Given the high likelihood that conclusions about gene age are faulty, we advocate the use of realistic simulation to determine if observations from phylostratigraphy are explainable, at least qualitatively, by a null model of biased measurement, and in all cases, critical evaluation of results.
Cross-Domain Color Facial Expression Recognition Using Transductive Transfer Subspace Learning

Facial expression recognition across domains, e.g., training and testing facial images come from different facial poses, is very challenging due to the different marginal distributions between training and testing facial feature vectors. To deal with such challenging cross-domain facial expression recognition problem, a novel transductive transfer subspace learning method is proposed in this paper. In this method, a labelled facial image set from source domain is combined with an unlabelled auxiliary facial image set from target domain to jointly learn a discriminative subspace and make the class labels prediction of the unlabelled facial images, where a transductive transfer regularized least-squares regression (TTRLSR) model is proposed to this end. Then, based on the auxiliary facial image set, we train a SVM classifier for classifying the expressions of other facial images in the target domain. Moreover, we also investigate the use of color facial features to evaluate the recognition performance of the proposed facial expression recognition method, where color scale invariant feature transform (CSIFT) features associated with 49 landmark facial points are extracted to describe each color facial image. Finally, extensive experiments on BU-3DFE and Multi-PIE multiview color facial expression databases are conducted to evaluate the cross-database & cross-view facial expression recognition performance of the proposed method. Comparisons with state-of-the-art domain adaption methods are also included in the experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves much better recognition performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
Gay and bisexual men who disclose their sexual orientations in the workplace have higher workday levels of salivary cortisol and negative affect

Background: Previous research has shown that gay and bisexual men who conceal their sexual orientation suffer more adverse physical health problems relative to men who are more “out. ” However, little is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying this association.Purpose: This study examined whether concealing sexual orientation in the workplace was associated with increased workday levels of salivary cortisol.Methods: Seventy-three gay and bisexual men responded to questionnaires assessing the extent to which they are open about their sexual orientations at work and other aspects of their work environment. Men then provided saliva samples and reports of negative affect throughout 2 consecutive days-1 at home and 1 at work.Results: Contrary to expectations, being more out at work was associated with higher workday levels of salivary cortisol (B = 0.21, SE B = 0.09, p < .05) and higher workday reports of negative affect (B = 0.14, SE B = 0.07, p < .05), controlling for home day values.Conclusions: These findings suggest that it is disclosure rather than nondisclosure of sexual orientation by gay men in the workplace that is associated with emotional and physiological activation; a pattern that may have implications for their long-term adaptation.
An empirical method for … The prediction of liquid permeation in polyethylene and related polymers

Permeability properties depend on the size, shape and polarity of the permeating molecule. Permeability of organic liquids, polar or non-polar, can be quite accurately predicted if the chemical composition of the permeant is known. By the choice of an arbitrary value (unity) as an indicator for the carbon atom, numbers specific to each structural element of the permeating molecule can be computed from previous experimental data. These numbers, herein called “Permachor” values (π), then combine by simple addition to relate the logarithm of a liquid's permeation in polyethylene.
Bandits with Knapsacks

Multi-armed bandit problems are the predominant theoretical model of exploration-exploitation tradeoffs in learning, and they have countless applications ranging from medical trials, to communication networks, to Web search and advertising. In many of these application domains the learner may be constrained by one or more supply (or budget) limits, in addition to the customary limitation on the time horizon. The literature lacks a general model encompassing these sorts of problems. We introduce such a model, called "bandits with knapsacks", that combines aspects of stochastic integer programming with online learning. A distinctive feature of our problem, in comparison to the existing regret-minimization literature, is that the optimal policy for a given latent distribution may significantly outperform the policy that plays the optimal fixed arm. Consequently, achieving sub linear regret in the bandits-with-knapsacks problem is significantly more challenging than in conventional bandit problems. We present two algorithms whose reward is close to the information-theoretic optimum: one is based on a novel "balanced exploration" paradigm, while the other is a primal-dual algorithm that uses multiplicative updates. Further, we prove that the regret achieved by both algorithms is optimal up to polylogarithmic factors. We illustrate the generality of the problem by presenting applications in a number of different domains including electronic commerce, routing, and scheduling. As one example of a concrete application, we consider the problem of dynamic posted pricing with limited supply and obtain the first algorithm whose regret, with respect to the optimal dynamic policy, is sub linear in the supply.
Interfacial Thermal Transport via One-Dimensional Atomic Junction Model

In modern information technology, as integration density increases rapidly and the dimension of materials reduces to nanoscale, interfacial thermal transport (ITT) has attracted widespread attention of scientists. This review introduces the latest theoretical development in ITT through one-dimensional (1D) atomic junction model to address the thermal transport across an interface. With full consideration of the atomic structures in interfaces, people can apply the 1D atomic junction model to investigate many properties of ITT, such as interfacial (Kapitza) resistance, nonlinear interface, interfacial rectification and phonon interference, etc. For the ballistic ITT, both the scattering boundary method and the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method can be applied, which are exact since atomic details of actual interfaces are considered. For interfacial coupling case, explicit analytical expression of transmission coefficient can be obtained and it is found that the thermal conductance maximizes at certain interfacial coupling (harmonic mean of the spring constants of the two leads) and the transmission coefficient is not a monotonic decreasing function of phonon frequency. With nonlinear interaction -- phonon-phonon interaction or electron-phonon interaction at interface, the NEGF method provides an efficient way to study the ITT. It is found that at weak linear interfacial coupling, the nonlinearity can improve the ITT, but it depresses the ITT in the case of strong-linear-coupling. In addition, the nonlinear interfacial coupling can induce thermal rectification effect. For interfacial materials case which can be simulated by a two-junction atomic chain, phonons show interference effect, and an optimized thermal coupler can be obtained by tuning its spring constant and atomic mass.
An Automated Test of Rat Forelimb Supination Quantifies Motor Function Loss and Recovery After Corticospinal Injury

Background. Rodents are the primary animal model of corticospinal injury and repair, yet current behavioral tests do not show the large deficits after injury observed in humans. Forearm supination is critical for hand function and is highly impaired by corticospinal injury in both humans and rats. Current tests of rodent forelimb function do not measure this movement. Objective. To determine if quantification of forelimb supination in rats reveals large-scale functional loss and partial recovery after corticospinal injury. Methods. We developed a knob supination device that quantifies supination using automated and objective methods. Rats in a reaching box have to grasp and turn a knob in supination in order to receive a food reward. Performance on this task and the single pellet reaching task were measured before and after 2 manipulations of the pyramidal tract: a cut lesion of 1 pyramid and inactivation of motor cortex using 2 different drug doses. Results. A cut lesion of the corticospinal tract produced a large deficit in supination. In contrast, there was no change in pellet retrieval success. Supination function recovered partially over 6 weeks after injury, and a large deficit remained. Motor cortex inactivation produced a dose-dependent loss of knob supination; the effect on pellet reaching was more subtle. Conclusions. The knob supination task reveals in rodents 3 signature hand function changes observed in humans with corticospinal injury: (1) large-scale loss with injury, (2) partial recovery in the weeks after injury, and (3) loss proportional to degree of dysfunction.
E-Nose and GC-MS Reveal a Difference in the Volatile Profiles of White- and Red-Fleshed Peach Fruit

First purchases of fruit are mainly dependent on aspects of appearance such as color. However, repeat buys of fruit are determined by internal quality traits such as flavor-related volatiles. Differences in volatile profiles in white- and red-fleshed peach fruit are not well understood. In the present study, peach cultivars with white- and red-fleshed fruit were subjected to sensory analysis using electronic nose (e-nose) to evaluate overview volatile profiles. Approximately 97.3% of the total variation in peach color-volatiles was explained by the first principle component 1 (PC1) and PC2. After analyzing sensory differences between peach fruit samples, 50 volatile compounds were characterized based on GC-MS. Multivariate analysis such as partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was applied to identify volatile compounds that contribute to difference in white- and red-fleshed peach fruit cultivars. A total of 18 volatiles that could separate peach fruit cultivars with different colors in flesh during ripening were identified based on variable importance in projection (VIP) score. Fruity note latone γ-hexalactone had higher contents in red-fleshed cultivars, while grassy note C6 compounds such as hexanal, 2-hexenal, (E)-2-hexenal, 1-hexanol, and (Z)-2-hexen-1-ol showed great accumulation in white-fleshed peach fruit.
“Stop. I See a Conflict Happening.” A Robot Mediator for Young Children’s Interpersonal Conflict Resolution

The ability to constructively resolve interpersonal conflicts is a crucial set of social skills people need to effectively work and live well together. Is it possible to design social robots to support the early development of children’s interpersonal conflict resolution skills? To investigate this question, 64 (32 pairs of) children ages 3-6 years engaged in a 50-minute play session consisting of 5 activities facilitated by the robot Keepon. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions. In the mediation condition, Keepon directed the play session flow by indicating when and which activity to switch to, and whenever possible, signaled the onset of object possession conflicts that occurred between the pair and offered prompts for constructive conflict resolution. In the control condition, Keepon only facilitated and directed the play session and did not intervene during children’s conflicts. Results show that children were more likely to resolve conflicts constructively in the mediation condition than in the control condition, and that a key function for a robot mediator within the conflict process is to successfully flag the conflict onset. Drawing from these findings, we discuss design recommendation for a robot mediator.
Posterior linear stromal haze formation after simultaneous photorefractive keratectomy followed by corneal collagen cross-linking.

PURPOSE To report the development of posterior linear stromal haze after simultaneous photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) followed by corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL). METHODS Combined simultaneous customized PRK followed by corneal collagen cross-linking was performed in 23 patients (28 eyes) with keratoconus. Corneas were examined biomicroscopically and by means of confocal microscopy before surgery and 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after surgery. RESULTS Posterior linear stromal haze was observed clinically (slit lamp biomicroscopy) one month after surgery in 13 of 28 eyes (46.42%). No corneal edema or anterior haze formation was evident. Confocal microscopy revealed in those 13 eyes a hyperreflective area at the level of the posterior stroma 1 month after combined treatment. Both slit lamp examination and corneal confocal microscopy follow-up demonstrated a gradual anterior movement and a decrease in reflectance of this finding. At 12 months this posterior linear stromal haze, despite its anterior movement and decreased density, did not completely disappear at slit lamp and confocal microscopy analysis. CONCLUSIONS Posterior linear stromal haze formation may appear after simultaneous PRK followed by CXL in patients with keratoconus. This finding seems to gradually become less dense and slowly moves toward the anterior stroma.
Firefighter perceptions of cancer risk: Results of a qualitative study

BACKGROUND Recent epidemiological research on firefighters indicates an increased incidence of specific types of cancer. Intervention is needed in the fire service yet little is known about how firefighters perceive their cancer risk. METHODS Participant observation (150 h, n = 100) and focus group (n = 17) data were collected from 15 fire stations in South Florida. Firefighters had at least 3 years of experience, ranks included drivers, captains, lieutenants, and specialty captains, with a median age of 51 years. RESULTS From the qualitative analysis, two major categories (direct and indirect factors) for cancer risks emerged based on participant notions of cancer risk and cancer prevention behaviors as they relate to firefighting. CONCLUSIONS Firefighters perceive cancer risks as the result of performing essential job tasks and from indirect job factors related to being a firefighter. The two categories of cancer risks suggest different points of entry for intervention.
miR-29a regulates the proliferation and differentiation of retinal progenitors by targeting Rbm8a

During development, tight regulation of the expansion of retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) and their differentiation into neuronal and glial cells is important for retinal formation and function. Our study demonstrated that microRNA (miR)-29a modulated the proliferation and differentiation of RPCs by suppressing RBM8A (one of the factors in the exon junction complex). Particularly, overexpression of miR-29a reduced RPC proliferation but accelerated RPC differentiation. By contrast, reduction of endogenous miR-29a elicited the opposite effects. Overexpression of miR-29a repressed the translation of Rbm8a, thus negatively regulating RPC proliferation and promoting the neuronal and glial differentiation of RPCs, and knockdown of endogenous Rbm8a phenocopied the observed effects of miR-29a overexpression. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-29a directly interacted with the Rbm8a mRNA 3′UTR, which indicated that Rbm8a is the direct target of miR-29a. To further verify the result, co-overexpression of the Rbm8a 3′ UTR-wt (plasmids into which the Rbm8a 3′ UTR sequence had been introduced) and miR-29a in RPCs rescued the phenotype associated with miR-29a overexpression, reversing the promotion of differentiation and inhibition of proliferation. These results show a novel mechanism by which miR-29a regulates the proliferation and differentiation of RPCs through Rbm8a.