Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental Perceptions of Giardiasis: A Study in an Outpatient Paediatric Hospital Setting in Havana, Cuba

Background. Giardia lamblia is an important cause of diarrhoeal disease throughout the world. Giardiasis— a mild and self-limiting disease that this protozoan causes— is perceived as a harmful disease. Aim. To explore the general level of awareness about giardiasis, clinical features, mode of transmission, prevention, and consequences and describe the sources and channels of information caregivers would prefer using to be informed about this disease. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among caregivers attending to the outpatient paediatric hospital setting in Havana. Results. A total of 202 caregivers were interviewed. Nearly 73% considered giardiasis as a modern problem, and 39% considered that it could be a fatal disease. Although 76.7% were aware that small intestine is the organ affected, other localizations were cited. Abdominal pain and diarrhoea were recognized as the commonest symptoms. Around one-third could identify that giardiasis may spread through drinking unboiled water and unwashed vegetables other incorrect ways were mentioned; respondents with more than 12 years of formal education were more likely to have better knowledge. Discussion. Strategies to control giardiasis need to be through an integrated approach aiming at boosting caregivers' knowledge and encouraging healthcare workers to act as a readily available source for health information.
A Low-Complexity Multiuser Adaptive Modulation Scheme for Massive MIMO Systems

A novel low-complexity multiuser adaptive modulation (MAM) scheme is proposed for uplink massive multiple input and multiple output systems with zero-forcing detection, which requires only slow-varying large-scale shadowing information for the users. Closed-form expressions are derived for the average spectral efficiency (ASE) and bit error outage (BEO). In addition, for MAM with joint power control, optimal power adaptation strategy and switching thresholds are obtained. Compared with the conventional fast adaptive modulation, which requires fast-varying small-scale fading information, the proposed MAM scheme achieves similar ASE performance with slight increase in BEO.
Mathematical analysis of self-pruning and a new dynamic probabilistic broadcast for MANETs

Self-pruning broadcasting algorithm exploits neighbor knowledge to reduce redundant retransmissions in mobile ad hoc wireless networks (MANETs). Although in self-pruning, only a subset of nodes forward the message based on certain forwarding rule, it belongs to one of the reliable broadcasting algorithm category where a broadcast message is guaranteed (at least algorithmically) to reach all the nodes in the network. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to determine expected number of forwarding nodes required to complete a broadcast in self-pruning algorithm. The derived expression is a function of various network parameters (such as, network density and distance between nodes) and radio transceiver parameters (such as transmission range). Moreover, the developed mathematical expression provides us a better understanding of the highly complex packet forwarding pattern of self-pruning algorithm and valuable insight to design a new broadcasting heuristic. The proposed new heuristic is a dynamic probabilistic broadcast where rebroadcast probability of each node is dynamically determined from a developed mathematical expression. Extensive simulation experiments have been conducted to validate the accuracy of the analytical model, as well as, to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed heuristic. Performance analysis shows that the proposed heuristic outperforms the static probabilistic broadcasting algorithm and an existing solution proposed by Bahadili.
Stable numerosity representations irrespective of magnitude context in macaque prefrontal cortex

Cognitively demanding tasks require neurons of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to encode divergent behaviorally relevant information. In discrimination tasks with arbitrary and learned categories, context‐specific parameters shape and adapt the tuning functions of PFC neurons. We explored if and how selectivity of PFC neurons to visual numerosities, a ‘natural’ abstract category, may change depending on the magnitude context. Two monkeys discriminated visual numerosities (varying numbers of dot items) in a delayed match‐to‐sample (DMS) task while single‐cell activity was recorded from the lateral PFC. During a given recording session, the numerosity task was either presented in isolation or randomly intermixed with DMS tasks with line lengths and colors as discriminative stimuli. We found that the context of numerosity discriminations did not influence the response properties of numerosity detectors. The numerosity tuning curves of selective neurons, i.e. the preferred numerosity and the sharpness of tuning, remained stable, irrespective of whether the numerosity task was presented in a pure numerosity block or a mixed magnitude block. Our data suggest that numerosity detectors in the PFC do not adapt their response properties to code stimuli according to changing magnitude context. Rather, numerosity representations seem to rely on a sparse and stable ‘labeled line’ code. In contrast to arbitrarily learned categories, numerosity as a ‘natural’ category may possess a privileged position and their neuronal representations could thus remain unaffected by magnitude context.
Interpreting Patients’ Beliefs About Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression: The Need for Caution and for Context

Lawrence et al. (2019) conducted a qualitative study examining the beliefs of patients with treatment-resistant depression about deep brain stimulation (DBS). There have been only a small number of studies looking at patients’ perceptions of DBS for depression. One of the first (Leykin et al. 2011) examines the perceptions around risk, potential benefits, and therapeutic misconception of 31 participants considering DBS for major depression in two different clinical sites. They found that participants perceived the surgery itself as the riskiest study procedure, demonstrating reasonable perceptions of risks and benefits. Participants also recognized that DBS for depression was experimental, yet the authors also found evidence of therapeutic misconception, with participants incorrectly assessing the likelihood of personal benefit, the study’s purpose, and individualization of treatment. A more recent study by Klein and colleagues (Klein et al. 2016) examined perspectives of participants who have undergone DBS for depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder, with the goal of better understanding ethical challenges that might arise with the use of next-generation DBS. Among the four major themes found by this group were relationship effects, which have to do with the impact of DBS on relationships, and meaningful consent, which had to do with effective communication of complex information, framing of realistic expectations, and attention to cognitive and affective impairments. Lawrence and colleagues found that their participants were thoughtful and cautious about DBS for depression, with most showing minimal interest in the procedure. They also identify a number of concerns expressed by patients regarding efficacy and adverse effects, including possibly being worse off after the procedure. Their participants also voice concerns that their depression interfered with their ability to weigh the risks and benefits. Given the few studies examining patients’ beliefs about DBS for psychiatric, the study by Lawrence and colleagues is a needed addition; however, there are two points we find important to consider relevant to this study. The first one is connected to methodological issues; the second concerns suggestions as to how looking at public perceptions
Convergent functional architecture of the superior parietal lobule unraveled with multimodal neuroimaging approaches

The superior parietal lobule (SPL) plays a pivotal role in many cognitive, perceptive, and motor‐related processes. This implies that a mosaic of distinct functional and structural subregions may exist in this area. Recent studies have demonstrated that the ongoing spontaneous fluctuations in the brain at rest are highly structured and, like coactivation patterns, reflect the integration of cortical locations into long‐distance networks. This suggests that the internal differentiation of a complex brain region may be revealed by interaction patterns that are reflected in different neuroimaging modalities. On the basis of this perspective, we aimed to identify a convergent functional organization of the SPL using multimodal neuroimaging approaches. The SPL was first parcellated based on its structural connections as well as on its resting‐state connectivity and coactivation patterns. Then, post hoc functional characterizations and connectivity analyses were performed for each subregion. The three types of connectivity‐based parcellations consistently identified five subregions in the SPL of each hemisphere. The two anterior subregions were found to be primarily involved in action processes and in visually guided visuomotor functions, whereas the three posterior subregions were primarily associated with visual perception, spatial cognition, reasoning, working memory, and attention. This parcellation scheme for the SPL was further supported by revealing distinct connectivity patterns for each subregion in all the used modalities. These results thus indicate a convergent functional architecture of the SPL that can be revealed based on different types of connectivity and is reflected by different functions and interactions. Hum Brain Mapp, 36:238–257, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Fundamental relationships between energy and delay in streaming

This paper considers the problem of continuously streaming bits over a AWGN channel, a simple model of video or audio streaming. The bits are required to be decoded with a maximum delay, a deadline, of d. The question the paper seeks to answer is: what is the fundamental cost of the deadline in terms of energy per bit E<sub>b</sub>? The paper answers this question for a number of cases, depending on the bandwidth available for transmission. A common conclusion is that for an excess energy of ΔE<sub>b</sub>, i.e., the energy above that required in the limit d → ∞, the required delay is d ~ ΔE<sub>b</sub><sup>-2</sup> which is much worse than the linear relationship between bandwidth and E<sub>b</sub><sup>-1</sup>.
The Effect of a Proprioceptive Balance Board Training Program for the Prevention of Ankle Sprains

Background Ankle sprains are the most common injuries in a variety of sports. Hypothesis A proprioceptive balance board program is effective for prevention of ankle sprains in volleyball players. Study Design Prospective controlled study. Methods There were 116 male and female volleyball teams followed prospectively during the 2001-2002 season. Teams were randomized by 4 geographical regions to an intervention group (66 teams, 641 players) and control group (50 teams, 486 players). Intervention teams followed a prescribed balance board training program; control teams followed their normal training routine. The coaches recorded exposure on a weekly basis for each player. Injuries were registered by the players within 1 week after onset. Results Significantly fewer ankle sprains in the intervention group were found compared to the control group (risk difference = 0.4/1000 playing hours; 95% confidence interval, 0.1-0.7). A significant reduction in ankle sprain risk was found only for players with a history of ankle sprains. The incidence of overuse knee injuries for players with history of knee injury was increased in the intervention group. History of knee injury may be a contraindication for proprioceptive balance board training. Conclusions Use of proprioceptive balance board program is effective for prevention of ankle sprain recurrences.
The Protest Potential of the Population of Sverdlovsk Oblast

The article analyzes the potential for political and social protest in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Based on the results of a sociological study, it explores the political preferences of the population, as well as the impact of socioeconomic problems on the realization of protest potential. It assesses the factors that impede the activation of the potential for protest. It examines the transformation of the population’s electoral preferences as compared with the results of previous elections to the region’s legislative bodies. Special attention is devoted to negative socioeconomic trends with an emphasis on the labor market. It characterizes the social portrait of a potential protest movement, using cross-regional and retrospective analysis.
Basin Hopping as a General and Versatile Optimization Framework for the Characterization of Biological Macromolecules

Since its introduction, the basin hopping (BH) framework has proven useful for hard nonlinear optimization problems with multiple variables and modalities. Applications span a wide range, from packing problems in geometry to characterization of molecular states in statistical physics. BH is seeing a reemergence in computational structural biology due to its ability to obtain a coarse-grained representation of the protein energy surface in terms of local minima. In this paper, we show that the BH framework is general and versatile, allowing to address problems related to the characterization of protein structure, assembly, and motion due to its fundamental ability to sample minima in a high-dimensional variable space. We show how specific implementations of the main components in BH yield algorithmic realizations that attain state-of-the-art results in the context of ab initio protein structure prediction and rigid protein-protein docking. We also show that BH can map intermediate minima related with motions connecting diverse stable functionally relevant states in a protein molecule, thus serving as a first step towards the characterization of transition trajectories connecting these states.
Hybrid Adaptive Evolutionary Algorithm for Multi-objective Optimization

The major difficulty in Multi-objective Optimization Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) is how to find an appropriate solution that is able to converge towards the true Pareto Front with high diversity. Most existing methodologies, which have demonstrated their niche on various practical problems involving two and three objectives, face significant challenges in the dependency of the selection of the EA parameters. Moreover, the process of setting such parameters is considered time-consuming, and several research works have tried to deal with this problem. This paper proposed a new Multi-objective Algorithm as an extension of the Hybrid Adaptive Evolutionary algorithm (HAEA) called MoHAEA. MoHAEA allows dynamic adaptation of the application of operator probabilities (rates) to evolve with the solution of the multi-objective problems combining the dominance- and decomposition-based approaches. MoHAEA is compared with four states of the art MOEAs, namely MOEA/D, pa$\lambda$-MOEA/D, MOEA/D-AWA, and NSGA-II on ten widely used multi-objective test problems. Experimental results indicate that MoHAEA outperforms the benchmark algorithms in terms of how it is able to find a well-covered and well-distributed set of points on the Pareto Front.
Location analysis for the estrogen receptor-α reveals binding to diverse ERE sequences and widespread binding within repetitive DNA elements

Location analysis for estrogen receptor-α (ERα)-bound cis-regulatory elements was determined in MCF7 cells using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-on-chip. Here, we present the estrogen response element (ERE) sequences that were identified at ERα-bound loci and quantify the incidence of ERE sequences under two stringencies of detection: <10% and 10–20% nucleotide deviation from the canonical ERE sequence. We demonstrate that ∼50% of all ERα-bound loci do not have a discernable ERE and show that most ERα-bound EREs are not perfect consensus EREs. Approximately one-third of all ERα-bound ERE sequences reside within repetitive DNA sequences, most commonly of the AluS family. In addition, the 3-bp spacer between the inverted ERE half-sites, rather than being random nucleotides, is C(A/T)G-enriched at bona fide receptor targets. Diverse ERα-bound loci were validated using electrophoretic mobility shift assay and ChIP-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The functional significance of receptor-bound loci was demonstrated using luciferase reporter assays which proved that repetitive element ERE sequences contribute to enhancer function. ChIP-PCR demonstrated estrogen-dependent recruitment of the coactivator SRC3 to these loci in vivo. Our data demonstrate that ERα binds to widely variant EREs with less sequence specificity than had previously been suspected and that binding at repetitive and nonrepetitive genomic targets is favored by specific trinucleotide spacers.
A Fault Attack Emulation Environment to Evaluate Java Card Virtual-Machine Security

Java-enabled smart cards are used in different fields of application, such as access control, electronic banking, and passports. On these cards, a standardized virtual machine runs, which protects the security-critical code and data using a sandbox model. Unfortunately, this sandbox can be circumvented by fault attacks, which corrupt the data on which the virtual machine operates. The fault emulation environment of this work enables the user to configure faults at definable Java applet code locations. The user specifies which Java code she wants to attack but does not need to provide any information on where these data are placed in the memory and when the memory is accessed. To enable this approach, our environment monitors the virtual machine during the applet execution to receive the information which Java code is currently executed and which security-critical memory regions are in use. Then, the faults are injected using a bus saboteur at the correct clock cycle and memory location. This generic high-level approach provides the environment user an abstraction of the internal states of the virtual machine and the emulated hardware. Therefore, our environment enables the recreation of currently known attacks and allows us to study the effects of fault attacks on the virtual-machine behavior. The concept was successfully evaluated by a Java wallet case study. This case study shows a speedup of 6,600 compared to a simulation.
Dependence analysis in reduction of requirement based test suites

Requirement-based automated test case generation is a model-based technique for generating test suites related to individual requirements. The technique supports test generation from EFSM (Extended Finite State Machine) system models. Several requirement-based selective test generation techniques were proposed. These techniques may significantly reduce a number of test cases with respect to a requirement under test as opposed to a complete system testing. However, the number of test cases may still be very large especially for large systems. In this paper, we present an approach of reduction of requirement based test suites using EFSM dependence analysis. Different types of dependencies are identified between elements of the EFSM system model. These dependencies capture potential interactions between elements of the model and are used to determine parts of the model that affect a requirement under test. This information is used to reduce the test suite by identifying repetitive tests, i.e., tests that exhibit the same pattern of interactions with respect to the requirement under test. Our initial experience shows that this approach may significantly reduce the size of selective test suites.
Estimating Dynamic Impacts of the Seafood Industry in Alaska

This study estimates the dynamic impacts of the seafood industry and investigates multivariate relationships between basic and nonbasic sectors. The study regions are two fishery-dependent regions in Alaska, which are heavily dependent on extra-regional inputs such as non-resident labor and imports of intermediate inputs. This study follows Johansen's approach and develops a vector autoregressive error correction model, which has the advantage of properly attributing the impact of shocks, directly estimating long-run relationships, and identifying the process of adjustment by nonbasic sectors to the long-run equilibrium. Results show that the impacts of the seafood industry are relatively small in the two study regions, whose economies are characterized by large leakages of labor income and large imports of inputs.
An experimental study of priority queues in external memory

In this paper we compare the performance of eight different priority queue implementations: four of them are explicitly designed to work in an external-memory setting, the others are standard internal-memory queues available in the LEDA library [Mehlhorn and Näher 1999]. Two of the external-memory priority queues are obtained by engineering known internal-memory priority queues with the aim of achieving effective performance on external storage devices (i.e., Radix heaps [Ahuja et al. 1990] and array heaps [Thorup 1996]). Our experimental framework includes some simple tests, like random sequences of insert or delete-minimum operations, as well as more advanced tests consisting of intermixed sequences of update operations and "application driven" update sequences originated by simulations of Dijkstra's algorithm on large graph instances. Our variegate spectrum of experimental results gives a good picture of the features of these priority queues, thus being helpful to anyone interested in the use of such data structures on very large data sets.
Antioxidant Capacity and Total Phenolic Content in Fruit Tissues from Accessions of Capsicum chinense Jacq. (Habanero Pepper) at Different Stages of Ripening

In the past few years, there has been a renewed interest in studying a wide variety of food products that show beneficial effects on human health. Capsicum is an important agricultural crop, not only because its economic importance, but also for the nutritional values of its pods, mainly due to the fact that they are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and also of specific constituents such as the pungent capsaicinoids localized in the placental tissue. This current study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant capacity and total phenolic contents from fruits tissues of two Capsicum chinense accessions, namely, Chak k'an-iik (orange) and MR8H (red), at contrasting maturation stages. Results showed that red immature placental tissue, with a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) value of 55.59 μmols TE g−1 FW, exhibited the strongest total antioxidant capacity using both the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the CUPRAC methods. Placental tissue also had the highest total phenolic content (27 g GAE 100 g−1 FW). The antioxidant capacity of Capsicum was directly related to the total amount of phenolic compounds detected. In particular, placentas had high levels of capsaicinoids, which might be the principal responsible for their strong antioxidant activities.