Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Skin-Picking in Individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome: Prevalence, Functional Assessment, and its Comorbidity with Compulsive and Self-Injurious Behaviours

Background Individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) are at increased risk for mental health and behaviour problems, such as skin-picking and compulsive behaviours. Prevalence and functional assessment of skin-picking, and its association with compulsive behaviour and self-injury, were investigated in a large group of individuals with PWS (n = 119). Materials and Methods Data on demographic characteristics, skin-picking and compulsive and self-injurious behaviours were collected by questionnaires. Behavioural function of skin-picking was assessed by administering the Questions About Behavioral Function scale. Results Skin-picking was found in 86% of the sample, and correlated positively with compulsive behaviours. No associations were found between skin-picking and other variables. Functional assessment suggest that in most cases (i.e. 70%) skin-picking primarily had non-social functions. Conclusions Skin-picking and compulsive behaviours are common in PWS. In most cases, skin-picking may be maintained by contingent arousal reduction. Controlled studies on behavioural treatment are lacking. Implications for treatment selection are discussed.
Recruitment and Resilience of a Harvested Caribbean Octocoral

Disturbance events are an important component of the ecology of coral reefs and increasingly frequent disturbances coupled with a lack of population resilience may contribute to changes in the structure of coral reef communities. The harvest of the Caribbean octocoral Antillogorgia elisabethae provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between adult abundance and recruitment and the manner in which recruitment contributes to the resilience of local populations. Recruitment of A. elisabethae was monitored in 20, 1-m2 quadrats at 8 sites along the southern edge of the Little Bahama Bank from 2004 through 2007. A. elisabethae has been harvested in The Bahamas for over fifteen years and all of the sites had been harvested three times, including a harvest during the course of the study. Abundances of adult colonies at those sites as well as a location that had not been harvested were also determined. Recruitment was highly variable, differing between sites, transects within sites, and, depending on the site, between years. Recruitment was best correlated with adult abundance averaged across the surrounding site. Regression analyses suggest abundance on smaller scales had only small effects on recruitment. The effects of the harvesting were site specific ranging from a 38 to 67% reduction in the density of mature colonies. The sites with the most abundant A. elisabethae continued to have the highest abundances after harvesting and there was no significant difference in recruitment before and after harvesting. Population size-structure at 6 of 8 sites that have been harvested multiple times exhibited an overall depletion in small colonies suggesting long term suppression of recruitment and declining populations. Severe depression of adult abundances coupled with local recruitment can create a negative feedback and lead to the decline of local populations. Populations that are dependent on self-recruitment are not resilient to large disturbance events.
Interpersonal Racial Discrimination, Ethnic-racial Socialization, and Offending: Risk and Resilience among African American Females

Evidence is accumulating that interpersonal racial discrimination is criminogenic and ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices provide resilience. This research, however, has largely focused on black males. We address this gap by exploring these risk and resilience processes among black females. Drawing on Simons and Burt’s social schematic theory and research on adaptive cultural practices in African American families, this study investigates how interpersonal racial discrimination increases the risks of crime among females and whether familial ERS provides resilience. After focusing on females, we also compare the findings among females to those for males to shed light on gender differences. We examine these questions using panel data from the Family and Community Health Study, a survey of black families first surveyed in 1999 and at roughly two-year intervals thereafter. Consistent with prior work, we find a strong effect of racial discrimination on an increase in crime, with the bulk of this effect being mediated by the criminogenic knowledge structure. Although one of the two forms of ERS examined—cultural socialization—did not reduce the criminogenic effects of racial discrimination, preparation for bias exerted a strong protective effect. Comparing the findings to that for males revealed that preparation for bias attenuated the criminogenic effects of racial discrimination for both males and females, but it did so in gendered ways. This study fills a gap in our understanding of the criminogenic effects of discrimination among black females, supporting a social schematic theory’s explanation of the effects of racial discrimination on crime. In addition, findings highlight protective cultural practices in African American families, especially preparation for bias.
SMA actuator-based novel type of micropump for biomedical application

In the medical field and in biotechnology, a new type of micropump that can supply micro liquid flow has urgently been demanded. It is our purpose to develop a type of micropump that has the characteristics of flexibility, driven by a low voltage, good response and safety in body. In this paper, we propose a new prototype model of a micropump using SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) coil actuator as the servo actuator. This paper describes the new structure and the motion mechanism of a micropump using SMA actuator and discusses the possibility of the micropump. This micropump consists of two diffusers (Inlet) as one-way valve, a pump chamber made of elastic tube, and a casing. The overall size of this micropump prototype is 16 mm in diameter and 74 mm in length. Characteristic of the micropump is measured. The experimental results indicate that the micropump has the satisfactory responses, and the proposed micropump is able to make a micro flow and is suitable for the use in medical applications and in biotechnology.
No magic bullets, just tracer bullets: The role of learning resources, social advantage, and education management in improving the performance of South African schools

Are resources the key to increasing the education system's performance, as measured by, say, matriculation pass rates? If one "controls," statistically, for resource availability, is the poor performance of many schools perfectly understandable? Or is there too much emphasis on trying to increase and redistribute resources, and too little emphasis on the wise management of those resources? Or can either resources or good management really do much to improve results, given the widespread social inequalities, poverty, unemployment, community and familial problems and crime? Is it right to expect that the education system, as such, will have much effect on learning, when there are such daunting social-environmental factors impacting on schools? It would seem critical to begin trying to develop rigorous answers to such questions.
Landsat ETM+ and SAR image fusion based on generalized intensity Modulation

This work presents a novel multisensor image fusion algorithm, which extends panchrmomatic sharpening of multispectral (MS) data through intensity modulation to the integration of MS and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. The method relies on SAR texture, extracted by ratioing the despeckled SAR image to its low-pass approximation. SAR texture is used to modulate the generalized intensity (GI) of the MS image, which is given by a linear transform extending intensity-hue-saturation transform to an arbitrary number of bands. Before modulation, the GI is enhanced by injection of high-pass details extracted from the available panchrmomatic image by means of the "a/spl grave/-trous" wavelet decomposition. The texture-modulated panchrmomatic-sharpened GI replaces the GI calculated from the resampled original MS data. Then, the inverse transform is applied to obtain the fusion product. Experimental results are presented on Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus and European Remote Sensing 2 satellite images of an urban area. The results demonstrate accurate spectral preservation on vegetated regions, bare soil, and also on textured areas (buildings and road network) where SAR texture information enhances the fusion product, which can be usefully applied for both visual analysis and classification purposes.
Quantification and controllability study of minimally invasive exothermic chemo-ablation therapy for tumor ablation

The recently proposed exothermic chemical reaction based tumor hyperthermia method presented a new way of realizing truly minimally invasive treatment for tumor. This method utilizes heat generated from the reaction between acid and alkali solutions to allow for tumor ablation. Successful clinical implementation of this method requires a clearer understanding and quantification of the ablation area such that a more controllable operation can be made. A number of in-vitro and in-vivo experiments are designed to examine the features of thermal chemo-ablation therapy which include micro and macro characteristics of ablated tissue and temperature change during the ablation process. A Quantitative study on the relationship between velocity and ablation volume as well as a Graphical User Interface in Matlab for computerized ablation area analysis are also presented in this article. We present in here two instrument designs for thermal chemo-ablation and have completed the prototype design for the injection pump which has been tested and successfully applied in ex-vivo and vivo experiments.
Mitigating Timing Side Channel in Shared Schedulers

In this work, we study information leakage in timing side channels that arise in the context of shared event schedulers. Consider two processes, one of them an innocuous process (referred to as Alice) and the other a malicious one (referred to as Bob), using a common scheduler to process their jobs. There are other innocuous users in addition to Alice and Bob using the scheduler to process their jobs. Based on when his jobs get processed, Bob wishes to learn about the pattern (size and timing) of Alice's jobs. Depending on the context, knowledge of this pattern could have serious implications on Alice's privacy and security. For instance, shared routers can reveal traffic patterns, shared memory access can reveal cloud usage patterns, and suchlike. We present a formal framework to study the information leakage in shared resource schedulers using the pattern estimation error as a performance metric. The first-come-first-serve (FCFS) scheduling policy and time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) are identified as two extreme policies on the privacy metric, FCFS has the least, and TDMA has the highest. However, on performance-based metrics, such as throughput and delay, it is well known that FCFS significantly outperforms TDMA. We then derive two parameterized policies, accumulate and serve, and proportional TDMA, which take two different approaches to offer a tunable trade-off between privacy and performance.
Evaluation of Fibrin Sealants for Central Nervous System Sealing in the Mongrel Dog Durotomy Model

BACKGROUND:Watertight repair of the dura is imperative after neurosurgical procedures involving the brain or spinal cord because inadequately treated leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from punctured dura can have serious consequences such as meningitis, arachnoiditis, or epidural abscess. OBJECTIVE:To assess the efficacy of Evicel Fibrin Sealant (Human) to prevent CSF leakage using a 2.0-cm durotomy mongrel dog repair model and to compare the tissue response with Tisseel (a fibrin sealant) and Duraseal (a synthetic polyethylene glycol [PEG] hydrogel sealant). METHODS:The canine durotomy repair model was used. This well-characterized model assesses the ability of sealants to achieve intraoperative watertight seals of the dura mater, as well as long-term safety and efficacy. This study included 27 mongrel dogs and had a 28-day duration. RESULTS:The 3 sealants were 100% effective in preventing CSF leakage intraoperatively at 15 mm Hg. The 2 fibrin sealants were 100% effective in postoperative sealing; the PEG hydrogel was not. Microscopically, the tissue changes induced by Evicel at the durotomy site were similar in nature except for foamy macrophages seen only with the PEG hydrogel. The extent and severity of adhesions at 28 days were less with the fibrin sealants than with the PEG hydrogel. CONCLUSION:Evicel, a fibrin sealant, was safe and effective in achieving and maintaining a watertight seal of the dura. The performance of the fibrin sealants was similar to that of the synthetic PEG hydrogel sealant with the exception of a Duraseal seal, which leaked.
Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations: Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions

EXTENDING MULTILEVEL ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY. A Multilevel Approach to Theory and Research in Organizations: Contexual Temporal, and Emergent Processes. Personnel Selection Psychology: Multilevel Considerations. Performance Appraisal and Performance Management: A Multilevel Analysis. A Multilevel Approach to Training Effectiveness: Enhancing Horizontal and Vertical Transfer. Moving HR to a Higher Level: HR Practices and Organizational Effectiveness. Interorganizational Relationships: A Multilevel Perspective. Multilevel Issues and Culture: An Integrative View. ANALYZING MULTILEVEL DATA. Within-Group Agreement, Non-Independence, and Reliability: Implications for Data Aggregation. The Cross-Level Operator in Regression, ANCOVA, and Contexual Analysis. Within and Between Analysis: The Varient Paradigm as an Underlying Approach to Theory Building and Testing. The Application of Hierarchical Linear Modeling to Organizational Research. Multilevel Analytical Techniques: Commonalities, Differences, and Continuing Questions. COMMENTARY. Networks and Frog Ponds: Trends in Multilevel Research. Multilevel Competencies and Missing Linkages.
“This Was My Only Option”: Career Transitions of Canadian Immigrants in Same-Sex Binational Relationships

This phenomenological study explored the career transitions of 17 individuals who immigrated to Canada. These individuals were in same-sex binational relationships and faced immigration challenges because their relationships were not recognized by the U.S. government. As such, they felt forced to immigrate to Canada and, as a result, had to renegotiate their careers. Results demonstrated that participants faced challenges throughout their career transitions in the United States (student visas, work visas, living undocumented) as well as in Canada (lack of networks, transferability of credentials, presence of discrimination). Participants also discussed their decision to immigrate and how it affected their career transition. Finally, implications for counseling are addressed.
Ethical Decision-Making in Clinical Nutritional Practice

Ethics requires a critical evaluation of assumptions and arguments about norms and values; what should be done and what should not. Practitioners should practice ethically, and the professions should be at the forefront of applied ethics. There are four principles, patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, which are guides to ethical day-to-day practice. Patient autonomy: Autonomy means self-rule by persons of their thoughts and actions. Patient autonomy requires the practitioner to realise that patients have the right to be involved in decision-making on their own behalf. Beneficence refers to the duty of the practitioner to do the best for the patient. The benefits of breast-feeding are many, and the eventual outcome on health enormous. Nevertheless, health-care workers are diffident in promoting breast-feeding, and readily accept excuses for not breast-feeding, contrary to the principle of beneficence. Non-maleficence refers to the duty of the practitioner not to do harm; it requires the practitioner to withhold harmful therapies; Vitamin E, for example, has been proven to be ineffective as an antioxidant in humans, and large doses have been proven to increase mortality. Yet these are the doses available in supermarkets and “Health shops”. Nutritionists should actively advise against harmful “dietary supplementation”. Distributive justice requires every patient to have an equal opportunity to obtain appropriate therapy. There are relatively few nutritionists and dieticians in South Africa, and indeed in the entire African continent, but proportionately even fewer in the areas of greatest need. A case illustrates the application of these ethical principles to show how they can be applied to our daily practice. Using these four principles is a practical approach to solving ethical dilemmas.
Improving quality assurance in European vocational education and training: factors influencing the use of quality assurance findings

first of three themes which the editors use as the basis of organising the book. The second theme is the significance of pedagogies for developing learning cultures in organisational and community settings. More specifically, the third section of the book focuses on sites for learning. A broadly constructivist perspective is present, derived from readings of Vygotsky and Piaget, and including more contemporary perspectives, such as situated cognition and other derivations emerging from Engeström’s theorisation of ‘activity theory’. The notion of ‘communities of practice’ is visible throughout the book. This has implications for the research methodologies employed, which are primarily qualitative, including observational data gathered through field research (for example, Sotiria Grek’s study of the role of museums in lifelong learning, life history work (chapter by John Field and Irene Malcolm on historical and generational time over the life course) and the use of vignettes (Janice Malcolm and Miriam Zukas), though there is still methodological diversity reflected in the selected conference papers represented in the book. The chapter by Elizabeth Weedon and Sheila Riddell, for example, uses survey data in exploring the differential experience of students with dyslexia. And the chapter by Albert Renkema employs a quasi-experimental approach to his study of individual learning accounts. Some chapters are not that explicit about their methodologies. For example, the chapters by Rita Kop and Diane Conrad on e-learning strategies are clearly employing evidence derived from the actual pedagogical practices in place, but the conceptualisation of those methodologies needs further development, and might possibly benefit from an examination of semiotic analyses employed by media researchers. It is worth saying how helpful both the introduction by the editors and the concluding remarks by Mike Osborn are in getting best value from the book. Whilst the rationale for the selection of the papers may be missing, the rich nuggets of research findings and the development of theoretical ideas make the book well worth reading, if only to pick up the sense of diversity in, and the significance of, global perspectives current in research on lifelong learning. However, having read the book, I am still not sure how the editors recognised ‘effective teaching and learning’ as it appears in the subtitle of the book; this is not really given any space for discussion.
Learning and Thinking Styles: An analysis of their interrelationship and influence on academic achievement

This study examined whether college students' learning styles (LS) and thinking styles (TS) were interrelated, and if these could predict academic achievement. A total of 210 college students completed two inventories, one of LS (LSQ, Kolb), and the other of TS (MSG, Sternberg). The results of canonical correlation analysis revealed the presence of a moderate relationship between both types of styles. The results of regression analysis indicated that students' academic achievement was related to students' thinking styles. Students that prefer to work individually (Internal), that do not enjoy creating, formulating, and planning for problem solution (Legislative in a negative sense) and those that have adherence to existing rules and procedures (Executive) were those which obtained higher academic achievement. The implications of these findings for educational psychologists, which include assessment of LS and TS and the need to encourage thinking as an important part of the learning process, are discussed.
GROWTH DIFFERENTIATION FACTOR-15/MACROPHAGE INHIBITORY CYTOKINE-1 INDUCTION AFTER KIDNEY AND LUNG INJURY

The immunoregulatory cytokine macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1), a divergent TGF-β family member, and its murine ortholog, growth/differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) are induced in hepatocytes by surgical and chemical injury and heat shock. To better understand the in vivo role this factor plays in organ injury, we examined the regulation of GDF-15 in murine models of kidney and lung injury. We demonstrate herein induction of GDF-15/MIC-1 after surgical, toxic/genotoxic, ischemic, and hyperoxic kidney or lung injury. Gdf15 induction was independent of protein synthesis, a hallmark of immediate-early gene regulation. Although TNF induced GDF-15 expression, injury-elicited Gdf15 expression was not reduced in mice deficient for both TNF receptor subtype. Furthermore, although the stress sensor p53 is known to induce GDF-15/MIC-1 expression, injury-elicited Gdf15 expression was unchanged in p53-null mice. Our results demonstrate that GDF-15 induction after organ injury is a hallmark of many tissues. These data demonstrate that GDF-15/MIC-1 is an early mediator of the injury response in kidney and lung that might regulate inflammation, cell survival, proliferation, and apoptosis in a variety of injured tissues and disease processes.
Stochastic Gradient Descent as Approximate Bayesian Inference

Stochastic Gradient Descent with a constant learning rate (constant SGD) simulates a Markov chain with a stationary distribution. With this perspective, we derive several new results. (1) We show that constant SGD can be used as an approximate Bayesian posterior inference algorithm. Specifically, we show how to adjust the tuning parameters of constant SGD to best match the stationary distribution to a posterior, minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence between these two distributions. (2) We demonstrate that constant SGD gives rise to a new variational EM algorithm that optimizes hyperparameters in complex probabilistic models. (3) We also propose SGD with momentum for sampling and show how to adjust the damping coefficient accordingly. (4) We analyze MCMC algorithms. For Langevin Dynamics and Stochastic Gradient Fisher Scoring, we quantify the approximation errors due to finite learning rates. Finally (5), we use the stochastic process perspective to give a short proof of why Polyak averaging is optimal. Based on this idea, we propose a scalable approximate MCMC algorithm, the Averaged Stochastic Gradient Sampler.
Reason and Passion: Representations of Gender in Malay Society.

anthropologist by training, I can understand this. But the literature on nationalism, resistance, separatist movements, rebellions, elections, and other topics that concern him goes well beyond that discipline. His analysis, especially when relating his findings to larger debates, could have benefited from going further than he does into that wider literature. Neither of these limitations detracts significantly from this outstanding book.